Meloni brought her daughter to visit China, showing her friendliness. In front of a group of Chinese senior officials, she promised to restart cooperation with China. China was not stingy and gave a big gift in return. From this point of view, Meloni, who had previously supported the EU's increase in taxes on Chinese cars, turned around and "betrayed" the EU.
Meloni and her daughter got off the plane
A few days ago, Italian Prime Minister Meloni embarked on his first visit to China during his term of office, and received a high-level reception from China. It is worth noting that Meloni also brought her 8-year-old daughter with her during her visit to China. Many media published videos of Meloni taking her daughter around Beijing. Some analysts believe that Meloni's move may be to show his friendly and friendly image and restore the rift with China.
During this visit to China, Meloni met with a number of Chinese senior officials, expressed his determination to restart cooperation with China, and promised to repair Sino-Italian bilateral relations during his term of office. Previously, Italy unilaterally announced its withdrawal from the “One Belt, One Road” initiative, which affected Sino-Italian cooperation. However, in the context of Italy's piling economic problems, the United States and Western countries are also "crossing the river" and unable to provide corresponding help to Italy. It is estimated that Meloni decided to pin his hopes on China.
Italy has always had a good relationship with China, otherwise it would not have become the first country among the G7 countries to join the “One Belt, One Road” initiative. It is reported that during this meeting with the Chinese side, both parties had a very tacit understanding and avoided talking about the "One Belt, One Road" initiative. China stated that despite the dramatic changes in the international situation, the original intention of China-Italy cooperation was for win-win results. They should understand each other's difficulties and respect their respective development paths.
Meloni gave a speech at the China-Italy Business Forum
China’s words also imply that Italy has its own considerations and difficulties in withdrawing from the “One Belt, One Road” initiative, and China chooses to respect it. After hearing Meloni's wish to restart cooperation with China, the Chinese side did not hold on to the situation, but directly gave Meloni a big gift to show their sincerity in cooperation.
According to reports, the two parties signed a three-year cooperation plan, focusing on many fields such as economy and trade, technology, energy, health, culture, etc. The full text is more than 5,800 words long. Moreover, both parties stated that they would persist in cooperation, coordinate conflicts, and achieve the expected goals of the plan. Among them, a very important part is included, that is, electric vehicles, and Meloni can be regarded as getting what he wanted.
As we all know, one of the main purposes of Meloni's trip is to hope that Chinese electric vehicle companies can invest and build factories in Italy. What you need to know is that the Italian government has already supported the EU and increased tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles. Now Meloni has come to discuss automobile cooperation with China. It seems to have a hint of "stabbing the EU in the back".
If China wants to "evade" high tariffs, the best way is to invest and build factories in Europe. Seeing this as a great opportunity to make a fortune, Meloni will naturally not let it go. She hopes that Italy can become the "gateway" for Chinese companies to enter Europe.
Von der Leyen and Meloni
In addition, Italy is now facing the problem of declining manufacturing industry. Although it has many internationally renowned car brands, such as Lamborghini, Ferrari, etc., its productivity is seriously insufficient.
Meloni believes that China-Italy cooperation is complementary and each can gain something. In order to show sincerity, on the day of Meloni's visit to China, the Italian government decided to "transfer" the use rights of a discontinued car brand owned by a European automobile giant to a Chinese company.
After receiving the big gift from China, Meloni said that Italy opposed the move of "decoupling and breaking links" and would not support "trade protectionism." She hopes that Italy can become a bridge for China-Europe cooperation. As relations between China and the EU deteriorate, Italy is willing to mediate. It must be said that Italy betrayed the EU, but it actually gained a wave of goodwill in China.
It is worth noting that during his visit to China, Meloni also wrote a letter to European Commission President von der Leyen. The letter contained a counterattack against the European Commission's criticism of Italy's rule of law.This also seems to imply that there are currently differences within the EU on how to solve a series of issues. If the EU wants to target China, it would be better to resolve its internal issues first.
