The possible Italo-Chinese
memorandum of understanding on the Belt and Road Initiative or
'new Silk Road' cannot lead to the colonisation of Italy, Deputy
Premier and League leader Matteo Salvini said Monday, prompting
government partner the 5-Star Movement (M5S) to accuse the
League of being "split" on the huge project.
Salvini said Cabinet Secretary Giancarlo Giorgetti had
explained that the memorandum must safeguard Italy's strategic
interests and "this is the position of the whole League,"
Salvini said.
"It it's a matter of helping Italian companies to invest
abroad we are willing to talk to anyone," Salvini said.
"If it's a question of colonising Italy and its firms by
foreign powers, no. And the treatment of sensitive data is a
national interest. Therefore the issue of telecommunications and
the treatment of data cannot be merely economic".
The League is split on Italy's memorandum of understanding
with China on the Belt and Road Initiative but the 5-Star
Movement is solidly with businesses on it, M5S sources told ANSA
Monday.
"We're sorry about this internal split because it hurts our
businesses and Made in Italy," the sources said.
"We are working to make sure that companies and business
associations urge us to make an effort to bring Italy into the
Chinese market and not to submit to it".
They said League leader Salvini had spoken of colonisation
while Industry Undersecretary Michele Geraci, also of the
League, "strongly supports the agreement".
Government sources said Premier Giuseppe Conte was ready to
sign the memorandum.
Sources at the premier's office said Monday "in the
collaboration with China, as with any other country, we place
the utmost attention on the defence of our national interests,
the protection of strategic infrastructure, including that of
telecommunications, and therefore cybersecurity.
"The text (of the possible memorandum on the Belt and Road
Initiative, BRI, or 'Silk Road'), at Italy's request, sets out
with great clarity this possible collaboration in the
principles, dear to the EU, of transparency and financial and
environmental sustainability".
The sources said the Italian initiative on the BRI, "sets out
on an economic and commercial plane, does not redesign the
framework of our political relations and the euro Atlantic
placement of our country".
The possible memorandum of understanding between Italy and
China on the Belt and Road Initiative, dubbed 'the new Silk
Road', does not include any deal on 5G technology, the industry
ministry said Monday.
In February, it said, Industry Minister Luigi Di Maio set up
a national evaluation and certification centre to assess "the
conditions of safety and security and the absence of
vulnerabilities in products, equipment, and systems destined to
be used for the functioning of networks, services and strategic
infrastructures, as well as all other operators for which a
national interest exists".
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED © Copyright ANSA
