Chinese President Xi Jinping will sign a memorandum of understanding for Rome to join the US$1 trillion Belt and Road Initiative.
Chinese President Xi Jinping shakes hands with Italian President Sergio Mattarella, at the Quirinal Palace, in Rome, Italy.
Italy will be the first of the Group of Seven most-developed nations to sign up for the new Silk Road, which critics say is “predatory” and overwhelmingly favours China and Chinese companies. Mattarella said that business must go “in both directions… with fair competition, respecting intellectual property rights and while fighting counterfeit goods.”Around 1,000 extra police have been deployed around Rome for the state visit before Xi heads to the Sicilian city of Palermo, where his singer wife Peng Liyuan reportedly wants to see the Teatro Massimo opera house.
The United States has warned European allies that Huawei could use its 5G technology as a “backdoor” for spying, a claim that China has strongly rejected, calling them “abnormal, immoral” attacks. White House official Garrett Marquis last week tweeted that there was “no need” for Italy to endorse “China’s infrastructure vanity project.”
In Brussels, Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte on Friday briefed EU leaders about Italy’s Silk Road MoU, where Merkel said: “As he described it, I don’t think I have anything to criticise, for now.Macron, who is at loggerheads with Italy’s populist government, said: “It’s not a good method to discuss new Silk Road agreements bilaterally.”
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