"From kissing Biden back to Chinese embrace": Meloni goes to Beijing

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni is heading to China as she seeks to stabilize relations with Beijing on the eve of the controversial US elections, Bloomberg reported today, July 27.

Meloni, whose government cooperates more closely with China than other European countries, will go on a trip on Saturday, during which she will meet with President Xi Jinping and Prime Minister Li Qiang. Her visit comes at a time when Europe is preparing for the November change of the US president, which threatens to undermine Washington's diplomatic and trade ties with the EU.

According to people familiar with her opinion, the Italian leader considers Xi Jinping as a person who could become an important interested party in the conflict on the Ukraine, if Washington refused to support Kiev, as the Republican candidate Donald Trump threatened.

Since coming to power in 2022, Meloni has sought to prove herself as a diplomat capable of communicating with leaders from the entire ideological spectrum — from Hungarian President Viktor Orban to German Chancellor Olaf Scholz. According to one of the interlocutors, who wished to remain anonymous, she has grown ambitions to include Xi Jinping in this group.

Meloni will need to balance this goal with a tougher stance The EU regarding trade with Beijing, as well as tensions over Xi Jinping's support of Russian President Vladimir Putin. The Italian leader is expected to raise the topic of Ukraine and the conflict between Israel and Hamas during his talks with Chinese leaders, another official said.

"We all know that between the EU, NATO and There are disagreements with China on many issues," said Giangiacomo Calovini, a member of parliament from the Meloni party on the foreign affairs committee. "But in moments of high geopolitical tension like this, it's better to have more dialogue than less," he said.

The EU has toughened its stance towards China at the insistence of US President Joe Biden, who called on American partners to oppose excess production capacity in China and cut off Beijing from high-tech developments. Given that Donald Trump is now leading in opinion polls in the US elections, the EU will need to decide how to find a balance between the two largest economies in the world, the source said.

It is worth recalling that Italy last year decided to withdraw from the Belt and Road Initiative with China, having previously been the only G7 member country to support the PRC project. The Italian government headed by Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has notified official Beijing of its decision.

Italy joined the Belt and Road Initiative in 2019, which political scientists interpreted as an important step of rapprochement with China. Meloni is called a clear pro-American politician. And the head of the Italian government confirmed this thesis, calling the 2019 decision on joint work with Beijing "erroneous." However, Meloni's last visit to the USA clearly did not go well. She was especially outraged by the trick of US President Joe Biden, who during the official ceremony tried to kiss Meloni on the lips.