Legal Insurrection by Vijeta Uniyal Monday, August 7, 2023
Italian Defense Minister Crosetto: “We exported a load of oranges to China, they tripled exports to Italy in three years.”Four years after joining the Chinese global infrastructure initiative, Italy is preparing to get out of the deal, the country’s Defense Minister Guido Crosetto announced in a recent interview.
The BRI brought no tangible trade benefits for Italy. The Chinese instead flooded the Italian market with their cheap goods, further raising the already high bilateral trade deficit. “We exported a load of oranges to China, they tripled exports to Italy in three years,” the defense minister said.
By pulling out of the project, Meloni is fulfilling her election promise. She called Italy’s entry into the Chinese infrastructure project “a big mistake.”
The DC-based journal Foreign Policy reported Friday:
China’s ambitions in Europe suffered a major setback this week when Italy signaled plans to leave Beijing’s flagship foreign-policy program, the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), underscoring a broader shift in Europe as governments grow increasingly wary of their economic dependence on Beijing.
While Beijing has long sought to expand its economic footprint in Europe, including by funneling money into BRI infrastructure projects, the biggest European economies largely refused to sign onto the initiative. That changed in 2019 when Italy diverged from its peers and became the BRI’s first and only G-7 member, a move that enraged Washington and represented a major political victory for China.
More:
https://legalinsurrection.com/2023/08/italy-quits-chinas-belt-and-road-initiative-angers-beijing/
