Italy and China signed a three-year action plan on Sunday to implement past agreements and explore new forms of cooperation, announced Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni during her official visit to Beijing.
That’s a rather extraordinary flip-flop: a mere 8 months after very publicly pulling out from the Belt and Road initiative, Meloni just essentially re-signed up for it in Beijing. She “signed a 3-year action plan to implement past agreements”.
Meloni is striving to reset relations with China as fears of a trade war with the European Union are intertwined with the ongoing interest in drawing Chinese investment in sectors such as auto manufacturing.
“We certainly have a lot of work to do and I am convinced that this work can be useful in such a complex phase on a global level, and also important at a multilateral level,” Meloni stated at the start of her meeting with Chinese Premier Li Qiang.
Her five-day visit follows several months after Italy withdrew from China’s Belt and Road Initiative, a key policy of Chinese leader Xi Jinping aimed at building global power and transportation infrastructure to boost trade and deepen China’s international ties.
Despite this withdrawal, Italy remains eager to maintain a robust economic relationship with China. For instance, Stellantis, which includes Italy’s Fiat, announced a joint venture with Chinese electric car startup Leapmotor in May to sell EVs in Europe. During a subsequent address to Italian and Chinese business leaders, Li highlighted that China’s economic upgrade would increase demand for high-quality products, expanding cooperative opportunities between the two nations’ companies.
Meanwhile, China initiated an anti-dumping investigation into European pork exports shortly after the EU announced tariffs on Chinese EVs.
Meloni, on her first trip to China as prime minister, arrived in Beijing on Saturday. She had previously met with Li in New Delhi last September during the annual G-20 summit, which gathers leaders from 20 major nations.
Italy’s decision to join the Belt and Road Initiative in 2019 was seen as a significant political gain for China, providing it an entry into Western Europe during a trade war with the United States. However, Italy later noted that the expected economic benefits did not materialize, causing friction with other Western European governments and the United States.
