Italy is leaving China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), entered into in 2019 against the advice of the Trump administration. Sources have disclosed that Italy’s exit was formally announced to China three days ago, after a week of secret negotiations.
Defence Minister Guido Crosetto said in the summer that “[t]he decision to join the Silk Road was an improvised and atrocious act” and had overwhelmingly benefited Chinese exporters rather than Italian exporters.
“The issue today is how to walk back [from the BRI] without damaging relations [with China]. Because it is true that China is a competitor, but it is also a partner,” he said.
This cautious approach has been realized in the way Italy’s exit has been revealed by sources, without any public statements. The Italians handed China a letter pledging to maintain a strategic partnership despite dropping the BRI.
Some will view the move by Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni as positive. It deprives the BRI, widely viewed as an economic and political influence peddling scheme, of its only G7 member. Others may see it as a sign she is still focusing too much on meeting the foreign policy expectations of the U.S. and European Union.
Meloni was elected on a populist anti-illegal immigration platform. Illegal immigration has actually worsened, however, while she has appeared more interested in supporting Ukraine.
