Italian President Mattarella meets Chinese leader Xi in Beijing amid complex ties

BEIJING — Italian President Sergio Mattarella met with Chinese leader Xi Jinping Friday on an official visit to China that came as Russia’s full-on invasion of Ukraine pitted Rome's NATO allies against Beijing's support for Moscow.

The two exchanged greetings following a ceremony with full military honors at the Great Hall of the People in the heart of Beijing.

In his opening remarks, Xi referred to the 700th anniversary of Italian adventurer and trader Marco Polo's journey to China that encouraged cultural, economic and religious links between Europe and East Asia.

Italy is heavily reliant on foreign trade such as luxury products that have a large market in China. It is also a member of NATO, which China has blamed for provoking the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

Beijing has provided Moscow with assistance by purchasing its energy exports while selling it technology that can be used in drones and other armaments.

Any differences on political issues were not raised in front of the media and the two leaders later oversaw the signing of a series of agreements on matters from culture to technology and trade.

Italy has withdrawn from Xi's signature global Belt and Road Initiative that seeks to deepen China's relations with countries in Africa, Asia, Latin American and the Middle East through infrastructure investments.

Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni had declined to renew the agreement, but nevertheless visited China in July.

Italy became the first G7 country to sign on to the initiative in 2019, when the populist, anti-establishment Five Star Movement party-led government promoted it as a way of increasing trade with China while getting investments in major infrastructure projects. But neither appeared, and investments in Italian ports that were trumpeted in newspaper headlines were never achieved.