Italy’s Meloni: Good China relations possible without Belt and Road

Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said on Sunday that the country can enjoy good relations with China even without being part of Beijing’s controversial Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).

Meloni gave her strongest remarks to date on the BRI in an interview with the Italian daily Il Messaggero amid speculation that Italy might soon drop out of Beijing’s global infrastructure project, which Rome joined in 2019, drawing criticism from the U.S.

“Italy is the only G7 member that signed up to the accession memorandum to the Silk Road, but it is not the European or Western country with the strongest economic relations and trade flows with China,” the Italian leader noted in the interview.

“This means that it is possible to have good relations with Beijing, also in important domains, without them necessarily being part of an overall strategic plan,” she added.

Her comments come one week after G7 leaders met in Hiroshima, Japan, where they stressed the need to “de-risk” from China.

Meloni said that her government is still considering its decision on BRI. Italy’s participation in the Chinese program is set to be renewed automatically for five more years in March 2024 if neither side withdraws with a three-month notice.

Italy’s exports to China trail those of other EU countries that are not part of BRI such as Germany, France and the Netherlands, according to European Commission data from 2022. 

Critics note that Rome’s decision to enter the China-led group did not improve its trade deficit with Beijing. China’s exports to Italy grew by 51 percent from 2019 to 2022, while its imports from the EU country rose by only half (26 percent) during the same years, according to Italy’s Trade Agency.