Recently, Italy has officially notified China of its decision to withdraw from China's "One Belt, One Road" initiative, citing that the project did not bring the desired results. At the same time, the Italian foreign minister said that this decision will not affect relations with China, and Italy still hopes to maintain the existing cooperative relationship with China and further expand the content of cooperation between the two countries under the framework of the comprehensive strategic partnership.
The Belt and Road (abbreviated as B&R) is the abbreviation of the "Silk Road Economic Belt" and the "21st Century Maritime Silk Road", which was proposed by China in September and October 2013 to build the "New Silk Road Economic Belt" and the "21st Century Maritime Silk Road" cooperation initiative.
Relying on the existing bilateral and multilateral mechanisms between China and relevant countries, and with the help of existing and effective regional cooperation platforms, the Belt and Road Initiative aims to borrow the historical symbols of the ancient Silk Road, hold high the banner of peaceful development, actively develop economic cooperation with partners, and jointly build a community of interests, destiny and responsibility with political mutual trust, economic integration and cultural inclusiveness.
From 2013 to 2022, the total import and export volume between China and the co-construction countries reached 19$1 trillion, with an average annual growth rate of 64%；The cumulative two-way investment with the co-construction countries has exceeded US$380 billion, of which China's outward direct investment has exceeded US$240 billion.
By the end of June 2023, China had signed more than 230 Belt and Road cooperation documents with more than 150 countries and more than 30 international organizations. On October 17-18, 2023, the 3rd Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation was held in Beijing, becoming the most solemn event to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the Belt and Road Initiative. On November 24, China released its outlook for the Belt and Road Initiative in the next decade.
The author believes that Italy's withdrawal from the Belt and Road Initiative is mainly due to the following two reasons:
1. U.S. lobbying and pressure within the G7
As we all know, in recent years, the United States has regarded China as its number one strategic competitor and has adopted various means to try its best to contain China's rise, especially in the field of cutting-edge science and technology, imposing sanctions, encircling China, suppressing it, cutting off supply, and even enlisting allies to form alliances to prevent China from obtaining cutting-edge technologies such as chips and lithography machines.
In order to achieve the goal of comprehensively containing China's rise, the United States has not only set off a wave of "de-Chinaization" in the world, but also tried to reconstruct the global industrial chain and chain dominated by the United States. And the "Indo-Pacific Economic Framework" is an attempt by Biden to do this.
The Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF) is aimed at Asian countries, while the United States has taken other approaches to European countries, and the United States has paid off, with the Czech Republic, Lithuania, and Germany all joining the camp of decoupling from China.
The United States has been skeptical and critical of China's Belt and Road Initiative and has repeatedly pressured its allies to distance themselves from China. Italy is the only G7 country to join the Belt and Road Initiative. At the G7 summit held in May this year, Biden has been lobbying Italy to persuade it to withdraw from China's "One Belt, One Road".
After Biden took office, the new United States paid more attention to cooperation with Europe. This is also reflected in the issue of confrontation with China, the United States has asked European countries to sever or reduce cooperation with China's "One Belt, One Road", and Italy has naturally become the focus of the United States' decoupling policy with China.
Not long ago, during Italian Prime Minister Meloni's visit to the United States, she held talks with Biden at the White House, in which China policy became an important content, and finally the two sides issued a joint statement involving China. In the joint statement, the two sides emphasized the importance of maintaining peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait, and the United States welcomed Italy's increased presence in the Indo-Pacific region. The U.S. intention to decouple Italy from China and withdraw from the Belt and Road Initiative is clear.
2. Out of the country's own interests
In order to achieve the goal of persuading Italy to withdraw from the "Belt and Road", during talks with Meloni, Biden said that the United States will fill the gap of Italy's withdrawal from the "Belt and Road", and by strengthening the best exchanges between the United States and Italy, the amount of the two sides will continue to increase on the basis of 100 billion US dollars.
Last year, the amount between China and Italy was $77.8 billion, and if Biden's promise can be fulfilled, then Italy will get more benefits.
The Brothers of Italy party under the leadership of Italian Prime Minister Meloni is a political party, and the purpose of the party is to emphasize the defense of European civilization and return to the Atlantic partnership. As a result, under the maneuvering of both soft and hard measures by the United States, Italy proceeded from its own national interests and weighed the pros and cons, and finally made the decision to withdraw from the "Belt and Road".
In addition, participation in the Belt and Road Initiative involves not only economic relations, but also some political and security issues. As a Western country, due to its different ideologies and social systems, Italy may withdraw from the Belt and Road Initiative to express its dissatisfaction with some of China's policies and pursue greater interests by adjusting its relations with China.
There is no doubt that driven by the wave of economic globalization, mutual exchanges and exchanges between countries in the world will only become more frequent, and win-win cooperation will become an inevitable trend of global economic development in the future. As a result, Italy will eventually realize that it was a wrong decision to withdraw from China's Belt and Road Initiative