Evoking the old Silk Road travelled by Marco Polo, Meloni said her five-day trip to China aims to relaunch bilateral cooperation with Beijing.
Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has called for closer economic, cultural and scientific ties with China while visiting President Xi Jinping on her first official visit to Beijing since she became leader of Italy.
The pair met at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse following Meloni’s inauguration of an exhibition dedicated to Marco Polo — the Venetian explorer and merchant who travelled through Asia on the Silk Road during the 13th century — in China’s capital.
During their meeting, the Italian prime minister highlighted that her visit fell on a “double anniversary”: the 20-year anniversary of the strategic partnership signed between China and Italy, as well as the 700-year anniversary since Marco Polo’s passing.
“It is an anniversary that defines the antiquity and depth of our relationship, of the relations between two civilisations that are heirs to a culture thousands of years old,” Meloni said.
“Clearly the best way to celebrate these two anniversaries and maintain the channel introduced precisely 700 years ago by Marco Polo is to foster economic, trade, cultural and scientific relations, and also to open dialogue at the multilateral level in a very complex time like the one in which we live,” she added. “Because the world around us is changing,” she added.
President Xi echoed Meloni’s comments, harkening back to their countries’ historical ties along the Silk Road — the network of Eurasian trade routes which connected the eastern and western worlds.
“China and Italy should uphold the long-standing spirit of the Silk Road, view and develop bilateral relations from a historical, strategic, and long-term perspective, and promote the international community to seek common ground and expand consensus,” he said.
Meloni pulled Italy out of China’s Belt and Road Initiative — sometimes referred to as the “New Silk Road” — in December, but signed an agreement Sunday that provides a new path for the two countries to cooperate on trade and other issues.
The Belt and Road Initiative, one of Xi’s signature policies, aims to build power and transportation infrastructure around the world in order to stimulate global trade while also deepening China’s ties with other nations.
It’s a project seen by many as an attempt by China to buy political influence in Europe.
Meloni’s meeting with Jinping follows her bilateral cooperation talks with Chinese Premier Li Qiang on Sunday.
The pair attended a joint business forum, during which they signed a three-year action plan on Sunday to implement past agreements and experiment with new forms of cooperation.
The six agreements pledged to advance bilateral cooperation in various fields, from industry to food safety and education.
They also included an agreement to foster a strategic partnership on electric vehicles.
Electric vehicles have also become a symbol of growing China-EU trade tensions, with the European Union imposing provisional tariffs, supported by Italy, of up to 37.6% on China-made EVs in early July.
