Silk Road.
China: debate in Italy is inevitable, agreements on infrastructure and finance in Rome
Italy-China, Mattarella: friendship is based on solid foundations
Mattarella meets the Chinese press: memorandum of opportunity in compliance with transparency rules
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March 22, 2019
Xi Jinping arrived in Rome together with the First Lady and a large delegation. Thus begins the journey of the Chinese president along the New Silk Road. Italy is the first stage, followed by Monte Carlo and France. In Rome, Xi will meet the President of the Republic, Sergio Mattarella (
who yesterday morning hoped that the intensification of Italy-China economic relations will pass from the creation of a context that is as open and transparent as possible
), and the other institutional offices: the president of the Council, Giuseppe Conte, and the presidents of the Senate and Chamber, Maria Elisabetta Alberti Casellati and Roberto Fico.
Expectations are for the signing of the memorandum of understanding between Italy and China for joining the Belt and Road initiative (the new Silk Road) - a network of infrastructural, maritime and land connections based on two main lines, one continental and a maritime one - at the center of the political debate in Italy in recent weeks and a source of discontent for the EU and the US.
"There is no need to convince anyone because they either subscribe or not, dutifully since we are in the family I will inform my partners about what we are doing, but it is obvious that we are in full agreement and there is no problem" he says in the meantime. Prime Minister Conte from Brussels, where he participates in the European Council.
Not many hours pass before French President Emmanuel Macron announces an initiative that is also a dig at Italy.
Macron will see Xi at the Elysée with Juncker and Merkel: "The dialogue must be at European level"
The French president will receive the Chinese president at the Elysée on Tuesday, together with the president of the EU Commission Jean-Claude Juncker and the German chancellor Angela Merkel to talk about trade and climate. This was announced by the Elysée, underlining that the goal is "to find points of convergence between Europe and China": "The confrontation must be at a European level and not just France".
The new emperor with the popular and good-natured image
Xi Jinping is not only one of the most powerful leaders in contemporary China, but at home he has also been able to create a popular and good-natured image, thanks to his marriage with singer Peng Liyuan. So much so that their love was celebrated by the popular song "Xi Dada loves Peng Mama".
Powerful as Mao
Xi is one of the most powerful leaders in postwar China, at the level of Mao Zedong. It is no coincidence that his 'political thoughts' have been included in the Chinese constitution like those of the founder of the Communist Party. To seal the consolidation of his leadership was the abolition of the maximum limit of two presidential terms, approved a year ago, which will allow him to remain at the helm of China for long years, perhaps even for life.
Skilled and pragmatic, Xi wants to make China a global superpower by combining the old and the new. He is determined to maintain the Communist Party's strict control over the whole of Chinese society, as the silenced dissidents and members of the Islamic minority of Uyghurs sent to re-education camps well know. But, at the same time, he presents himself as a standard bearer of free international trade and economic growth, also through his project of the Belt and Road Initiative which is ideally linked to the ancient Silk Road.
It has dusted off nationalism and traditional values, pursuing the strengthening of the military and an aggressive policy of expansion in the disputed islands of the South Sea of China. And he didn't hesitate to use his popular anti-corruption campaign to consolidate his power by eliminating adversaries and awkward characters.
The reasons behind the Silk Road project are economic and geopolitical
Xi's idea is to retrace the routes of the ancient Silk Road, the one that under the Han dynasty (206 BC-220 AD), starting from Central Asia, extended for over six thousand kilometers to Europe, to restore China an 'imperial' role. His is the idea of an 'economic belt' and a 'maritime belt' under the term 'A road, a belt', later commonly renamed the Belt and Road initiative or new Silk Road. Economic and geopolitical reasons behind Xi's project: promoting a more assertive vision of China,while the slowdown in the country's growth rates - for years constantly above 7% - began to put pressure on the leadership of Beijing to open new markets for its products and its excess industrial capacity.
To date, over 60 countries and 29 international organizations have signed memoranda of understanding to join the initiative or have expressed their intention to do so. According to experts, the 'aggressive' approach demonstrated so far by the Chinese president is the furthest from that of his predecessors, faithful to Deng Xiaoping's maxim: "Hide your strength, wait for your moment".
Italy last landed in the Mediterranean, before the transit of goods to Northern Europe
The initiative for an organic plan for land connections was announced by Xi Jinping in September 2013 and the sea route in October of the same year, at the same time as the proposal to set up the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (Aiib), equipped with a capital of 100 billion dollars, of which China would be the main partner - with a commitment of 29.8 billion - and the other Asian countries (including India and Russia) and Oceania would have another 45 billion (Italy has committed to subscribe a share of 2.5 billion).
The Terrestrial Silk Road would cross all of Central Asia, arriving from China to Spain: with the existing infrastructures, direct freight connections to Berlin and Madrid have already been symbolically inaugurated, but the possibility of a passenger line to high speed. The Via Marittima runs along the whole of Eastern and Southern Asia, reaching the Mediterranean Sea through the Suez Canal. Italy would become the last port of call in the Mediterranean, before the transit of goods to Northern Europe.
Why Italy is interested in being part of the project
For at least 10 years there has been an open competition in Europe to attract a lot of money coming from China. In this race Italy is on the podium, behind Germany and France, but investments in our country remain underpowered compared to the importance of our economy: we import double what we export. The government's goal is to export more made in Italy.
Hotel Parco dei Principi armored
Hotel Parco dei Principi armored to welcome Xi Jinping and the large delegation following over 500 personalities and guests. Xi is staying in the Royal suite of the Parco dei Principi hotel, an apartment that has been inaccessible for a few days by the hotel staff for security reasons. Orderly service at the highest levels, therefore, with Chinese and Italian guards guarding the hotel, both from the adjacent streets closed to traffic, and up to the roof of the hotel, manned by snipers.
The Chinese president and his guests will be able to count on a menu dedicated to Chinese cuisine with part of the staff and the chef himself arriving directly from China with their products. The hotel had to equip itself with some new refrigerators for the occasion to contain only the meals of the president and his staff.
Today the meeting with Mattarella and the state dinner at the Quirinale
This morning Xi will be received by the President of the Republic at the Quirinale, where the state dinner in his honor will be attended by the most famous Chinese in Italy, the president of Inter Zhang Kangyang.
The singer Andrea Bocelli will close the evening.
Bocelli, also very famous in China, will perform a repertoire of classical pieces of the Italian tradition in the splendid Pauline chapel overlooking the Corazzieri hall.
The number of participants in the dinner is impressive: there will be 170 people guided by a rigorous protocol studied with care.
In fact, the attention of the Chinese authorities to the formal and symbolic aspects of these events is well known.