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China-EU relations
ChinaDiplomacy

China seeks Italy’s support for Beijing Olympics in Xi-Draghi phone call

  • The Chinese president also called on Rome to play an active role in promoting stable China-Europe relations
  • Italian prime minister said his country hoped to strengthen cooperation with China through multilateral platforms like the G20

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Chinese President Xi Jinping called for Rome’s support of next year’s Winter Games in Beijing during a phone call with Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi. Photo: AP
Wendy Wu
Chinese President Xi Jinping rallied support for the Beijing Winter Olympics and promised to back Rome’s hosting of the Group of 20 summit later this year, in a phone conversation with Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi on Tuesday night.

Xi called on Rome to “play an active role” in pushing forward “healthy and stable” China-Europe relations, according to the Chinese foreign ministry.

He said the two countries should “firmly support each other in successfully hosting the Winter Olympics in Beijing in 2022 and Milan in 2026” and use the events to “boost bilateral cooperation in winter sports and related industries”.

04:50

What can Beijing 2022 learn from the pandemic-delayed Tokyo 2020 Olympics?

What can Beijing 2022 learn from the pandemic-delayed Tokyo 2020 Olympics?
There are growing calls in the West for a diplomatic boycott of next year’s Winter Games in response to alleged human rights abuses in the far-western Chinese region of Xinjiang and the implementation of the national security law in Hong Kong.
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The European Parliament passed a non-binding motion in July backing a diplomatic boycott, under which countries would not send officials or heads of state to the Beijing Olympics which are due to be held in February.

Italy takes the G20 presidency this year and will host the leadership summit in Rome on October 30-31. Beijing is still weighing whether Xi will attend in person or via video link, due to pandemic concerns, according to sources.

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Chinese leaders have said Beijing is ready to work with Italy – the only one of the advanced G7 economies to officially endorse China’s Belt and Road Initiative – to intensify bilateral ties by promoting trade and investment through the massive outbound investment strategy.
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