Xi, Meloni discuss Ukraine, ME crises

Chinese President Xi Jinping and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni discussed the war in Ukraine and the crisis in the Middle East at a meeting in Beijing on Monday, Meloni's office said.

Meloni, whose country currently holds the rotating G7 presidency, stressed the importance of China as a partner in dealing with growing global insecurity during their talks.

The two leaders addressed the "priority issues on the international agenda from the war in Ukraine to the risks of a further escalation of the situation in the Middle East. They also discussed the growing tensions in the Indo-Pacific," the Italian leader's office said in a statement.

Meloni is seeking to relaunch her country's economic ties with Beijing after Italy exited Xi's flagship Belt and Road Initiative last year and amid deteriorating trade ties between the West and the world's second-largest economy. "There is growing insecurity at the international level, and I think that China is inevitably a very important interlocutor to deal with all these dynamics," Meloni said during the talks at Beijing's Diaoyutai State Guest House.

Italy is of strategic importance to China as it has struck out on its own with Beijing before, and could prove to be a moderating voice within the bloc. In 2019, Italy became the only member of the Group of Seven industrialised democracies to join Xi's Belt and Road infrastructure initiative, billed as recreating the ancient Silk Road trade route.

"Both sides face important opportunities for mutual development," Xi told Meloni at the start of their meeting. "China and Italy should uphold the spirit of the Silk Road ... so that the bridge of communication between East and West through it can rebound into a new era."