Italy's new rightwing government
should implement pragmatic policies, Foreign Ministery Spokesman
Wang Wenbin said Monday after a centre-right coalition led by
Brothers of Italy (FdI) leader Giorgia Meloni won Sunday's
general election.
China and Italy, he said, "are strategic global partners and the
healthy and stable development of bilateral relations is in both
sides' interest: we hope that the new Italian government will
continue to adhere to a positive and pragmatic policy towards
China, supporting the spirit of mutual respect and trust".
Meloni told Taiwanese news agency CNA Friday that she would pull
out of China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) if she leads the
next centre-right government.
Meloni, 45, who is posed to 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 said 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.
Meloni cited many events after the signing of the BRI protocol
in 2009 including alleged Chinese repression of Hong Kong
activists, the discrimination of the Uyghurs and other
minorities, Beijing's allegedly ambiguous stance on Russia's
invasion of Ukraine and its repeated shows of force against
Taiwan, in support of her position against renewing the BRI
project.
The 'Belt and Road' Initiative is a massive infrastructure
project that seeks to create a sort of new Silk Road connecting
China with Europe and Africa.
The US voiced concern after Italy became the first G7 member to
sign up to the ambitious trade and infrastructure investment
plan, citing fears of key trade secrets and technologies
slipping into Beijing's hands.
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