President Xi on deepening friendship with Italy

President Xi Jinping talked about deepening traditional friendship between China and Italy while meeting with Italian President Sergio Mattarella in Beijing on Friday.

"Mr. President, you are welcome to pay a state visit to China once again after an interval of seven years. You are the Chinese people's old friend and also my good friend. In recent years, Mr. President and I have successfully exchanged visits, and remained in close communication through phone calls and correspondence. Every exchange could deepen our friendship and enhance our mutual trust," said Xi.

"This year marks the 20th anniversary of the establishment of China-Italy comprehensive strategic partnership. In July, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni paid a successful visit to China, when the two sides issued an action plan to strengthen the comprehensive strategic partnership, and agreed to uphold the time-honored Silk Road spirit to advance bilateral relations into a new stage of development. I believe that Mr. President's current visit will inject even stronger impetus to the development of China-Italy relations at a new historical starting point, and bring greater benefits to the people of the two countries," said Xi.

"This year also marks the 700th anniversary of Marco Polo's death. As early as in the 13th century, this great Italian traveler could perceive and depict China without any prejudice, opening a door for the Western world to get to know about China, and inspiring generation after generation of friendly envoys to make outstanding contributions to exchanges and mutual learning between Eastern and Western civilizations. The world today is undergoing great changes unseen in a century. As two ancient civilizations, China and Italy should carry forward their traditions of openness and inclusiveness, push the international community to resolve differences through dialogs and transcend conflicts with cooperation, and join hands in building a beautiful world of harmonious coexistence," said Xi.

President Xi on deepening friendship with Italy

President Xi on deepening friendship with Italy

With China's southern island province of Hainan gearing up to launch its special customs operations, the expected higher level of openness is set to bring together high-quality resources from both China and abroad, providing crucial support for building a modern industrial system.

Hainan has outlined its strategic development framework for this modern industrial system with distinctive characteristics and advantages, featuring a tiered and structured layout, which has been dubbed "45432".

The first "4" stands for optimizing and upgrading the four leading industries: tourism, modern services, high-tech industries, and efficient tropical agriculture, which currently contribute over 67 percent of the provincial GDP.

The "5" signifies cultivating new quality productive forces along five strategic fronts, leveraging Hainan's unique advantages in climate, ocean depth, latitude, and green ecology to forge strengths in seed development, the marine economy, aerospace, green development, and the digital economy.

The second "4" reflects a forward-looking plan to develop four advanced industries: bio-manufacturing, hydrogen energy, brain-computer interfaces, and embodied AI.

The "3" focuses on excelling in three key consumption areas: expanding duty-free shopping, developing international healthcare, and refining education into world-class offerings.

Finally, the "2" underpins the entire structure by building Hainan into both an Island of Talent and an Island of Technological Innovation.

Together, the "45432" framework comprehensively connects industrial upgrading, cutting-edge innovation, premium consumption, and talent, cementing Hainan's role as a strategic and high-value frontier for broader opening-up and high-quality development.

Decoding Hainan's strategic blueprint for modern industrial system