The Epoch Times By
Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi said at the G7 summit that Italy is reassessing China’s investments in the country “carefully,” shifting away from the pro-Beijing policies of the previous government.
Draghi expressed concern about the Chinese Communist regime. “It’s an autocracy that does not adhere to multilateral rules and does not share the same vision of the world that the democracies have,” he said at a press conference of the Group of Seven (G7) summit on Sunday.
While the newcomer of the G7 admitted the importance of economic cooperation, Draghi noted the difference between the Chinese regime and the West. “We also need to be frank about the things that we do not share and do not accept. The U.S. president said that silence is complicity.”
When asked about Italy’s participation in Beijing’s controversial Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), Draghi said, “Regarding that specific agreement, we will assess it carefully.”
The BRI is a multi-trillion-dollar infrastructure scheme that seeks to boost the regime’s influence through global trade links and infrastructure-based development projects that have pressured participating countries to take on high debt burdens.
Italy endorsed the G7’s new global infrastructure initiative, called Build Back Better World, or B3W, a rival to the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) growing influence through the BRI in the developing world. The over $40 trillion scheme will invest in ports, roads and other infrastructure in low- and middle-income countries worldwide.
Italy was the first G7 country to join Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s signature BRI, against the advice of the United States and other G7 members. Former Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte signed a BRI memorandum during Xi’s state visit in March 2019.
The Draghi government is taking precautionary measures in dealing with China. In March 2021, the prime minister signed a decree to stop the Italian telecommunications firm Fastweb from contracting with Huawei and ZTE, companies with ties to the Chinese military.
Meanwhile, the White House said on June 12 that Draghi agreed to work with Biden “on global challenges” and the two countries “shared foreign policy priorities, including China, Russia, and Libya” during the meeting at the end of the G7 summit.
In Sunday’s communique, the leaders of the G7–the United States, Canada, Britain, Germany, Italy, France, and Japan—called on the Chinese regime “to respect human rights and fundamental freedoms” in Xinjiang and Hong Kong, to cooperate with probe into the origin of the COVID-19, and vowed to deter Beijing’s “non-market policies and practices.”
More EU countries have been reexamining their relationship with China, which has recently led the European Parliament to freeze the pending trade deal with Beijing after seven years’ negotiations.
