Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has vowed to “relaunch” relations with China as she begins her first visit to Beijing since taking office.
Meloni met with Chinese Premier Li Qiang at the beginning of her five-day trip, where they signed a three-year plan to strengthen economic cooperation between their nations. This visit follows Italy’s withdrawal from President Xi Jinping’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) last year, as Rome deemed the massive Chinese investment project unbeneficial for Italy.
In Beijing, Meloni emphasized her visit as a “demonstration of the will to begin a new phase, to relaunch our bilateral cooperation.” She highlighted that Italy and China have signed an agreement to boost collaboration on electric vehicles and renewable energy.
Premier Li stated that both countries aim to enhance “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 nation to join the BRI, one of China’s most ambitious trade and infrastructure projects. The decision faced heavy criticism from the US and other Western nations.
Since taking office in 2022, Meloni has pursued a more pro-Western and pro-NATO foreign policy. She previously described the decision to join the BRI as “a serious mistake.”
Alicia Garcia-Herrero, chief economist for the Asia Pacific region at investment bank Natixis, commented, “Every country that is a BRI member knows that China is first, and they are second. I don’t think Italy, as a G7 member, wanted to be grouped together with Russia, Pakistan, or Sri Lanka. Without BRI membership, Meloni is coming to China at a different level of engagement—less as a vassal and more as a partner.”
Under Meloni’s leadership, Italy has blocked a Chinese state-owned company from taking control of tire manufacturer Pirelli. Additionally, Rome has supported the European Commission’s move to impose tariffs of up to 37.6% on electric vehicles imported from China.
Two-way trade between Italy and China reached 66.8 billion euros (£56.3bn) last year, making China Italy’s largest non-EU trading partner after the US.