A frank appeal, without “veils” because this is how it is convenient “among friends”. To escape isolationist temptations, in an international scenario that now risks being modeled in the image and likeness of Donald Trump. On the second day of the official visit to Beijing, the Head of State Sergio Mattarella asks China to do its part.
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In the war in Ukraine, so that he «makes use of his great authority on the international stage to reiterate his traditional position in support of the norms of coexistence of the international community». But also on international markets, breaking the “barriers” and “fences” mentioned the day before in front of President Xi Jinping. «No one in Europe, least of all Italy, imagines a season of protectionism» makes it clear the President of the Republic who met Prime Minister Li Qiang yesterday, hoping for a return in relations between China and Europe to «fair and fair competition” that leads to “mutually advantageous agreements”.
Beida University, Beijing. Mattarella, on a state visit together with Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani, holds a lectio magistralis in one of the most important universities in the capital, twenty-eight thousand students trained in those classrooms every year. And many turn out to listen to the Italian president. Which starts from the bilateral relations between Italy and China, cooperation in the cultural field in the name of Marco Polo whose 700th anniversary of his birth is being celebrated. To get to build “a future of peace” together.
Mattarella takes the Ukrainian issue head on. With decisive words on Russian aggression which in fact did not receive unanimous applause from the Chinese students. «War destroys everything», he begins, «it prevents there being winners». And again: «It is unthinkable that a permanent member of the UN Security Council would violate, as the Russian Federation did by invading Ukraine, fundamental norms of international law by using force against its smaller neighbor to impose its will on it. To acquiesce in such behavior would mean consigning the community of states to barbarism.”
Therefore the invitation addressed to the Chinese government to exercise a role of true mediation – so far absent, indeed nullified by the siding alongside Moscow – so that «the brutal Russian aggression against the independence and territorial integrity of Ukraine, the first step towards a just peace on the basis of the principles of the United Nations Charter”. No less useful could be a real entry into the field of Chinese diplomacy, notes Mattarella, to try to extinguish the Middle Eastern powder keg and avoid an all-out war between Israel and Iran. In the hope that “China will want to add its voice so that the various regional actors exercise restraint and a two-state solution between Israel and Palestine can finally be implemented.”
Very busy agenda on the second day of the state visit. The meeting and handshake with Premier Li in the People’s Hall and with the President of the National People’s Congress of China Zhao Leji. Then at the University of Beida, the inauguration of a chair of “Italian Studies” financed by the Agnelli foundation (John Elkann among those present).
The common thread is bilateral relations, to be relaunched in a world in turmoil, shaken by the return of Trump and Trumpism on the international scene, with what this entails for the market and cooperation with China.
Mattarella, it was said, chooses a frank register. He explains, for example, that the good offices between Rome and Beijing must be able to coexist with “some criticism, for example on human rights, without these being considered inferences”. Trade is also welcome, provided that China removes “the barriers that hinder access to the Chinese market for excellent Italian products”. Clear agreements, long “friendship”.
