The Italian government announced it would be pulling out of China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) before the end of 2023.
According to BBC News, Italy’s BRI participation was set to be automatically renewed in March 2024 before the country notified China it was withdrawing from the initiative.
“China firmly opposes smearing that damages Belt and Road co-operation,” said a Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson.
While addressing Chinese relations with the EU December 7, President Xi Jinping said that China and Europe should work together and “eliminate all kinds of interference.”
Conversely, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said that “there are clear imbalances and differences that we must address” when it comes to the EU trading with China.
Italy was the only major Western country to sign up for the Chinese trade and infrastructure project in 2019, a move that was criticized by the U.S. and others at the time. Italy was the largest of the 18 EU members to sign up for the BRI.
Founded in 2013, the Belt and Road Initiative is a global infrastructure development plan adopted by the Chinese government to invest in more than 150 international organizations and governments. As of August 2023, 155 countries accounting for more than half of the world’s GDP had signed up for the initiative.
