‘Never mind Mao, the Chinese wanted to talk about Maradona’: what 30 years of engagement taught one veteran statesman
- Romano Prodi, the former head of the European Commission, says his long experience of China has convinced him its rise cannot be stopped
- Ex-Italian PM got a sense of the country’s grand ambitions when he learned the country’s leaders were trying to court one of the world’s biggest sports stars
At a time when much of the Western world is questioning the nature of its engagement with China, one of its elder statesmen is convinced that Donald Trump is on the wrong track.
Romano Prodi, the former Italian prime minister and ex-president of the European Commission, says that based on more than 30 years’ experience of dealing with China, the US President’s strategy to delay the country’s rise by putting obstacles like the current trade war in its path is doomed to fail.
During a one-hour exclusive interview at his home in Bologna he told the South China Morning Post: “Even if the intention is to stop China, it’s too late. It’s too late. It’s too late. The United States is No 1 by far, but China’s growth is irreversible.”
His early encounters with the country and its leaders gave him an insight into the people behind the often dour Communist facade and have provided some valuable clues to their thinking and interests.
Around the turn of the last century, before meeting Chinese president Jiang Zemin, Prodi’s staff in Brussels had prepared a thick dossier for him to talk through with his guest.
