His last post was in Beijing as director of the Department of Treaty and Law. Previously, he served as ambassador in Lima. Under his mandate, Peru joined the Belt and Road initiative in 2019, a Chinese global strategy criticised by PM Meloni
New Chinese ambassador. On Tuesday, the Italian Foreign Ministry announced that President Sergio Mattarella had approved the appointment of Mr Jia Guide as the ambassador of the People’s Republic of China to Italy.
- His last post was in Beijing as director of the Department of Treaty and Law.
- Fifty-six years old, he is married with one child. He studied at Peking University and held a master’s degree in environmental law from George Washington University. He joined the diplomatic service in the Nineties and alternated posts at the Foreign Ministry (always at the Department of Treaty and Law) with those abroad: Kingston (Jamaica), Vienna (at the United Nations) and then became ambassador to Peru (2015-2019). Under his mandate, Peru joined the Belt and Road initiative in 2019.
Jia Guide’s hot tenure. A few weeks before, Italy became the first and only G7 country to enter the Belt and Road Initiative. PM Giorgia Meloni will likely walk away from the agreement, sparking possible reactions from China.
- The MoU will renew itself in March 2024 unless either Italy or China have anything to say about it. If PM Meloni is still at the helm by then, said Defence Minister Guido Crosetto, “our position will not change”. Thus, he sees “a possible renewal as unlikely.”
- Recently, Taiwan debuted in Italian-US relations.
- Last month, US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman met with Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani. According to Washington’s readout, the two “discussed further deepening our alliance to address global challenges including energy security and our opposition to unilateral efforts to change the status quo in the Taiwan Strait.
- Also, investments by Chinese state giants such as Cosco will be hot topics for ambassador Jia Guide’s tenure.
