Guido Crosetto told Italian media that joining the Belt and Road Initiative was a “improved and atrocious” option.
Italy’s choice to join China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) was a mistake from which Rome is now trying to recover, Defence Minister Guido Crosetto told Corriere della Sera on Sunday.
Italy became the first Western country to sign up to the Chinese proposal in 2019. Trade obstacles between China and Italy were reduced as part of the accord, and Beijing agreed to invest in Italian ports and train infrastructure.
“The decision to join the [New] Silk Road was an improvised and atrocious act,” Crosetto told the newspaper, referring to the initiative’s widespread nickname. Crosetto explained that while Chinese imports to Italy have tripled since the agreement’s implementation, Italian exports to China have only increased modestly.
“The issue today is how to walk back [from the BRI] without jeopardising relations [with Beijing],” said the minister. “Because it is true that China is a competitor, but it is also a partner.”
Italy is likely, but not guaranteed, to withdraw from the proposal. After meeting with US President Joe Biden in Washington this week, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni told Fox News that she will hold negotiations with Beijing about a possible pullout.
In 2019, Chinese President Xi Jinping visited Italy to sign the BRI deal with populist Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte, who led a right-wing government with Matteo Salvini as deputy premier at the time. Despite being a nominal right-winger, Meloni has attempted to distance herself from Conte and Salvini’s views.
Unlike her predecessors, Meloni has ingratiated herself with Washington and Brussels by promising unlimited military aid to Ukraine at the risk of her own approval ratings. Furthermore, despite coming to power last year promising a tough crackdown on all African immigration, Meloni announced this week that “Europe and Italy need immigration,” proposing to accept nearly 500,000 migrants through legal channels.
A rupture with China would solidify Meloni as a dependable US ally. However, China’s state-run Global Times warned on Friday that “the idea of sacrificing cooperation with China under BRI in order to gain something from the US is a miscalculation.”
“The approach adopted by the US is ultimately not beneficial for the economies of European countries, including Italy, as it is exclusive and driven by unilateralism and protectionism,” Chinese academic Cui Hongjian told Global Times. “In stark contrast, China advocates free trade and an open economy, which are the true core values of cooperation.”
