Is Italy experiencing buyer’s remorse after signing up to China’s belt and road scheme?

Four months after striking a deal, Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte appears less enthusiastic about Beijing’s infrastructure development plan, saying it is not the only game in town

Pet project of Chinese President Xi Jinping must ‘develop in an open and inclusive way’ and respect EU ‘standards and principles’, Italian leader says

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Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte appears to have lost some of his enthusiasm for China’s belt and road plan. Photo: EPA-EFE

Published: 7:45pm, 30 Jul 2019Updated: 10:26pm, 30 Jul 2019

Just months after witnessing a deal to make Italy the first major Western power to join China’s Belt and Road Initiative, Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte appears to have cooled to the idea.

Speaking at an annual conference of the country’s ambassadors over the weekend, the head of Rome’s coalition government said that whatever plans China had to expand its trade and infrastructure project within the European Union would have to meet the relevant standards set by the bloc.

“The Chinese initiative must … develop in an open and inclusive way, respecting the standards and principles enshrined in the EU strategy,” he was quoted as saying by Italian news platform La Verita.

And other regional projects, like the EU-led connectivity scheme, were “equally valid”, he said.

Italian leader Giuseppe Conte shakes hands with Chinese President Xi Jinping after the signing of a deal on the belt and road plan in Rome in March. Photo: AP

The tone of Conte’s remarks was notably less upbeat than during Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to Italy in March, when apart from the memorandum of understanding on the belt and road plan, the pair oversaw the signing of 29 agreements, including two management deals for the ports of Trieste and Genoa.

A person with knowledge of the ambassadors’ meeting agreed the Italian leader seemed to have cooled to the idea.