Italy’s prospective PM Meloni poised to shake up ties with China
- Timing of far-right leader’s statement partly intended to send a message to Nato, the US and the EU about Italy’s future foreign policies, says analyst
- Meloni described Italy’s embrace of belt and road programme in 2019 as ‘a big mistake’, hinting that the MOU was not likely to be renewed in 2024
A right-wing coalition led by Meloni’s Brothers of Italy, a party with neo-fascist origins on the radical right, won a decisive 44 per cent of the vote on Monday, positioning her to become the first woman prime minister of the third-biggest economy in Europe, with control of both the senate and the chamber of deputies.
Rome and Beijing have for years maintained a lukewarm relationship, but that may be shaken up by Meloni, who made her aversion to China clear as early as 2008 when, as sports minister, she called for a boycott of the Beijing Olympics over China’s policies in Tibet while advocating for an international mobilisation in favour of separatists.
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China hopes Italy’s new far-right government will follow pragmatic policy in bilateral ties
“This is unacceptable conduct by Beijing, a conduct that we strongly condemn, together with all the democracies of the free world,” Meloni said in an interview with Taiwan’s Central News Agency in which she urged the European Union to “deploy all the political and diplomatic weapons at its disposal” and apply “pressure as hard as possible” to prevent regional conflict.
“Let us not forget that the EU is also a key outlet market for China, which risks being closed if they decide to attack Taiwan,” she said in the first interview granted to the Taiwanese outlet by an Italian political leader.
Meloni also criticised Beijing over alleged human rights abuses in Xinjiang and Hong Kong and its “ambiguous stance” on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.