Italy: Giorgia Meloni, an ambitious far-right leader in Italy, may surprise Beijing with her views on Taiwan and the Belt and Road Initiative, two areas where she and her Western counterparts have little in common.
Meloni's Brothers of Italy, a right-wing coalition led by a party with neo-fascist roots on the extreme right, won 44% of the vote on Monday, positioning her to become the third female prime minister. Europe's largest economy controls the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies.
Rome and Beijing have long maintained cordial relations, but Meloni may change that. Meloni made clear that she disliked China in 2008, when she called for a boycott of the Olympics in Beijing to protest that country's policies towards Tibet, while also calling for a global mobilization in support of separatists.
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She recently pledged support for Taiwan, a "strategic trading partner", in response to Beijing's military exercise held in the region in retaliation for US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's controversial visit to the self-governing island.
In an interview with Taiwan's central news agency, Meloni urged the EU to "deploy all political and diplomatic weapons at its disposal" and to apply "as much pressure as possible" to prevent regional conflict. He called Beijing's actions unacceptable and condemned them along with all democracies in the free world.
In the first interview given to a Taiwan outlet by an Italian political leader, she said, "We must not forget that the European Union is also a major outlet market for China, which risks closure if it decides to attack Taiwan." picks up."
Meloni criticized Beijing for its "vague stance" on Russia's invasion of Ukraine, as well as on alleged human rights violations in Xinjiang and Hong Kong.
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According to Enrico Fardella, director of the ChinaMade Project, a research initiative at the University of Turin that is focusing on China's geo-economic ties with countries in the larger Mediterranean region, the timing of Meloni's statement was partly linked to NATO, the U.S. message is to be sent. and the EU about Italy's future foreign policies.
According to Fardella, if she is elected as the next prime minister, these opinions will undoubtedly influence the new direction of Italian foreign policy towards China.
However, they would be expressed in a softer tone that has historically been characteristic of the approach to Italian diplomacy, allowing Italy to take a position on these issues that is more certain but not necessarily confrontational. ,
Italy, the first hard-south administration since World War II, and most of its centre- or centre-left neighbours, who disagree with Meloni's stance on civil liberties, can find common ground by uniting in their opposition to China. Her opponents have alleged that she is xenophobic, homophobic and anti-Islamic.
Meloni would undoubtedly face fierce political opposition both in Europe and in Italy, but Fardella predicted that the opposition would focus primarily on his domestic policies and his efforts to assert himself more than the European Union.
However, most political forces in Italy and the European Union now take a critical view of China, which may act as a counterbalance to [Meloni's] other more divisive positions.
The revival of the nationalist right in Italy is a reflection of a larger trend in Europe, and rivals of Meloni's Democratic Party have labeled it a "threat to European democracy". The post-fascist party founded by supporters of Benito Mussolini is where the origins of the Brothers of Italy can be found. Meloni, who once admired Mussolini, has since tried to distance himself from the dictator of World War II.
Fardella claimed that Matteo Salvini and Silvio Berlusconi, two other figures in Meloni's coalition, were critical of Meloni's close ties with Russia, and that Meloni's stance on China drew on a critical stance towards some of Beijing's "unifying coalition." helped to do". Domestic and international policies.
Italy was the first member of the Group of Seven to sign a Memorandum of Understanding on the Belt and Road Initiative in 2019, Beijing's international initiative to build trade routes through Asia, Africa, Central Asia and Eastern Europe.
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The memorandum of understanding was unlikely to be renewed in 2024, according to Meloni, who called Italy's acceptance of the plan "a big mistake".
According to Giulia Sciorrati, Associate Research Fellow at the Asia Center at the Institute for International Political Studies in Milan, "He recently stated that, at this time, he found it difficult to predict the political conditions for renewal."
The 2024 decision was influenced by the document's vocal criticism, worries about China's democracy and human rights problems, and the opposition of other EU nations and institutions to its renewal.
Through the Belt and Road Initiative, Meloni promised that her government would work to stop China's economic growth and give less developed nations an alternative to "Chinese penetration.
" She would give the Global Gateway, an EU initiative to fund the construction of global infrastructure through 2027, top priority.
Sciorati noted that this discussion "reiterates a central topos of US discourse on the [Belt and Road Initiative], namely, the willingness to offer developing countries alternative financing routes to China," adding that it was unclear whether Italy would pursue this independently or in concert with its allies.
The Chinese foreign ministry expressed its desire for the two nations to continue their cooperation as "comprehensive strategic partners" in response to the election results.
Wang Wenbin, a spokesman for the Chinese government, said on Monday, "We hope the new Italian government will continue to follow a positive and practical policy toward China, work with China in the spirit of mutual respect, mutual trust, and mutual benefit to deepen cooperation and people-to-people exchanges for the benefit of the two countries and two peoples