BEIJING (AP) — 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.
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Chinese President Xi Jinping attends a meeting with Italian President Sergio Mattarella at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, Friday, Nov. 8, 2024. (Florence Lo/Pool Photo via AP)
Italian President Sergio Mattarella attends a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, not pictured, at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, Friday, Nov. 8, 2024. (Florence Lo/Pool Photo via AP)
Italian President Sergio Mattarella attends a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, Friday, Nov. 8, 2024. (Florence Lo/Pool Photo via AP)
Chinese President Xi Jinping, second from left, attends a meeting with Italian President Sergio Mattarella, fourth from right, at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, Friday, Nov. 8, 2024. (Florence Lo/Pool Photo via AP)
Italian President Sergio Mattarella speaks before a signing ceremony at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, Friday, Nov. 8, 2024. (Florence Lo/Pool Photo via AP)
Chinese President Xi Jinping, right, and Italian President Sergio Mattarella arrive for a signing ceremony at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, Friday, Nov. 8, 2024. (Florence Lo/Pool Photo via AP)
Chinese President Xi Jinping, left, and Italian President Sergio Mattarella review the honor guard during a welcome ceremony at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing Friday, Nov. 8, 2024. (Florence Lo/Pool Photo via AP)
Chinese President Xi Jinping, right, and Italian President Sergio Mattarella shake hands at a signing ceremony at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, Friday, Nov. 8, 2024. (Florence Lo/Pool Photo via AP)
Chinese President Xi Jinping, right, and Italian President Sergio Mattarella shake hands at a signing ceremony at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, Friday, Nov. 8, 2024. (Florence Lo/Pool Photo via AP)
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.
Chinese President Xi Jinping attends a meeting with Italian President Sergio Mattarella at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, Friday, Nov. 8, 2024. (Florence Lo/Pool Photo via AP)
Italian President Sergio Mattarella attends a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, not pictured, at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, Friday, Nov. 8, 2024. (Florence Lo/Pool Photo via AP)
Italian President Sergio Mattarella attends a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, Friday, Nov. 8, 2024. (Florence Lo/Pool Photo via AP)
Chinese President Xi Jinping, second from left, attends a meeting with Italian President Sergio Mattarella, fourth from right, at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, Friday, Nov. 8, 2024. (Florence Lo/Pool Photo via AP)
Italian President Sergio Mattarella speaks before a signing ceremony at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, Friday, Nov. 8, 2024. (Florence Lo/Pool Photo via AP)
Chinese President Xi Jinping, right, and Italian President Sergio Mattarella arrive for a signing ceremony at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, Friday, Nov. 8, 2024. (Florence Lo/Pool Photo via AP)
Chinese President Xi Jinping, left, and Italian President Sergio Mattarella review the honor guard during a welcome ceremony at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing Friday, Nov. 8, 2024. (Florence Lo/Pool Photo via AP)
Chinese President Xi Jinping, right, and Italian President Sergio Mattarella shake hands at a signing ceremony at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, Friday, Nov. 8, 2024. (Florence Lo/Pool Photo via AP)
Chinese President Xi Jinping, right, and Italian President Sergio Mattarella shake hands at a signing ceremony at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, Friday, Nov. 8, 2024. (Florence Lo/Pool Photo via AP)
BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — Donald Trump's biggest European fan, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, is predicting that a new U.S. administration under Trump will cease providing support to Ukraine in its fight against Russia's full-scale invasion.
Orbán's comments were a signal that Trump's recent election could drive a wedge among EU leaders on the question of the war.
Hungary's leader is hosting the second of two days of summits Friday in the capital, Budapest, just days after Trump's election victory. The war in Ukraine will be high on the agenda for a gathering of the EU's 27 leaders, most of whom believe continuing to supply Ukraine with weapons and financial assistance are key elements for the continent's security.
The nationalist Hungarian leader has long sought to undermine EU support for Kyiv, and routinely blocked, delayed or watered down the bloc’s efforts to provide weapons and funding and to sanction Moscow for its invasion. He has sought to use the summits to make his case to other leaders that they should rethink their commitments to Ukraine.
In comments to state radio before Friday's summit, Orbán, who is close to both Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, reiterated his long-held position that an immediate cease-fire should be declared, and suggested that Ukraine has already lost its fight.
