Sergio Mattarella’s visit to China continues. “Yesterday we registered full harmony and convergence of assessments with President Xi,” declared the head of state. “There is a growth in the desire for mutual collaboration. An ancient relationship that today finds a full and collaborative current declination on the political level and on the international vision regarding the desire for peace, multilateralism, openness in economic relations. This is why this visit is very important for me”, he continued, and then added: “There was a visit from Prime Minister Meloni a few months ago and it is completely unusual for such a close presence of the top leaders of our country. This shows how important it is for us to increasingly develop relations with China.”
Mattarella also focused on the economic relations between Rome and Beijing. “We have an exchange that has doubled in the space of six years, from 2016 to 2022, going from 38 billion to 74 billion in 2022. With two observations: the first which is still below potential and therefore the desire to increase the commercial flow; the other is the need for a rebalance in the development of import-export trade relationships,” he said. “As with investments, we care a lot about Chinese investments in Italy and we encourage Italians in China who have grown very quickly, reaching 15 billion in 2023. We hope that Chinese ones can also grow quickly and these too are below the possible potential,” he continued.
The relationship between China and Italy is a notoriously thorny dossier. The Giallorossi government had become significantly closer to Beijing, while the executives of Mario Draghi and Giorgia Meloni cooled relations with the Dragon. In particular, last year Meloni avoided renewing the controversial memorandum of understanding on the New Silk Road, deciding to bet more on relations with Washington and New Delhi. A line that has already proven effective with Joe Biden and which becomes even more important after Donald Trump’s electoral victory in the latest presidential elections. We recall that, in 2020, his first administration showed considerable concern and irritation at the progressive rapprochement of the Giallorossi government with Beijing.
In this respect, it is good to pay attention to the words pronounced by Xi Jinping during the meeting with Mattarella. “We want to strengthen the global strategic partnership and promote bilateral relations to enter a new stage of development,” declared the Chinese president, exposing a rather dangerous line for Italy. Two sectors in particular could end up under the magnifying glass: infrastructure and technology. Two sectors from which Rome should keep Beijing well away, especially now that the new Trump administration is about to take office. An administration which, in all likelihood, will once again focus its sights on the controversial Sino-Vatican agreement on the appointment of bishops which the Holy See has just renewed for four years. We are talking about an agreement which, in 2020, was strongly opposed by the then US Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo: that Pompeo who, according to various rumours, is currently among the names eligible to obtain the leadership of the Pentagon.
In short, it is imperative that the current Italian government be wary of that pro-Chinese political-economic chain, which, in relations with the People’s Republic, could try to push it to soften its line on infrastructure and technology. Even more so after Trump’s electoral victory.
