Giorgia Meloni Committed to “Revitalising Relations with China”

Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has committed to revitalising relations with China during her first visit to Beijing since assuming office.

Kicking off her five-day trip, Meloni met with Chinese Premier Li Qiang and signed a three-year plan aimed at enhancing economic cooperation between the two nations.

This visit follows Italy’s withdrawal from President Xi Jinping’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) last year, citing a lack of tangible benefits. Meloni characterised her visit as a signal of intent to “relaunch our bilateral cooperation” and to initiate a new phase in the Italy-China relationship.

The two leaders signed an agreement focusing on collaboration in electric vehicles and renewable energy.

Premier Li, in a statement, emphasised the objective of fostering “mutually beneficial cooperation between small and medium-sized enterprises in shipbuilding, aerospace, new energy, and artificial intelligence.”

Italy had been the only major Western nation to join the BRI, a vast Chinese trade and infrastructure endeavor, a move that has drawn criticism from the US and other Western nations.

Since taking office in 2022, Meloni has steered Italy towards a more pro-Western and pro-NATO foreign policy stance compared to her predecessors. She had previously criticised the decision to join the BRI as “a serious mistake.”

Under Meloni’s leadership, Italy has taken steps to prevent a Chinese state-owned company from acquiring the tyre manufacturer Pirelli.

Additionally, Italy has backed the European Commission’s recent decision to impose tariffs of up to 37.6% on electric vehicles imported from China.

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

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