Meloni says would pull out of China's Belt & Road scheme

(ANSA) - ROME, SEP 23 - The favourite to become Italy's next premier, conservative Brothers of Italy (FdI) leader Giorgia Meloni, told Taiwanese news agency CNA Friday that she would pull out of China's Belt and Road Initiative if she leads the next likely centre-right government after Sunday's general election here.
    Meloni, 45, who would be Italy's first woman prime minister and the most rightwing head of government since WWII, said signing up to the 'New Silk Road' had been a "big mistake".
    She aid that if she had to sign the extension of the relevant memorandum until 2024 "tomorrow morning, it would be hard for me to see to the political conditions to do so".
    Meloni said that with a centre right government in Italy, "it is certain that Taiwan will be a fundamental question for Italy".
    She described as "unacceptable" China's threats against the island, which it says is part of its territory.
    The likely future PM said she had "closely followed, with unease," the most recent developments in the China-Taiwan tensions. (ANSA).