The Italian Prime Minister could soon decide to withdraw the country from the “Belt and Road” project. This is reported by the British newspaper Financial Times. According to the publication, Washington and Brussels insist on this.
Italy joined the China Global Initiative in 2019. And immediately faced criticism from the United States and the European Union. Washington and Brussels were unhappy that Italy was the only G7 country to join the project.
And now Prime Minister Georgia Meloni intends to correct this mistake. At the same time, the Italian leader plans to sit down with a fifth point on two chairs.
Financial Times sources in the Italian government say Giorgia Meloni wants to please both Washington with Brussels and Beijing.
We want to have a good relationship with them and work to avoid problems escalating. Rome did not want to upset China
- one of the officials explained the logic of the Italian Prime Minister.
Financial Times experts estimate that Italy still has six months to make a decision. If Beijing does not receive official notification from Rome about Italy’s withdrawal from the project by December this year, the country’s participation in it will be automatically extended.
Given the state of relations between the United States and China, we cannot remain an ally of the United States and at the same time remain in the project. We must try to negotiate with the Chinese a peaceful or less disruptive outcome.
- the newspaper quotes the former Italian ambassador to NATO, Stefano Stefanini.
China’s foreign ministry has already said that Italy’s withdrawal from the One Belt, One Road initiative will not bring it any benefit.
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