Italian Prime Minister Georgia Meloni is going to visit China. On Thursday, the Chinese Foreign Ministry announced that Meloni would visit China from July 27 to July 31. Chinese experts are saying that the purpose of Meloni’s visit is to resolve differences regarding ‘Belt and Road Initiative’ (BRI). They are saying that Meloni is coming to China in an attempt to overcome the regret of being separated from China’s ambitious project BRI.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said during a press conference that Meloni will meet President Xi Jinping during her visit to China. She will also meet Chinese Prime Minister Li Qiang and top leader Zhao Leji and bilateral issues will be discussed.
Meloni’s visit to China is taking place after Italy’s separation from BRI. Also, after becoming the Prime Minister, she is going to China for the first time.
America was angry when Italy joined BRI
Italy, the only G-7 country included in China’s ambitious project BRI, had separated from this project in December 2023. Italy became a member of BRI in 2019 and at that time the Prime Minister of the country was Five Star Movement leader Giuseppe Conte.
Italy’s joining the BRI was seen as a major victory for Chinese President Xi Jinping as Italy was the only major country in Europe to join the project.
Western countries including America had heavily criticized Italy for its involvement in the Chinese project. The Italy-China BRI agreement included building new railways and modernizing existing railways, developing ports so that the whole of Europe could be connected to China and Asia.
This deal was to be renewed at the end of 2023, but before that Meloni’s government announced its withdrawal from it.
‘Meloni is coming to China to overcome the regret of withdrawing from BRI’
Now, regarding Meloni’s visit to China, Chinese experts are hopeful that Italy’s differences regarding BRI will be resolved.
Speaking to China’s state newspaper Global Times, Zhao Junjie, a research fellow at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences at the Institute of European Studies, says that Meloni is coming to China because perhaps she regrets withdrawing from the BRI and wants to overcome it. want.
He says, ‘The purpose of this visit is probably to remove the regret of withdrawing from BRI and to personally clear some misunderstandings.’
Global Times has said in the article that Meloni’s visit to China shows that the only reason for Italy’s withdrawal from BRI was pressure from America and Western countries.
Global Times wrote, ‘The visit once again reveals that the reason for Italy’s withdrawal from BRI was not reluctance to cooperate with China or Meloni’s political thinking, but heavy pressure from America and Western countries. This is because despite Italy’s withdrawal from BRI, trade between the two countries has not decreased and strong trade cooperation remains.
‘Italy sets example in Europe…’
The article said that Italy has been facing recession in recent years and is facing huge domestic debt and deficit. Meloni is seeing that America and other western countries are putting pressure on them to distance themselves from China but are not providing any real help in return.
Global Times wrote, ‘With this visit, Italy can set an example in Europe and show the rest of the European countries that the benefits of increasing friendship and cooperation with China outweigh the disadvantages of staying away from it.’
In the same month, Italy’s Minister of Enterprises and ‘Made in Italy’ Adolfo Urso had reached China. During his visit to China, Urso said that China is a very important market for Italian companies and an important ally.
He had said that cooperation between China and Italy in the field of green energy, electrical vehicles and government buses is becoming important, which is writing a new chapter of strategic cooperation between the two countries. He had said on social media that Italy has strong interest in investing in China, especially in the field of green energy.
