Increase in trade despite the pandemic, willingness for political collaboration and the hope that the memorandum signed with Italy on the new Silk Road can be renewed, "in the interests of both".
Jia Guide, the new Chinese ambassador who took office in Rome a few weeks ago, presents himself in this interview with ANSA with his hand extended towards the host country.
ANSA - Ambassador Jia, you are arriving in Rome at a very delicate moment in relations between China and the West, while a war is raging in Europe triggered by the Russian invasion of Ukraine. What is the message you bring to Italy at the beginning of your mandate?
JIA GUIDE – “I am very honored to have taken office as ambassador of the People's Republic of China in Italy and, at the same time, I deeply perceive the importance of my mission.
We are undoubtedly at a time when the world is anything but peaceful, but I believe I started my mission in Italy at an opportune time.
The 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, which was held last October, sent a clear signal to the world: China's domestic and foreign policies will continue to remain stable and continuous.
China will persist in its policy of reform and opening up, pursue peaceful development, and continue to promote shared development and prosperity for all countries.
Last November,
President Xi Jinping met Prime Minister Meloni on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Bali and the two leaders expressed their desire to strengthen dialogue and contacts, improve mutual understanding and continue to promote bilateral cooperation at the economic-trade, cultural and in other sectors.
The meeting dictated the strategic guidelines and gave new impetus to Sino-Italian bilateral relations.
China has noted that Italy does not appreciate conflicts between sides and instead believes that differences and divergences between the parties must be respected.
Italy and China speak the same language on many aspects, such as commercial and cultural cooperation and support for multilateralism.
China has always attached great importance to the development of bilateral relations with Italy.
In the face of epochal changes such as the current ones, we must keep our feet firmly on the ground and our eyes turned to the future, but we must also treasure the wisdom and experiences of the past.
As the cradles of ancient civilizations, Italy and China must reasonably pass on and transmit the tradition of friendship, understand and support each other's most important interests and major concerns;
they must seek common ground while respecting differences, broaden consensus and infuse ever greater positive energy for world peace and stability.
'Well begun is half done'.
Although I only started my mission in Italy a few weeks ago,
I have already perceived sincere hope for the development of relations with China in Italian personalities from all walks of life.
My job is precisely to implement, diligently, and together with Italian colleagues, the many important agreements reached by our leaders and constantly promote an ever greater development of the Sino-Italian global strategic partnership.
In the near future, I intend to promote as a priority the resumption of face-to-face bilateral dialogue mechanisms at all levels;
I intend to promote and raise the level of effective cooperation in all sectors, and in particular in that of entering the Chinese market of an ever-increasing number of high-quality Italian products and in creating a bridge for the recovery of tourist flows and people between our two countries”.
ANSA - Italy has extended to February 28 the obligation of anti-Covid tests for arrivals from China to be presented at boarding and imposed spot checks at Italian airports. How do you judge this measure and what impact can it have on Chinese tourism?
JIA GUIDE – “The year of the rabbit brought with it an excellent start for Chinese tourism.
After the complete recovery of production and daily life, we are witnessing a clear growth in outbound tourism of Chinese citizens, with a gradual increase in both inbound and outbound flows which in the Chinese New Year holiday week alone exceeded 2.87 million people.
Overseas travel bookings by Chinese tourists grew 640% over the same period last year, and overseas airline ticket purchases quadrupled.
Many countries have warmly welcomed the arrival of Chinese tourists, for example, on the Jungfrau mountain in Switzerland, auspicious decorations and red lanterns have been prepared for the year of the rabbit,
a traditional lion dance show was organized at Bali airport in Indonesia and the Thai deputy premier went to the airport in person to welcome arriving Chinese tourists.
Looking at domestic tourism, during the New Year holidays, there were more than 300 million Chinese domestic trips, generating revenue for the domestic tourism industry of 37.5843 billion
renminbi
marking a fundamental return to pre-pandemic levels.
This strong tourist wave for the arrival of the year of the rabbit has shown how the Chinese people's aspiration for a good life and confidence in the country's development make more and more people in many different countries perceive the global value of strong drive of China's economic recovery and improvement of China's economic situation.
Tourism is one of the pillars of the Italian economy.
Official Italian data tell us that in 2019 there were 5.356 million Chinese tourists arriving in the Bel Paese and that Italy in that year was one of the European countries with the highest number of Chinese tourists.
I am convinced that the sensation of 'feeling at home' is one of the most important and attractive factors for Chinese tourists who come to Italy.
In the last period,
the Italian tourism departments and many operators in the sector have stated that they look favorably on the return of Chinese tourists to Italy and want to commit themselves to providing them with high quality services.
China is willing to work together with Italy to facilitate the resumption of bilateral flows of people".
ANSA - Italy is the only G7 country to have signed an MoU with Beijing on the Belt and Road in 2019, a framework agreement that will be automatically renewed in March 2024, unless the Italian government decides to revoke it in the meantime . Washington and Brussels, as well as some Italian parties, have never hidden their opposition to the agreement.
