Italy rattles US and EU with likely support for China's Belt and Road

[Eugene]

Source: The Guardian

Italy rattles US and EU with likely support for China's Belt and Road

Leaders set to endorse Italy’s role in ‘Silk Road’ trade network during Xi Jinping’s visit this week

Angela Giuffrida in Rome
Wed 20 Mar 2019 09.39 GMT

Italy has signalled its determination to play a central role in China’s grand plan to build a Silk Road-styled global trade network, despite rattling its EU and US allies with its plan.

The country’s populist government is poised to endorse its participation in Beijing’s $1tn Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), a global trade project aimed at connecting Asia, the Middle East, Africa and Europe via a network of ports, railways, tunnels and other infrastructure, by signing a non-binding memorandum of understanding (MoU) during the Chinese president Xi Jinping’s visit to Italy this week.

Italy, which would become the first G7 country to back the initiative, hopes it will revive its sluggish economy and help open up greater access to China’s lucrative market.

The Five Star Movement (M5S), the populist party governing alongside the far-right League, has been the driving force behind the country’s collaboration in an initiative the US believes is being used by China, its trade rival, to embolden its political and strategic clout.

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Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/mar/20/italy-rattles-us-and-eu-with-likely-support-for-chinas-belt-and-road

[elleng]

1. A Forgotten Italian Port Could Become a Chinese Gateway to Europe.

*“Fundamentally, what’s happening is that the port of Trieste is returning to the logistical role for Europe that it had for the old Austro-Hungarian empire,” said Zeno D’Agostino, the president of the Trieste port authority, whose office is sprinkled with gifts from Chinese delegations and a book about European-Chinese cultural relations.

To walk through Trieste is to witness how the city has already opened to China. Chinese tourists shop for the city’s trademark Illy coffee and take pictures with their Huawei phones of the elegant Caffè Degli Specchi. A brand-new cruise ship, built in nearby shipyards expressly for Chinese passengers, is docked in the central waterfront piazza, preparing to set sail on Marco Polo’s path to the Far East.'>>>


https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/18/world/europe/italy-trieste-china-belt-road.html?

https://www.democraticunderground.com/111685019