By D. Maan, Jadetimes News
Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni to Renovate Ties with China in Beijing Visit
Giorgia Meloni, the prime minister of Italy, pressed on the importance of China being a big actor she can count on to contain global tensions during her first ever official visit to Beijing. She conveyed the feeling of closer cooperation and deeper mutual understanding between both nations in meetings with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Qiang.
Welcoming Meloni, Xi said the "traditional friendly" relationship between Italy and China was characterized by "tolerance, mutual trust, and mutual respect." That is going to be very important in recementing this bilateral relationship, given that Italy had recently pulled out from the Belt and Road Initiative.
During their meeting at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing, Meloni and Xi addressed a vast international landscape that is increasingly insecure and geopolitically challenging. According to Meloni, China takes the lead as an important interlocutor in responding to such global dynamics: "There is growing insecurity at an international level, and I think that China is inevitably a very important interlocutor to address all these dynamics." She said it was collaboration about stability and peace.
During the visit, Meloni and Li Qiang signed a three year plan to strengthen economic cooperation between Italy and China. This agreement is intended to further tighten the grip of economic relations between the two nations and boost bilateral trade a clear expression of commitments to deepening partnership despite Italy's exit from the BRI.
It was the first major Western country to sign up to Beijing's signature initiative, aimed at boosting global trade and upgrading infrastructure. The move drew criticism from the United States and its other Western allies. Meloni has pursued a more pro Western and pro NATO foreign policy than her predecessors since coming to office in 2022. She once said that Italy's joining of the BRI had been "a serious mistake," marking a change in Rome's style of diplomacy with the rest of the world.
Alicia Garcia Herrero of Natixis, Asia Pacific chief economist, said the visit of Meloni to China was all the more important after Italy's decision to pull out from participating in BRI. "Without BRI membership, Meloni is going to China at a very different level of commitment engagement less a vassal, more a partner," she said. This is going to be a new dynamic that will enable Italy to deal with China on closer terms of equality, shifting toward a partnership of mutual respect and cooperation.
In the past months, Italy has tried to guard its strategic industries against the Chinese. The Italian government managed to prevent a Chinese state owned firm from taking control of Pirelli, a well known tire producer. Moreover, Italy supported the actions taken by the European Commission in relation to tariffs as high as 37.6% on electric vehicles from China, thus stressing its commitment to the defense of Rome's economic interests.
Despite this, trade between Italy and China remains resilient. Two-way trade reached €66.8 bn last year (£56.3 bn), making China Italy's largest non EU trading partner after the United States a huge economic relationship underlining how necessary continuous cooperation and dialogue between the two countries are.
Meloni's visit to China marked an historical moment in Italy's foreign policy by reaffirming her interest in bilateral ties, reinvigorating with a balanced approach toward international ties. While charting out a place for itself on the world stage, it is quite crystal clear that this partnership with China is going to shape the future of both countries.
