Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni met Chinese leader Xi Jinping on Monday (July 29th), after vowing to “relaunch” ties strained by her country’s withdrawal from Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative late last year.
Meloni arrived in Beijing on Saturday for her first visit to China since taking office almost two years ago.
Xi advocated that both countries view bilateral relations from a long-term perspective and work together in international affairs.
“There is growing uncertainty at the international level and I think China is inevitably a very important interlocutor to resolve all these issues,” she told Xi.
Meloni said she believed Italy could play an important role in China’s relationship with the European Union (EU) amid escalating trade tensions between the 27-member bloc and the world’s second-largest economy.
She hopes that “the most balanced trade relations will be created”.
The EU has tightened its trade policy amid concerns that China’s manufacturing-focused development model could flood the European market with cheap goods as Chinese firms look to boost exports amid weak domestic demand.
Speaking alongside Li at an Italian-Chinese business forum on Sunday, Meloni said she wanted to ensure that “our commercial relations are increasingly fair and beneficial to all”, RSE writes.
E.Dz.
