The official statement of the Chinese presidency after today’s meeting between President Xi Jinping and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, as Xinhua reported, leaves little room for misinterpretation. Xi repeatedly hammered on the importance of the New Silk Road, in the context of Italy’s well-known recent exit from the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), after it had become the first G7 country to join, in March 2019.
“Noting that China and Italy are at the two ends of the ancient Silk Road, Xi said the time-honored friendly exchanges between the two countries have made significant contributions to the overall exchanges and mutual learning between Eastern and Western civilizations, and to the progress of humanity.
“The Silk Road spirit of peace and cooperation, openness and inclusiveness, mutual learning and mutual benefit is a shared treasure of China and Italy, Xi said.
“He said that amid accelerating global changes unseen in a century, countries will either progress together through connectivity and unity, or retreat separately through closure and division. China and Italy should uphold and promote the Silk Road spirit, view and develop bilateral relations from a historical dimension, strategic height and long-term perspective, and push their relations to go steady and far.”
Furthermore, China’s CGTN TV channel broadcasted critical comments by economist Michele Geraci, the architect of the 2019 BRI Memorandum that Meloni repudiated.
