Xi meets Italian prime minister

Chinese President Xi Jinping met with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni in Beijing on Monday.

Noting that China and Italy are at the two ends of the ancient Silk Road, Xi said the time-honored friendly exchanges between the two countries have made significant contributions to the overall exchanges and mutual learning between Eastern and Western civilizations, and to the progress of humanity.

The Silk Road spirit of peace and cooperation, openness and inclusiveness, mutual learning and mutual benefit is a shared treasure of China and Italy, Xi said.

He said that amid accelerating global changes unseen in a century, countries will either progress together through connectivity and unity, or retreat separately through closure and division.

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 promote the steady and sustained development of China-Italy relations, he said.

Xi stressed that the sound and steady development of bilateral relations is in the common interests of the two countries and peoples.

Despite the complex and profound changes of the current international landscape, China's willingness to value and develop China-Italy relations remains unchanged, the win-win nature of China-Italy cooperation remains unchanged, and the friendship between the two peoples remains unchanged, Xi said.

He called for bilateral efforts to renew the tradition of friendly exchanges and continue to understand and respect each other's choice of development path.

As China and Italy enjoy complementary industrial strengths, which serve as opportunities for each other, Xi urged the two sides to stay committed to mutual opening up and cooperation.

Xi vowed China's continuous efforts to advance high-level opening up to inject strong impetus into China's modernization drive and bring new opportunities to expanding cooperation with Italy and other countries.

Xi voiced China's willingness to work with Italy to improve traditional cooperation in such areas as economic and trade investment, industrial manufacturing, sci-tech innovation and third-party market, and explore cooperation in emerging areas such as electric vehicles and artificial intelligence, among others.

China welcomes Italian companies to invest in China and stands ready to import more quality products from Italy, Xi said, calling on Italy to provide a fair, transparent, safe and non-discriminatory business environment for Chinese companies as well.

Xi called on the two sides to cherish the achievements of mutual learning between Chinese and Italian civilizations, advance mutual reinforcement of cultural preservation and innovation, and promote closer ties between the two peoples.

Xi said that China supports Italy in hosting the 2026 Olympic Winter Games and hopes Italy will provide visa facilitation for Chinese citizens to visit Italy.

Xi highlighted that only opening up and cooperation of the global industrial and supply chains can bring about win-win development in the era of economic globalization.

He emphasized that China is committed to the path of peace and development, never seeks hegemony, and is ready to share development opportunities with other countries.

He expressed the hope that Italy will understand and support China's development philosophy and play a constructive role in promoting dialog and cooperation between China and the European Union (EU) and the positive and steady development of China-EU relations.

For her part, Meloni said this year marks the 20th anniversary of the Italy-China comprehensive strategic partnership and the 700th anniversary of Marco Polo's death, adding that Italy and China, both as ancient civilizations, have always appreciated and learned from each other.

Noting that the current international situation is undergoing profound changes, Meloni said that China, as an important major country, plays an irreplaceable role in addressing global challenges.

Italy attaches great importance to China's international standing and its role, and is pleased to carry forward the time-honored Silk Road spirit, develop closer and higher-level partnership with China, and open up a new chapter in the comprehensive strategic partnership between Italy and China, thus making new contributions to world peace and progress, the prime minister said.

Stressing her country's adherence to the one-China policy, Meloni said Italy hopes to strengthen dialog and cooperation with China to tap more potential, deepen bilateral cooperation in the fields of economic and trade investment, electric vehicles and artificial intelligence, enhance people-to-people and cultural exchanges, and facilitate more Italian products to enter the Chinese market.

Italy opposes "decoupling and breaking of industrial and supply chains" and protectionism, she said, adding that her country is pleased to play a positive role in pushing for solid progress of EU-China relations.

The two sides issued an action plan on strengthening their comprehensive strategic partnership (2024-2027).

At the invitation of Chinese Premier Li Qiang, Meloni is on an official visit to China from July 27 to 31.

Xi meets Italian prime minister

Xi meets Italian prime minister

Xi meets Italian prime minister

China has taken the lead worldwide in hitting back the so-called "reciprocal tariffs" by the U.S. on its trading partners, demonstrating China's determination to safeguard its rights and interests, according to a commentary by Yuyuan Tantian, a media outlet affiliated with China Media Group (CMG), published on Saturday.

An edited English-language version of the commentary is as follows:

China's Customs Tariff Commission of the State Council announced Friday that the country will impose additional 34-percent tariffs on all products imported from the United States starting from April 10.

The announcement follows the U.S. decision to impose "reciprocal tariffs" on Chinese exports to the United States on Wednesday.

Why have China's countermeasures come so swiftly and decisively?

Firstly, due to eight years of continued trade frictions with the U.S., China had already been restructuring its import demand for American goods.

Take soybeans as an example. Before the China-U.S. trade frictions began in 2018, the United States was China's largest soybean supplier, accounting for 34.4 percent of China's total imports.

However, the proportion dropped sharply then, with South American countries like Brazil turning into the main sources of China's soybean imports.

Meanwhile, China, with improved reserve system, has produced over 20 million tons of soybeans annually for three consecutive years since 2022, thus further reducing the country's dependence on imports.

Second, China's efforts to promote the "dual circulation" of markets both internally and internationally have provided companies with more diverse market choices.

In 2024, China's imports and exports to countries participating in the Belt and Road Initiative grew by 6.4 percent, taking up 50.3 percent of the total foreign trade. In breakdown, the growth rates of trade with Latin America, Africa, the five Central Asian countries, as well as Central and Eastern Europe stood at 7.2 percent, 6.1 percent, 7.2 percent, and 7.5 percent, respectively. In addition, emerging markets, including ASEAN countries, have contributed nearly 60 percent to China's foreign trade market.

At the same time, China is also continuing to help local foreign trade enterprises to expand their domestic sales channels.

These diverse channels at home and abroad are conducive to helping Chinese firms cope with the impacts of U.S. trade policy, which is one of the reasons why China has remained calm in its handling the trade war.

Following the U.S. move to slap "reciprocal tariffs" on all its trading partners, many nations have expressed their intention to take countermeasures, including the European Union (EU), Japan, South Korea, India and ASEAN countries.

In particular, the EU has issued warnings one after another, saying that it has prepared a set of countermeasures against the United States, not just limited to imposing tariffs.

After receiving these warnings for countermeasures, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in an interview with Bloomberg, "I wouldn't try to retaliate. As long as you don't retaliate, this is the high end of the number."

His remarks indicate a U.S. negotiation strategy that begins with an excessive gambit so as to leave room for later concessions.

In other words, the tariffs aim to win leverage over U.S. trade partners by creating enough pressure to force the other parties to give in.

If any country subject to the tariffs shows any sign of hesitation or compromise in exchange for tariff reductions, they leave the door open to allow the U.S. to exert more pressure.

The move taken by the U.S. does not conform to international trade rules, represents a typical act of unilateral bullying, seriously undermines other nations' legitimate rights and interests, and jeopardizes global economic development and the stability of industrial and supply chains.

As the first nation in the world to roll out resolute and swift countermeasures against U.S. "reciprocal tariffs", China has sent a clear message to the world -- it will not hesitate to resolutely fight back against any unilateral bullying that violates international rules.

The U.S. should immediately lift its unilateral tariff measures and resolve trade disputes through consultations on the basis of equality, respect and mutual benefits.

Tariffs will not crush China and other countries. It is the United States that will be the one to pay the heaviest price.

China shows firm resolve in striking back on US "reciprocal tariffs": commentary