Italian Prime Minister Meloni vows to ‘relaunch’ bilateral relations with China

Italy’s Prime Minister, Giorgio Meloni, said China is an “important mediator” in managing global tensions, as he met President Xi Jinping in Beijing.

President Xi also praised the “long-established friendly” relationship and “tolerance, trust and respect” between Beijing and Rome.

In her first trip to China since taking office, Ms. Meloni and Chinese Premier Li Qiang met on Sunday and signed a three-year plan to strengthen economic cooperation.

A five-day tour follows Ms Meloni last year withdrew her country from President Xi Jinping’s signing of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI)..

At the time, Rome said that China’s major investment program aimed to promote bilateral trade.

Ms Meloni said her visit to China was an attempt to “restart” the relationship.

After talks with President Xi at Beijing’s Diaoyutai State Guesthouse, Ms. Meloni said: “There is growing insecurity at the international level and I think China is a very important mediator to deal with all these changes”.

He said the two nations must “think together” to remain stable and ensure peace.

Italy was the only major Western country to sign up for the BRI, one of China’s ambitious infrastructure trade projects.

This move was heavily criticized at the time by the US and other major Western countries.

Since taking office in 2022, Ms. Meloni has wanted to lead a foreign policy that supports Western countries and NATO more than her predecessors.

Before withdrawing from the BRI, Ms Meloni described the previous government’s decision to join it as a big mistake.

“All countries a [BRI] The member knows that China is second and second and I don’t think that Italy as a member of the G7 wanted to be integrated with Russia, Pakistan or Sri Lanka,” said Alicia Garcia-Herrero, chief economist for the Asia Pacific region in the investment bank Natixis.

“Without the BRI [membership] Meloni comes to China with a different level of engagement – less as a vassal and more as a partner,” he added.

Under Ms. Meloni, Italy has moved to block a Chinese state-owned company from controlling tire maker Pirelli.

Rome also supported the European Commission’s recent move to impose tariffs of up to 37.6% on electric vehicles imported from China.

Bilateral trade reached 66.8 billion euros (£56.3bn) last year, making China Italy’s largest non-EU trading partner after the US.