BEIJING, March 11 -- China welcomed the EU's approval of a deal between Electricite de France(EDF) and China General Nuclear Power Corp. (CGN) for the construction of the Hinkley Point nuclear plant in the United Kingdom, on Friday.

"We have noticed that leaders of Britain and France pledged their support for the Hinkley Point project recently," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hong Lei told a daily news briefing.

During Chinese President Xi Jinping's Britain visit last year, Chinese and French companies signed an agreement to build an 18 billion pounds (about 26 billion U.S. dollars) nuclear power plant at Hinkley Point in southwestern England.

Now the Chinese and French companies are positively implementing the agreement, Hong said.

China supports the companies carrying out tripartite cooperation in nuclear power on the basis of mutual benefit, Hong said, expressing his hope that the Hinkley Point project will keep making progress so as to enrich pragmatic China-Britain and China-France cooperation.