A defiant Italy becomes the first G-7 country to sign on to China's Belt and Road Initiative
Source: Washington Post
By Chico Harlan March 23 at 11:25 AM
ROME — Even by the decorous standard of state visits, Chinese President Xi Jinping has received a warm welcome in Italy. That welcome started the moment Xi entered Italian airspace and, according to Chinese state media, two of the host nation’s fighter jets escorted his plane.
Senior Italian government officials greeted Xi on the tarmac, and tenor Andrea Bocelli sang for Xi and his wife at a state dinner. When Xi arrived at his five-star Roman hotel, a Chinese national flag was flying outside.
But the most geopolitically important — and controversial — symbol of embrace came Saturday, when Italy formally agreed to be part of China’s signature foreign policy and infrastructure project, known as the Belt and Road Initiative, becoming the first Group of Seven country to do so.
At a ceremony at a Renaissance villa that also included the signing of other business and commercial agreements, Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said his country was building a “more effective relationship” with China.
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Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/defiant-italy-becomes-the-first-g7-country-to-sign-on-to-chinas-belt-and-road-initiative/2019/03/22/54a732d4-4bdf-11e9-8cfc-2c5d0999c21e_story.html
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