Beijing, Rome eye revitalizing teamwork

China-EU ties, the global situation and resuming bilateral teamwork affected by the COVID-19 pandemic are high on the latest meeting of senior Beijing and Rome diplomats.

Wang Yi, a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and director of the Office of the Foreign Affairs Commission of the CPC Central Committee, met with Italian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Antonio Tajani in Rome on Thursday.

Speaking on China-EU ties, Wang said China attaches importance to Italy's status and influence in the international arena and "expects Italy to make active contributions to the development of China-EU relations".

Tajani noted that as EU and China are important markets for each other, both sides should strengthen cooperation to promote mutual investment and expand the scale of trade, he said.

On global affairs, Wang said China is willing to agree to jointly safeguard the core status of the United Nations, uphold the norms of international relations based on the purposes of the UN Charter, jointly advocate for and practice multilateralism, and promote the democratization of international relations and economic globalization.

Tajani said Italy attaches importance to international affairs such as UN Security Council reform and is willing to strengthen coordination and cooperation with China.

The two sides had an in-depth exchange of views on the Ukraine issue as well.

Wang Yi stressed that on the Ukraine issue, what China has been doing is to urge for peace and promote peace talks.

"The more complicated the situation is, the more necessary it is to persevere in political and diplomatic efforts to find a solution acceptable to all parties," he said.

Tajani appreciated China for being on the side of peace and expressed his willingness to strengthen cooperation with China and make joint efforts to persuade peace and promote talks.

In terms of bilateral ties, Wang said Beijing attaches great importance to China-Italy relations, and is willing to agree to deepen comprehensive strategic cooperation so that the two countries can achieve a higher level of development for their ties.

He said that China has successfully controlled the COVID-19 epidemic, its economy has recovered in a robust manner, and people-to-people exchanges between home and abroad have resumed in an orderly manner.

China and Italy can fully restart exchanges and cooperation in various fields and take actions as soon as possible, he said.

He noted that the ancient Silk Road has linked the two peoples, and the signing of the Belt and Road cooperation document between Italy and China "has greatly raised the strategic level of bilateral relations".

The two sides can tap into the potential for cooperation in green economy, digital economy and third-party markets to yield more results, he said.

China is willing to import more Italian quality products and support Italian enterprises to expand their market share in China, he said, adding that Beijing "hopes that Italy will provide a fair, transparent and non-discriminatory business environment for Chinese enterprises".

Tajani said Italy and China have long-standing friendly relations. Facing the new situation following the pandemic, Italy looks forward to restarting bilateral cooperation mechanisms with China as soon as possible.