Italy has informed China that it is removing itself from the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).
China has claimed the purpose of BRI is to reconstruct the Ancient Silk Road, connecting Beijing to Western Europe.
The BRI has been considered “debt-trap diplomacy,” according to Breitbart, where the CCP uses loans for infrastructure projects in developing countries as a means of extending its influence.
Italy initially joined the BRI in 2019 after being promised economic growth.
After joining, the CCP began pushing pro-China propaganda throughout Italy.
Other countries that have joined the BRI include Austria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Greece, Hungary, Latvia, Luxembourg, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, and Slovakia.
Russia recently announced a similar project to BRI.
The “Greater Eurasian Partnership” is described as a push toward a broader integrative configuration that is inclusive of all countries and associations within the Eurasian continent.
“What we’re talking about is facilitating the objective process of forming a broad integrative configuration that is open for all countries and associations across our vast continent,” Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said.
Practical steps toward this goal are already being made, Lavrov added.
The foreign minister noted that these steps include “interlinking the complementary development plans of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) and China’s Belt and Road Initiative, expanding interaction within the framework of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) with the involvement of SCO observer states and dialogue partners.”
