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(Bloomberg) — Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni pledged to relaunch bilateral cooperation with China as she kicked off her first official visit to Beijing since snubbing the country’s flagship Belt and Road Initiative last year.
Both countries signed a three-year plan in Beijing on Sunday to strengthen collaboration in areas including trade, investment, education, environmental protection and food security, while reaffirming the importance of balanced and mutually beneficial trade relations, according to an official statement.
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“We want to relaunch our bilateral cooperation,” Meloni said as she arrived at the Great Hall of the People. Both nations “will work to experiment with new types of collaboration, too,” she added.
Meloni is seeking to stabilize relations with Beijing after Rome pulled out of President Xi Jinping’s flagship investment pact last year. Her visit comes as Europe braces for the US presidential election this November, which could disrupt Washington’s diplomatic and trade relations with the EU.
The Italian leader met with Premier Li Qiang Sunday and is expected to also meet Xi during her visit. She views the Chinese president as someone who could become an important stakeholder in Russia’s war in Ukraine if Washington were to pull support, as Republican candidate Donald Trump has threatened, Bloomberg reported on Saturday, citing people familiar with her thinking.
During their meeting, Li told Meloni China seeks to boost bilateral ties to a more stable level and create “more proactive expectations” for cooperation, China Central Television reported. Beijing wants more balanced trade with Italy and hopes to deepen cooperation in sectors including ship manufacturing, aerospace, new energy and artificial intelligence, Li said.
Meloni will need to navigate this relationship with Beijing alongside the EU’s tougher trade policies toward the Asian nation, as well as Xi’s backing of Russia. She is expected to discuss Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine and the Israel-Hamas conflict in her meetings with Chinese leaders.
The work between Rome and Beijing “will be useful in such a complex global phase and on a multilateral level,” Meloni said. The aim is to make commercial relations “more advantageous and more equitable for all,” she added.
—With assistance from Li Liu.
(Updates with comments from Li)
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