INTENSIVE INTERACTION

The relations with major powers are always cornerstones of China's diplomacy. Germany, Russia, Italy, as leading European states, are all among such major powers.

China and Germany have witnessed intensive top-level exchanges since the beginning of this year. Chinese President Xi Jinping visited the European economic power house in March, which was followed by a tour of Merkel to China four months later.

"Germany is the most important cooperation partner of China in Europe. Their cooperation, exceeding China's cooperation with any other European state from the perspectives of both broadness and depth, has been playing a leading and pilot role in the development of the China-Europe relationship," said Mei.

He noted that it is rare in the history of the Sino-German relations to see such intensive exchanges of top-level visits in one year.

In another development, Li's visit to Russia as premier will be carried out against the backdrop of a historic meeting between President Xi and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in Shanghai in May, when the two heads of states jointly announced the arrival of a new era for the China-Russia comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination.

"At the present time the bilateral relations are at the highest level ever. Ties between the two countries are the closest in different areas. This is the pinnacle of the relations and a basis for their further improvement," said Berger.

As for the China-Italy relationship, Cui Hongjian, director of the Department for European Studies of the China Institute of International Studies, said that "Italy is an important member of the European Union, with which China can find a lot of areas to conduct cooperation."

Located at a very key geographic hinge, Italy can help China expand its relations and cooperation with other South Europe countries. Therefore, the Sino-Italian ties have both bilateral and regional significance, he said.

Experts believed Premier Li's trip will further enrich the content of the pragmatic cooperation between China and the destination countries, inject fresh momentum into the Asia-Europe cooperation, benefit the economic development in China, Germany, Russia and Italy, and bring a broader perspective to the stability and development in Asia and Europe.