- author, Joao da Silva
- role, Business reporter
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Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has vowed to “relaunch” ties with China on his first visit to Beijing since taking office.
At the start of his five-day visit, Meloni met with Chinese Premier Li Qiang and signed a three-year plan to strengthen economic cooperation between the two countries.
At the time, the Italian government said that China’s large-scale investment plans had brought no benefits to Italy.
Meloni described the visit as “a demonstration of our willingness to resume bilateral cooperation and begin a new stage.”
She said the two countries also signed agreements aimed at strengthening cooperation on electric vehicles and renewable energy.
In a statement issued by his office, Premier Li Keqiang said the two countries aim to strengthen “mutually beneficial cooperation between small and medium-sized enterprises in the fields of shipbuilding, aerospace, new energy and artificial intelligence.”
Italy was the only major Western country to sign up to the Belt and Road Initiative, one of China’s most ambitious trade and infrastructure plans.
The move was heavily criticised at the time by the United States and other major Western countries.
Since taking office in 2022, Meloni has sought to lead a more pro-Western, pro-NATO foreign policy than his predecessor.
Before withdrawing from the BRI, Meloni called the previous administration’s decision to join it a “serious error.”
“All countries [BRI] “The G7 countries know that China comes first and they come second, and I don’t think Italy, being a G7 member, wanted to be put in the same group as Russia, Pakistan and Sri Lanka,” said Alicia Garcia Herrero, chief Asia-Pacific economist at investment bank Natixis.
“Without BRI [membership] “Melloni is coming to China with a different level of engagement, not as a client but as a partner,” she added.
Rome also supports the European Commission’s recent move to impose tariffs of up to 37.6% on electric vehicles imported from China.
Two-way trade between the two countries reached 66.8bn euros (56.3bn pounds) last year, making China Italy’s largest non-EU trading partner after the US.
