Photo: VCG

This year marks the 20th anniversary of the comprehensive strategic partnership between China and Italy, as well as the 700th anniversary of Marco Polo's death. Both sides should view and develop bilateral relations from a historical dimension, facing important opportunities for mutual development. On the afternoon of July 29, Chinese President Xi Jinping met with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who is on an official visit to China, at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing. Xi's remarks highlighted not only the profound historical significance of China-Italy relations but also their contemporary relevance as a bridge for East-West exchange. Meloni said that as ancient civilizations, Italy and China have always admired and learned from each other. Italy highly values China's international status and role and is willing to inherit the long-standing spirit of the Silk Road to develop a closer and higher-level partnership with China, she noted.

In addition to coinciding with these two important anniversaries, Meloni's visit to China itself has garnered widespread attention. She is the first G7 leader to visit China following the third plenary session of the 20th CPC Central Committee and this is her first visit to China since taking office. Meloni announced this visit during a press conference following the G7 summit last month, which was seen as a subtle shift in Italy's approach to China, seeking to develop relations with China beyond the G7's tough stance. On July 28, Meloni stated that her five-day trip was a "demonstration of the will to begin a new phase, to relaunch our bilateral cooperation."

From the current perspective, this visit, widely interpreted as a "new chapter" and "restart," has indeed yielded fruitful results. It has met Italy's domestic aspirations for cooperation with China and provided strategic planning and arrangements for bilateral economic and trade cooperation. Most notably, the two sides issued a 2024-2027 action plan on strengthening their comprehensive strategic partnership. The bilateral cooperation covers emerging fields such as electric vehicles, renewable energy, and artificial intelligence and aims to upgrade traditional cooperation in areas such as trade and investment, industrial manufacturing, technological innovation, and third-party markets. Additionally, China and Italy signed several bilateral cooperation documents in industry, education, environmental protection, geographical indications, and food safety.

In recent years, due to the influence of some internal and external factors, there have been some twists and turns in the China-Italy relationship. It should be said that through this visit, the two sides have not only reached many cooperation agreements and brought new opportunities to both sides, but also deepened political mutual trust and once again stood at a new starting point. Practice has proven that China and Italy are indispensable partners on the path of development, and can share development opportunities on the basis of equality and mutual benefit. Italy's choice also indicates that as long as dialogue is conducted based on a pragmatic and rational attitude, the space for win-win cooperation and mutual development between China and Italy is still very imaginative.

From a deeper perspective, whether it is the establishment and deepening of the comprehensive strategic partnership between China and Italy, or the historical echoes of Marco Polo spanning 700 years, the key to the enduring vitality of the China-Italy relationship lies in the ability to approach and understand each other with equality and sincerity. China and Italy are both ancient civilizations on the Eurasian continent. Marco Polo was the first person to introduce China to Europe. If we can continue to uphold the spirit of the Silk Road of civilization exchange and mutual learning, then China-Italy relations will have a continuous source of vitality and dynamism.

Just as President Xi Jinping pointed out, "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."

We also noticed that Prime Minister Meloni said during this visit that Italy is ready to play a positive role in the candid dialogue between the EU and China and foster a more stable cooperative relationship. She said in a speech at an exhibition themed around Marco Polo and the Silk Road that the road from Italy to China is sometimes easy, sometimes difficult, but this road is always passable. In the current global era of great changes, as two major civilizations and markets, China and Europe urgently need more and deeper equal exchanges and mutual understanding. At this moment, Italy, as a bridge between East and West and a role in maintaining road access, will surely have a lot to offer.