Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has pledged to “relaunch” relations with China as she embarked on her first visit to Beijing since taking office.
During the start of her five-day trip, Ms. Meloni met with Chinese Premier Li Qiang and signed a three-year plan to enhance economic cooperation between the two countries.
This visit follows Ms. Meloni’s decision last year to withdraw Italy from President Xi Jinping’s flagship Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).
At the time, Rome cited the lack of benefits from the massive Chinese investment scheme as the reason for the withdrawal.
Ms. Meloni characterized her visit as a “demonstration of the will to begin a new phase, to relaunch our bilateral cooperation.”
She also mentioned that the two nations have signed an agreement aimed at boosting collaboration on electric vehicles and renewable energy.
In a statement released by his office, Premier Li said the two countries aim to increase “mutually beneficial cooperation between small and medium-sized enterprises in the fields of shipbuilding, aerospace, new energy, artificial intelligence.”
Italy was the only major Western nation to sign up to the BRI, one of China’s most ambitious trade and infrastructure projects.
The move was heavily criticised at the time by the US and some other major Western countries.
Since coming to office in 2022, Ms Meloni has sought to lead a more pro-Western and pro-Nato foreign policy than her predecessors.
Before withdrawing from the BRI, Ms Meloni had described the former government’s decision to join it as “a serious mistake”.
“Every country which is a [BRI] member knows that China is first and they are second and I don’t think Italy as a G7 member wanted to be grouped together with Russia, Pakistan or Sri Lanka,” said Alicia Garcia-Herrero, chief economist for the Asia Pacific region at investment bank Natixis.
“Without BRI [membership] Meloni is coming to China at a different level of engagement – less as a vassal and more as a partner,” she added.
Under Ms. Meloni’s leadership, Italy has blocked a Chinese state-owned company from taking control of the tyre manufacturing giant Pirelli.
Rome has also backed a recent European Commission decision to impose tariffs of up to 37.6% on electric vehicles imported from China.
Last year, two-way trade between Italy and China amounted to 66.8 billion euros (£56.3bn), making China Italy’s largest non-EU trading partner after the United States.