ExclusiveItaly ‘still proud to be part of EU’ amid stronger ties with China and coronavirus pandemic

Senior Italian foreign affairs official says all economies will need each other in post-coronavirus world

Countries will need common approach to revive battered economies, Manlio Di Stefano says

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Italy has been hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic. Photo: Reuters

Published: 12:05am, 2 Apr 2020Updated: 5:56am, 2 Apr 2020

In the weeks before Italy joined China’s Belt and Road Initiative last year, top foreign ministry officials in Rome made a flurry of calls to US and European ambassadors, trying to persuade them there was nothing to fear from the relationship with Beijing.

The coronavirus pandemic has only reinforced the drive for close ties between Italy and China, even as Italy makes European solidarity a top priority, according to Manlio Di Stefano, Italian undersecretary of foreign affairs.

“We want to be as close as possible [with China], but we know very well where we are: we are in Europe,” Di Stefano told the South China Morning Post on Tuesday.

“Everybody knows that Italy is very proud to be one of the EU’s founders. We have never looked at the geopolitical strategy we have [with China] as some alternative to the European Union. We believe that multilateralism is fundamental. That’s why we always kept very thorough dialogue with China, and we want to keep on doing that.”

Manlio Di Stefano, Italian undersecretary of foreign affairs, is seen in 2018. Photo: C3c3dj, CC by SA 4.0

Italy has the highest death toll in the world from the pandemic - more than 105,000 people in the country have contracted the virus, and more than 12,000 have died.