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Italian Foreign minister Antonio Tajani visits China as country’s participation in Belt and Road Initiative hangs in balance
- Tajani has said the scheme has not brought Italy the benefits it expected, but has also made it clear the country wants to maintain economic ties
- Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has frequently threatened to pull out of the deal, but so far has not confirmed that she will do so
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The Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani arrived in China on Sunday with the country’s future participation in the Belt and Road Initiative likely to be top of the agenda for his visit.
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Italy was the only Group of 7 country to sign up to the transcontinental infrastructure project but a memorandum of understanding it signed on the project is set to expire in March.
Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has been a long-term critic of the plan, but has yet to confirm that the country will be pulling out.
Before departing for Beijing, Tajani – the most senior Italian official to visit China since the Covid-19 pandemic – said the plan had not brought “the results we expected”. He added that Italy would like to work with Beijing but wants a “level playing field”.
Wang Yiwei, an European affairs expert at Renmin University, said: “[Italy] didn’t really want to quit. It just wanted to send a message to the United States.
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“This has been talked about for more than a year ... This is because it still wants to get some more benefits from China.”
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