Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni trumpeted China’s potential for helping bring an end to Russia’s grinding war in Ukraine, as she forged closer ties with the world’s No. 2 economy.
While Meloni said Beijing’s backing of the Russian industrial complex was an area of "great friction,” at press briefing in Beijing on Tuesday, she cited President Xi Jinping’s government as an important stakeholder in finding a solution to the conflict.
"I believe China can become, starting from the principles of sovereignty and territorial integrity that it always appeals to, a key player in helping identify the elements of a just peace,” Meloni said of the war in Ukraine, during her first official visit to the Asian nation since coming to power in 2022.