. @luigidimaio said he talked to Wang Yi about Hong Kong as part of their discussion on “several heated international issues”. “We had a very fruitful bilateral meeting. We talked about bilateral strategic cooperation,” the Italian foreign minister said.

Italy is a founding EU member state, Di Maio said in emphasis.

On Covid, Di Maio thanked PRC’s provision of help when Italy was in the worst situation. On vaccine development, Italy said it hoped the successfully researched product would be an equitably distributed public good.

Italy complimented China for importing Italian agricultural products. Italy will join the 3rd International Import Expo in Shanghai in September, he said.

On industrial cooperation, Di Maio said he talked about energy and transport with Wang Yi. No details disclosed.

On China-EU cooperation, Di Maio stressed to Wang Italy hopes the China-EU extraordinary summit (on Sep 14) can reach consensus on EU China agenda, on important issues such as level playing field and IP rights, environmental protection, dialogue on human rights and basic rights

On Hong Kong, Di Maio: “I stressed that Italy and other EU member states together support HK’s stability and prosperity on the basis of one country, two systems”

“I also stressed that we believe HK’s high degree of autonomy and the protection of basic rights and human rights of the citizens are a must. We will continue to pay attention to these issues.”

Wang Yi below

“Italy is my first stop. This shows the significance of Italy in China’s diplomatic relations.” Wang Yi said

Wang began by stressing covid collaboration between Italy and China at the height of their respective pandemics. “We dispatched three medical teams to the worst affected parts of Italy to provide unreserved support... on the basis of Chinese people’s spirit of helpfulness.”

Wang rebutted accusations of “diplomacy of generosity” – a clear objection to @JosepBorrellF’s blog post.