It had been expected for a long time – now, according to the media, Italy has announced its withdrawal from China’s “New Silk Road” infrastructure project. To date, the country was the only G7 member involved.
According to media reports, Italy is withdrawing from the major Chinese project “New Silk Road”. The government in Rome has officially informed China of the withdrawal, Italian newspapers and several news agencies report.
Accordingly, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni informed Beijing through a verbal note from the Foreign Ministry. At the same time, it was assured that Italy wanted to maintain its strategic partnership with China.
There has been no official confirmation of this yet. However, Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said at a conference organized by the Adnkronos news agency: “The Silk Road is not our priority. We have seen that the Silk Road has not brought the hoped-for effects. On the contrary: those who are not part of the Silk Road project, have achieved better results.”
Agreement would have been automatically extended
Since 2019, Italy has been the only G7 country to be a member of China’s state and party leader Xi Jinping’s infrastructure project. The decision was made by a previous administration in which Meloni was not involved.
The leader of the far-right Fratelli d’Italia (Brothers of Italy) party had already made it clear before her election victory last year that she wanted to leave. But she still wanted to avoid provoking Beijing and risking retaliation against Italian companies.
In recent months there has been speculation that enforcement is imminent. The agreement expires in March 2024 and would have been automatically extended if Italy had not expressly terminated it at least three months in advance.
New route along the ancient Silk Road
The People’s Republic has been building a new route along the legendary ancient Silk Road for years with several hundred billion dollars. This is intended to reach numerous countries, including the countries of Eastern Europe.
The EU criticizes that China is making poorer countries dependent on itself with this trade project. In competition with the Chinese “Silk Road” project, several countries want to decide to expand railway lines and ports in the Middle East and South Asia – with the participation of the USA and the EU.