Italian government split over ‘Silk Road’ accord with China

Italian officials have confirmed they'll sign the New Silk Road 'memorandum' with China later this month, dividing opinion within the country's coalition government and prompting warnings from the US.

Published: 12 March 2019 10:45 CET

Italian government split over 'Silk Road' accord with China

Italian Interior Minister and League leader Matteo Salvini. Photo: Tiziana Fabi/AFP

The “memorandum of understanding” with China, officially supporting Beijing's massive Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), will be signed during the visit of Chinese President Xi Jinping to Rome on March 20, the Italian Undersecretary of Foreign Affairs said on Monday.

The signing will make Italy the first G7 nation to join the so-called “New Silk Road” project, Manlio Di Stefano told La Stampa.

But Italy's coalition government faces another split over the issue, with League leader and Interior Minister Matteo Salvini, telling reporters in Milan on Monday that the deal could mean foreign companies “colonising Italy.”

“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,” he said, adding that this was “the position of the whole League”.

However, his government coalition partners in the populist Five Star Movement (M5S), who are supporting the accord, said Industry Undersecretary Michele Geraci, also of the League, “strongly supports the agreement” and told news agency Ansa there was an internal split in the League, rather than a split between the two parties.

Salvini's words echoed concerns voiced by the United States and other Western countries that the ambitious infrastructure project could be a Trojan horse for Chinese expansion.

Di Stefano pointed out that the memorandum is “not binding” and “does not have the status of an international agreement.”

Neither, he said, does it concern the telecoms sector, access to which critics fear could allow China to create “backdoors” allowing Beijing to spy on Western countries.

Tha US had already spoken to Rome about security fears around Chinese technology company Huawei.

The Chinese BRI plan is often called the “New Silk Road” as it aims to revive and extend the ancient trade routes.

A map shows how the former Silk Road routes could be extended today. Image:Belt and Road Portal, China’s National Development and Reform Commission

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The strike comes after Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama — who is close to Meloni — called a top RAI editor to complain about a television report into Italy’s controversial migration deal with his country.

The Usigrai trade union called the strike from May 6 to May 7 saying talks with management had failed to address their concerns.

It cited numerous issues, including staff shortages and contract issues, but in first place was “the suffocating control over journalistic work, with the attempt to reduce RAI to a megaphone for the government”.

It had already used that phrase to object to what critics say is the increasing influence over RAI by figures close to Prime Minister Meloni, who leads Italy’s most right-wing government since World War II.

However, another union of RAI journalists, Unirai, said they would not join what they called a “political” strike, defending the return to “pluralism” at the broadcaster.

Funded in part by a licence fee and with top managers long chosen by politicians, RAI’s independence has always been an issue of debate.

But the arrival in power of Meloni — leader of the far-right Brothers of Italy party, who formed a coalition with Matteo Salvini’s far-right League party and the late Silvio Berlusconi’s right-wing Forza Italia — redoubled concerns.

Tensions erupted at the weekend amid accusations RAI censored a speech by a leading writer criticising Meloni ahead of Liberation Day on April 25, when Italians mark the defeat of Fascism and the Nazis at the end of World War II.

Both RAI’s management and Meloni have denied censorship, and the premier posted the text of the monologue on her social media.

In another twist, Albania’s premier confirmed Thursday he called senior RAI editor Paolo Corsini about an TV report on Sunday into Italy’s plans to build two migration processing centres on Albanian territory.

Rama told La Stampa newspaper the report was “biased” and contained “lies” — adding that he had not raised the issue with Meloni.

The “Report” programme claimed the costs of migrant centres, which are under construction, were already “out of control” and raised questions about criminals benefiting from the project.