Meloni in China, three-year plan with Beijing alternative to Silk Road. "Lebanon worries, in contact with government and allies".

The three-year plan signed with China 'is an alternative approach to the Silk Road. I have always said that I did not agree with Italy's entry into the Silk Road, my choice was one of coherence then to decide to leave, but I have always said that it was not the only way to have relations and also to grow our relations with China'. So said Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni during a press point with Italian journalists in Beijing. "After all, as I have said many times, we were the only one of the great Western European nations to be part of the Silk Road, but we were not the nation that had the best interchange with China, far from it. There are other nations in Europe, among the major European nations, that have a much higher volume of Chinese investment, so I always said that you could get out of the Silk Road and at the same time rebuild a more intensive relationship with China, and that is exactly what I did'.

The action plan 'is something new because it opens up a new phase in relations with China', it includes 'new subjects and also defines a 360-degree implementation of our relations' which 'are not only economic and commercial', as demonstrated by the visit that falls on the 20th anniversary of the global strategic partnership and the 700th anniversary of Marco Polo's death, the only foreigner with the other Italian, Matteo Ricci, in the Millennium muesum bas-relief reconstructing Chinese history. If the former 'defines the framework of our cooperation, especially economic and commercial cooperation, the 700 years of Marco Polo define the depth of our relationship. I believe it must also become a relationship of growth in respect, in loyalty even in our economic-commercial relations'. Meloni then recalls the 'specific agreements on the protection of geographical indications, which is very important for us' and the objective 'to protect intellectual property. These are issues that are obviously not secondary for Italy. Then clearly there will be the technical tables and those technical tables will have to work'.

"We have limited ourselves to defining framework agreements, then it is not up to us to go into the merits of individual agreements that can be developed, individual investments. The issue of electric mobility is within our memorandum of industrial cooperation, which is one of the most important agreements we have signed'. The premier emphasises that these are 'concrete results'. Now 'it will be the technical tables and the competent ministers who will work specifically on the realisation of this understanding'. The understandings ('very important') range 'from industrial cooperation to the protection of geographical indications, food safety, environmental matters, education', explaining that Italy aims to 'strengthen our cooperation but do so with a view to rebalancing, rebalancing the trade balance. There is an important deficit for Italy that has been growing over the years, and in terms of foreign direct investment. Today, Italian investment in China is about three times as much as Chinese investment in Italy. We want to work to remove the obstacles for our products to access the Chinese market and ensure equal treatment for our companies. There is clearly broad agreement and willingness from this point of view'.

'I am very worried about what is happening in Lebanon, about the risk of a regional escalation, just when it seemed that there could be some glimmers of hope and this is also something that needs to be assessed. I'm in contact with the foreign minister, I'm in contact with the government, I'm in contact with the allies, we need to continue to pass messages of moderation at this stage,' Meloni said in response to questions from Italian journalists. "China certainly can also be a very important interlocutor here in the work for normalisation in relations particularly between Arab countries and Israel" because of its relations "with Tehran, with Riyadh".