The News
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said she will “relaunch” Italy’s relationship with China just months after the country pulled out of the Belt and Road global infrastructure initiative.
Meloni arrived on Beijing Sunday for a five-day visit. First meeting with Premier Li Qiang, Meloni said it a “demonstration of the will to begin a new phase, to relaunch our bilateral cooperation,” while acknowledging a trade “imbalance” and the need for more foreign access to the Chinese market and intellectual property. Italy signed on to the Belt and Road Initiative in 2019, but Meloni withdrew in December, and said she would negotiate a separate deal with China.
Both leaders signed a memorandum to strengthen collaboration on trade, investment, education, environmental protection, and food security. Meloni is scheduled to meet Chinese leader Xi Jinping on Monday.
Her meeting with Xi could help toward normalizing relations between Europe and Beijing, as Meloni considers Xi as an “important stakeholder” in the war in Ukraine, Bloomberg reported. That stake will only increase should the US cut military and economic support for Ukraine’s defense, the outlet noted — something former President Donald Trump has threatened to do should he be reelected in November.