JIA GUIDE – “Facts trump rhetoric.
In 2019 Italy and China signed the memorandum of understanding on the Belt and Road, in asking ourselves what role this played, we can only look at a series of data and facts.
In the last three years, bilateral trade between Italy and China has faced the obstacles caused by the pandemic and set new records, reaching 77.88 billion dollars in 2022 and placing itself at the forefront at European level among the countries that have trade relations with China.
In recent years, Italy has become the European country to have signed the largest number of agreements for the export of food products to China and the latter has maintained its position as Italy's leading trading partner in Asia.
Italy was the guest of honor at the second edition of the China Import Expo and this year at the fourth edition of the China International Consumer Goods Fair;
it has also started a series of new collaborations with China in sectors with a large growth potential such as the Olympics and winter sports, so the prospects are rosy.
In addition to all this, we cannot forget the particular cultural and humanistic value that the ancient Silk Road has for our two countries.
President Xi Jinping said that the cooperation between Italy and China on the Belt and Road is a cooperation between 'natural partners'.
Right along the ancient Silk Road that dates back more than a thousand years with its routes stretching hundreds of thousands of kilometers, our two great civilizations met, admired each other,
Last year, the exhibition 'Tota Italia: the origins of an empire' saw a flow of more than three hundred thousand visitors in Beijing and received good wishes from the leaders of our two countries.
In recent days, I have been invited to the celebrations for the Chinese New Year and the arrival of the year of the rabbit in Rome, Florence and other places and I have had the opportunity to touch the 'closeness of hearts' and the beautiful friendship that bind the Italian and Chinese people.
History bears witness to the fact that the cultural development of the whole world and the progress of humanity are closely linked to inclusiveness and pursuing the right path of innovation.
I believe that two great nations like ours have the skills and wisdom to make the right choices with the flow of history,
ANSA - Ambassador, the US maintains that Chinese balloons are tools used by Beijing's army to spy on about 40 countries, including Italy. Do you rule out such an activity?
JIA GUIDE – “The Chinese side has acted with a responsible attitude and has communicated on the situation with the US side several times.
After immediate and comprehensive verification, we have confirmed that the related unmanned airship is of civilian nature and for meteorological research purposes.
Struck by the Westerlies and with limited self-steering capabilities, the airship deviated greatly from its planned course.
The Chinese side made the above information available to the US side as soon as it was verified.
The use of force by the United States marked an escalation and exacerbation of the situation.
The Chinese side reserves the right to provide further answers.
I would like to reiterate that, as a responsible country, China strictly adheres to international law,
ANSA - There has been talk of an upcoming mission to Rome, as part of a European tour, by former Foreign Minister Wang Yi, promoted at the end of 2022 to lead the diplomacy of the Communist Party. Can the Embassy confirm the visit? Furthermore, President Xi Jinping invited Prime Minister Meloni to visit China at their meeting last November on the sidelines of the G20. Are you working on a possible date?
JIA GUIDE – “China intends to continue to look at bilateral relations with Italy with a highly strategic and long-term vision.
Since our two countries established the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership in 2004, they have also fully valued the leading and driving force of high-level meetings and had a mutually supportive and understanding approach on issues affecting their respective key interests and major concerns.
All of this has become the driving force for the stable and lasting development of bilateral relations.
During this new year, the time to continue to strengthen the meetings at the highest levels between Italy and China is even more ripe, I am confident that this will promote a new impetus for the progress of bilateral relations.
Italy and China are in close dialogue on high-level meetings and there will be more interactions this year.
China intends to work with Italy to actively implement the agreements reached by the leaders of the two countries, in order to create greater well-being for the peoples of our two countries".
ANSA - Trade between Italy and China has continued to grow in recent years despite the pandemic. What are the sectors in which, in your opinion, there is still room for growth in the economic and trade relations between the two countries?
JIA GUIDE - "During the conversation with Prime Minister Meloni in Bali, President Xi Jinping emphasized his hope that Italy and China make the most of the Italy-China Government Committee and other bilateral dialogue mechanisms in all sectors and identify new ideas of growth for bilateral cooperation in sectors such as high-end manufacturing, clean energy, aviation and aerospace and third markets.
As I said just now, Sino-Italian trade has grown against the trend during the pandemic and has given new and strong confidence to the companies of the two countries.
The two sides still have great cooperation potential to explore in the areas I have outlined above;
companies can meet and carry out
matching
under the auspices of bilateral sectoral dialogue mechanisms, jointly explore new growth opportunities and unleash potential.
Furthermore, Sino-Italian cooperation in winter sports is flourishing and continues to grow.
With the expansion of the middle-income bracket of the Chinese population, the consumer demand in the economy for services in the health and healthcare, finance and insurance sectors will create new development opportunities for Italian companies as well.
The Italian excellences of these sectors can take advantage of the international fairs organized by China such as the China Import Expo, the China International Fair on Trade in Services, the Canton Fair,