Italian lawmaker Giorgia Meloni, the front-runner to become the country’s next prime minister, is expected to reverse course on Italy’s support for China’s Belt and Road Initiative and strengthen ties with Taiwan if a coalition headed by her party wins the country’s general election today.
“Without any doubt, if there is a center-right government, it is sure that Taiwan will be an essential concern for Italy,” Meloni told the Central News Agency in an interview.
Italians are to vote in a snap election triggered by the resignation of Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi following a failed attempt to get his coalition partners to support him in a confidence vote on July 20.
Photo: AP
Meloni, whose Brothers of Italy party leads the polls, would be Italy’s first far-right prime minister since World War II and first-ever female prime minister.
The Brothers of Italy traces its origins to the neofascist Italian Social Movement and retains its logo, but Meloni has tried to distance the party, which she cofounded in 2012, from its past.
She has described her party as a mainstream conservative party similar to Britain’s Conservative Party and the Republican Party in the US.
Until early this year, her party promoted closer ties with Russia, but it reversed course after Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. It has over the past few years softened its skeptism of European integration and dropped its position that Italy should leave the eurozone.
In the interview, Meloni voiced support for Taiwan, and criticized China’s assertive actions across the globe and their implications for Italy and the EU.
Referring to the relationship between her party and Taiwan as a “sincere friendship,” Meloni said she has been “following closely with unease” what is happening in the Taiwan Strait as a result of the intensified Chinese threats.
“This is an unacceptable conduct by Beijing, a conduct that we strongly condemn, together with all the democracies of the free world,” Meloni said.
The EU must “deploy all the political and diplomatic weapons at its disposal” and “put pressure as hard as possible” to prevent China from causing any military conflict in the Strait, she said.
Taiwan is a strategic trade partner for Italy and Europe, Meloni said.
“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.
A former Italian minister of youth, Meloni has since 2020 been president of the European Conservatives and Reformists Party in the European Parliament.
In 2019, Italy became the only G7 country to sign on to China’s Belt and Road Initiative, a global infrastructure plan created by Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) in 2013 to develop trade routes connecting China and the rest of the world.
Three years after joining the initiative, Italy seems ready to change tack.
Draghi vowed to reassess the country’s involvement in the scheme at a G7 summit last year, during which the group agreed to finance infrastructure projects in developing countries as a counterbalance to Beijing’s plan.
“It’s an autocracy that does not adhere to multilateral rules and does not share the same vision of the world that the democracies have,” Draghi said of China after the summit.
Asked if she would approve the renewal of a memorandum of understanding Italy signed with China on the initiative, scheduled for 2024, Meloni described Italy’s embrace of the scheme as “a big mistake.”
She cited many events since the signing of the memorandum, including China’s repeated shows of force targeting Taiwan, repression of Hong Kong democracy advocates, discrimination against Uighurs and other minorities, and ambiguous stance on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in support of her position.
“If I were to sign the renewal of that memorandum tomorrow morning, I would hardly see the political conditions,” she said.
“I hope time will serve Beijing to soften its tone and do something concrete toward respect for democracy, human rights and international legality,” she said.
If she becomes prime minister, her government would work to ensure that the EU’s Global Gateway project — aimed at pushing infrastructure development investments worldwide — helps countries that see no alternative to “Chinese penetration,” Meloni said
Countering the influence of the authoritarian leaders of Russia and China in the Western Balkans, in parts of Africa, the Indo-Pacific region and Latin America would also be a top priority of her administration, she said.
“Sovereignty is defended militarily, as well as in the area of cybersecurity and in terms of freedom of information against Russian and Chinese attempts of meddling,” she said.
Meloni also called for more support for Ukraine amid fears that the consequences of the sanctions imposed on Russia and the high price of fuel might risk undermining the West’s solidarity against Moscow.
“We need to make a political and cultural effort to explain to everyone that the aggression against Ukraine is only the beginning of an attempt to create a new world order against the West,” Meloni said. “And if Ukraine loses, the consequences will be very serious for all of us.”
On the prospective relationship between Italy and Taiwan under her watch, Meloni said Taiwan would be “an essential concern for Italy,” adding that she has also brought forward issues of concern to Taiwan for discussion in her European Parliament group.
“We like to think of a new and more intense season of cooperation: cultural exchanges, tourism, prevention and management of health crises, scientific research and projects in the key sector of microchips where Taiwan is a world leader,” she said.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
RSS