Xi – Meloni Meeting Reveals Future of Dialogue

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni is in Beijing for a five-day visit that resumes an important dialog with China’s leaders for at least two reasons: first, because it restores a direct conversation between the two countries, and second, because it comes at a particularly sensitive moment in the global geopolitical situation. But let’s take it one step at a time.

Regarding the first aspect, according to the Global Times, “many entrepreneurs and observers from the two countries expressed high expectations from the visit, emphasizing the importance of strengthening bilateral cooperation, especially in sectors such as new energy products, new energy vehicles, and other green technologies.” This is Meloni’s first visit to China since taking office. But above all, she is the first European leader to visit China since the conclusion of the Third Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China.” Therefore, efforts are being highlighted on the Chinese side to renew strategic relations not only in consumer goods but also in industry. It’s no secret that electric cars made in China will soon be on sale in Italy and following the recent tightening of Europe itself, due to the US stance on raising new customs barriers. According to the Chinese Foreign Ministry’s reconstruction, the Celestial Empire is ready to cooperate with Italy in industrial production, technological innovation, economic and commercial investment, as well as “explore cooperation in new areas such as electric vehicles and artificial intelligence.”

Of course, the relationship is inevitably asymmetrical. China is a colossus, and Italy has a fundamental problem: restoring the trade balance that is clearly tilted in Beijing’s favor. Giorgia Meloni, who had a long face-to-face meeting with President Xi Jinping, asked that there be “certain rules,” fairness, and equity so that Beijing and Shanghai’s economies do not end up overtaking Italy’s. But the intentions are serious. Following Meloni, emissaries of various companies, such as ENI, SACE, CDP, FIAT, Leonardo, Pirelli, De Longhi, and Zoppas visited China. And these are just the best-known acronyms that have historically been related to the Celestial Empire. The new economic report is based on a 14-page Action Plan to strengthen the Italy-China Global Strategic Partnership (2024-2027) in finance and investment, education and scientific innovation, sustainable development, medicine, and culture.

The second important topic, as we said, is the complex geopolitical situation. According to Italian and Chinese newspapers, the immediate conversation between the two leaders largely centered on these topics. It is no coincidence that Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba has just been in Beijing on a long and important visit, which, albeit with great caution, has been interpreted by world diplomacy as a serious beginning of a dialog about a possible new peace meeting that deals with the war in Europe. And not only that. Five days ago, a declaration was signed in Beijing that could be a historic moment for Palestinian reconciliation. In fact, for the first time, multiple Palestinian factions, including Fatah and Hamas itself, agreed to end internal divisions and work toward common goals.

Giorgia Meloni was the first European leader to talk to senior Chinese leaders, getting to the heart of these crises. The Associated Press (AP) and Reuters reported that they talked about Ukraine, Gaza, artificial intelligence, climate, and UN Security Council reform. Meloni defines cooperation with China as “having great significance” on the twentieth anniversary of the Strategic Partnership and emphasizes “the importance of balanced cooperation, mutually beneficial and based on mutual trust.” Xi Jinping seems to understand her concerns and reassures her: “China adheres to the path of peaceful development, never seeks hegemony, and is willing to share development opportunities with other countries.”

The subtlety of Chinese diplomacy apparently could not underestimate the special role of Italy and the Meloni government in the current balance of power in the European Union itself. The Italian government actually differed from the “governmental” majority expressed in the EU Commission, again headed by Ursula von der Leyen. But at the same time, it is in a dialectical relationship with von der Leyen herself. Meloni’s particular stance probably allows for alternative solutions to the wall-to-wall, New Cold War logic that many Western leaders would also like to extend to China and relations with the East.

As for relations between the two countries, the crisis caused by the abrogation of the Silk Road Memorandum (signed at the time by the government presided over by Giuseppe Conte) can be said to have been overcome. And that’s a positive. Then, during Xi Jinping’s visit to Rome, the bilateral dialogue looked unbalanced, which was sharply criticized by Washington and the symbol of which this Memorandum inevitably became.

I’ll allow myself a little personal reminiscence. That time I was fortunate enough, when I was a journalistic director at Mediaset, to speak publicly in Rome on the eve of this visit to several government ministers from China and Italy. Quoting Marco Polo (an exhibition on him was recently visited by Meloni in Beijing), I took the liberty of reminding the Chinese of the great “lesson of ancient Rome, Caesar Augustus”: the world is ruled by inclusion, not exclusion. The Chinese ministers laughed when I told them that Jupiter and Juno also made a Memorandum on Olympus for the founding of Rome at the end of the Aeneid: Aeneas killed Turnus, but the official language and culture of Rome would become Latin. Rome was born “second,” as Remi Brague wrote in his “Roman Road to Europe.” Inclusive, not exclusive. Plural, not singular.