Italy seeks more Chinese help in security and humanitarian crises in Mediterranean and North Africa
Just as Roman Empire connected with China along the Silk Road, Ambassador to China Ettore Sequi says Italy wants to take advantage of One Belt One Road
Italy has called on China to contribute more to the fight against terrorism and help stabilise the Middle East and Northern Africa, as the world’s number two economy shows an increasing interest and exposure in the region, its ambassador to Beijing says.
“We expect a growing Chinese presence in the Mediterranean region in the years to come,” Ambassador Ettore Sequi told the South China Morning Post. Just as the Roman Empire connected to ancient China via the Silk Road, Italy now wished to take more advantage from President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) “One Belt One Road”.
Greater flows of trade and investment will bring more Chinese nationals to the region, and with them the exposure of China to the risks that the region has for centuries presented to outside powers that settled there,” Sequi said.
China, increasingly aware of the challenges posed by terrorism and extremism at home and abroad, has stepped up security precautions and issued its first counter terrorism law.
On Thursday Foreign Minister Wang Yi (王毅) told Khaled Khoja, the visiting leader of the Western-backed opposition Syrian National Coalition (SNC), that China would continue to play a constructive role in finding a political resolution for Syrian issues and continue to provide humanitarian aid to refugees.
Khoja visited Beijing a fortnight after Syrian foreign minister Walid Muallem as Beijing seeks to bring both sides in the conflict to the negotiating table.