“If Donald Trump had won in 2020 in the United States, these two nightmarish years wouldn’t have happened. There wouldn’t have been a war,” Orbán said. “The situation on the front is obvious, there’s been a military defeat. The Americans are going to pull out of this war.”
Armed conflict in Ukraine began in 2014, the same year Moscow illegally annexed the Crimean Peninsula, when pro-Russia separatist forces declared part of the country’s east to be independent, resulting in clashes with Ukrainian troops. Thousands of people were killed in the fighting that continued in the east, including during Trump’s first term, before Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022.
More recently, Russian forces have made modest gains in the east of Ukraine, although positions on the front lines have remained relatively stable for months. Still, as the duration of the war approaches 1,000 days, Ukraine’s forces are struggling to match Russia’s military, which is much bigger and better equipped.
Western support is crucial for Ukraine to sustain the costly war of attrition, and uncertainty over how long that aid will continue deepened this week with Trump's presidential election victory. The Republican has repeatedly taken issue with U.S. aid to Ukraine and declared he would bring a quick end to the conflict without detailing how.
At a gathering on Thursday of European leaders in Budapest, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy objected to Trump's claim that Russia’s war with Ukraine could be ended in a day, something he and his European backers fear would mean peace on terms favorable to Putin and involving the surrender of territory.
“If it is going to be very fast, it will be a loss for Ukraine,” Zelenskyy said.
EU leaders have largely found workaround solutions to any obstruction to providing Zelenskyy with assistance, and have been able to signal their commitment to supporting Ukraine in its fight, regardless of who occupies the White House.
Arriving at Friday's summit, the EU's top diplomat, Josep Borrell, downplayed concerns that a new U.S. administration would lead Europe to change course.
“We cannot outsource our capacity of action. Whatever happens in the U.S., we have our interests, we have our values,” Borrell said.
Italy's hard-right leader, Premier Giorgia Meloni, who is aligned with Orbán on many issues but breaks with him sharply on Russia's war, said: “As long is there is a war, Italy is on the side of Ukraine.”
But Orbán has cast himself as the exemplar of some in the EU who are skeptical of providing indefinite support to Ukraine, especially in light of uncertainty over whether U.S. assistance could evaporate under Trump.
“This is a new situation,” he said of Trump's reelection. “If this is what's going on across the pond, then this is going to affect us Europeans too. Europe cannot finance this war alone.”
Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban, left, and European Council President Charles Michel, right, wait for the start of a plenary session during an EU Summit at the Puskas Arena in Budapest, Friday, Nov. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Denes Erdos)
Germany's Chancellor Olaf Scholz arrives for a plenary session during an EU Summit at the Puskas Arena in Budapest, Friday, Nov. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Denes Erdos)
Poland's Prime Minister Donald Tusk, center, arrives for an EU Summit at the Puskas Arena in Budapest, Hungary, Friday, Nov. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)
French President Emmanuel Macron, left, speaks with Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban as he arrives for an EU Summit at the Puskas Arena in Budapest, Hungary, Friday, Nov. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen waits for the start of a plenary session during an EU Summit at the Puskas Arena in Budapest, Friday, Nov. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Denes Erdos)
Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni speaks with the media as she arrives for an EU Summit at the Puskas Arena in Budapest, Hungary, Friday, Nov. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)
Netherland's Prime Minister Dick Schoof arrives for an EU Summit at the Puskas Arena in Budapest, Hungary, Friday, Nov. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)
Lithuania's President Gitanas Nauseda arrives for an EU Summit at the Puskas Arena in Budapest, Hungary, Friday, Nov. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)
European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell speaks with the media as he arrives for an EU Summit at the Puskas Arena in Budapest, Hungary, Friday, Nov. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)
Denmark's Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen speaks with the media as she arrives for an EU Summit at the Puskas Arena in Budapest, Hungary, Friday, Nov. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)
Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban gestures during arrivals for an EU Summit at the Puskas Arena in Budapest, Hungary, Friday, Nov. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, center, speaks with Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban, right, as she arrives for an EU Summit at the Puskas Arena in Budapest, Hungary, Friday, Nov. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)
Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban, second left, speaks with the media at arrivals for an EU Summit at the Puskas Arena in Budapest, Hungary, Friday, Nov. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, center left, speaks with Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban, center right, as he arrives for the European Political Community (EPC) Summit at the Puskas Arena in Budapest, Hungary, Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Petr Josek)
