In what may be seen as a huge blow to Beijing’s plans, Italy has decided to quit China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), popularly known as the new Silk Route.

On September 9, 2023, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni informed her Chinese counterpart Li Qiang that although her country would soon exit from Beijing’s ambitious initiative, Rome would maintain cordial ties with the Asian Giant. The meeting between Prime Minister Meloni and Prime Minister Li on the sidelines of the G20 Summit in the Indian capital of New Delhi was a significant one, as Rome openly expressed its desire to quit BRI. The Italian Prime Minister stressed that the multibillion-dollar infrastructure initiative failed to bring any benefits for the European country.

It may be noted that Italy had officially signed a pact in 2019 to join the BRI. During his visit to Beijing on September 5 (2023), Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani spoke critically about the BRI, stating that it “did not bring the results we expected”. He claimed that a number of political parties in Italy were against the European country’s participation in the Chinese Initiative.

Ahead of the 18th G20 Summit held in India on September 9-10, 2023, China announced that it would hold a third conference of the BRI in Beijing in October. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Meloni hinted that her government would make a final decision in this regard by the end of December 2023. It is unclear whether Italy would attend the BRI conference in October. According to the Italian PM, the paradox is that “even if Italy is part of the BRI, it is not the G7 country with the strongest trading links to China”.

Earlier in July 2023, Italian Defence Minister Guido Crosetto claimed that Rome had made an “improvised and atrocious” decision to join China’s BRI four years ago. He argued that the move did little to boost exports. It may be noted that Italy is the only major Western nation to have joined the BRI.

Boundless Ocean of Politics on Facebook

Boundless Ocean of Politics on Twitter

Boundless Ocean of Politics on Linkedin

Contact: kousdas@gmail.com

Published by Koushik Das

Koushik Das (born on May 16, 1976 in Kolkata) is a career journalist. Based in the Indian capital of New Delhi, Koushik writes mainly about foreign policies and current geopolitical issues, and rarely about other topics. His own political ideas are highly influenced by Antonio Gramsci, Louis Althusser, Michel Foucault, Michael Oakeshott and others. English philosopher and political theorist Oakeshott (Dec 11, 1901-Dec 19, 1990) says that “in political activity, men sail a boundless and bottomless sea. There is neither harbour for shelter nor floor for anchorage, neither starting-place, nor appointed destination. But we have to keep afloat”. (Rationalism in Politics, 1962) As a student of Political Science, Koushik loves to share his views on issues, which have great impacts on his thought process (and also on India, South Asia and of course on the global community), with his readers through his website – Boundless Ocean of Politics. By doing so, he tries to keep himself afloat. You will find some of his articles in https://inserbia.info/today/ (https://inserbia.info/today/author/kou_das13_i/), as he has been trying to assess the global geopolitics since 2003. You can also mail him at kousdas@gmail.com View all posts by Koushik Das