Run For Your Life

Countries evacuating nationals from Chinese coronavirus areas
Reuters

A growing number of countries around the world are evacuating or planning to evacuate diplomatic staff and citizens from parts of China hit by the new coronavirus.

Following are some countries’ evacuation plans, and how they aim to manage the health risk from those who are returning.
- Kazakhstan, which has previously evacuated 83 from Wuhan, will send two planes to China on Feb. 10 and Feb. 12 to evacuate its citizens. Out of 719 Kazakhs remaining in China, 391 have asked to be repatriated.
- A second evacuation flight is bringing back another 174 Singaporeans and their family members from Wuhan to the city-state on Feb. 9, Singapore’s foreign ministry said.
- Thirty Filipinos returned to the Philippines on Feb. 9 from Wuhan, the Department of Foreign Affairs said. The returning passengers and a 10-member government team will be quarantined for 14 days.
- Britain’s final evacuation flight from Wuhan, carrying more than 200 people, landed at a Royal Air Force base in central England on Feb. 9. A plane carrying 83 British and 27 European Union nationals from Wuhan landed in Britain last week.
- The 34 Brazilians evacuated from Wuhan landed in Brazil on Feb. 9, where they will begin 18 days of quarantine.
- Two planes with about 300 passengers, mostly U.S. citizens, took off from Wuhan on Feb. 6 bound for the United States -- the third group of evacuees from the heart of the coronavirus outbreak, the U.S. State Department said.
- Uzbekistan has evacuated 251 people from China and quarantined them on arrival in Tashkent, the Central Asian nation’s state airline said on Feb. 6.
- A plane load of New Zealanders, Australians and Pacific Islanders evacuated from Wuhan arrived in Auckland, New Zealand on Feb. 5, officials said.
- Taiwan has evacuated the first batch of an estimated 500 Taiwanese stranded in Wuhan.
- Italy flew back 56 nationals from Wuhan to Rome on Feb. 3. The group will spend two weeks in quarantine in a military hospital, the government said.
- Saudi Arabia has evacuated 10 students from Wuhan, Saudi state television reported on Feb. 2.
- Indonesia’s government flew 243 Indonesians from Hubei on Feb. 2 and placed them under quarantine at a military base on an island northwest of Borneo.
- South Korea flew 368 people home on a charter flight that arrived on Jan. 31. A second chartered flight departed Seoul for Wuhan on Jan. 31, with plans to evacuate around 350 more South Korean citizens.
- Japan chartered a third flight to repatriate Japanese people, which arrived from Wuhan on Jan. 31, bringing the number of repatriated nationals to 565.
- Spain’s government is working with China and the European Union to repatriate its nationals.
- Canada evacuated its first group of 176 citizens from Wuhan to an Ontario air force base early on Feb. 5, according to the Globe and Mail newspaper. The country’s foreign minister said a second group should arrive later on Feb. 5 after changing planes in Vancouver. All evacuees will be quarantined on the base for two weeks.
- Russia said it would begin moving its citizens out of China via its Far Eastern region on Feb. 1, regional authorities said. It plans to evacuate more than 600 Russian citizens currently in Hubei, Deputy Prime Minister Tatiana Golikova said. A first Russian military plane took off on Feb. 4 to evacuate Russian citizens from Wuhan, the RIA news agency reported.
- The Netherlands is preparing the voluntary evacuation of 20 Dutch nationals and their families from Hubei, Foreign Minister Stef Blok said. The Netherlands is finalising arrangements with EU partners and Chinese authorities.
- France has evacuated some nationals from Wuhan and said it would place the passengers in quarantine. It said it would first evacuate nationals without symptoms and then those showing symptoms at a later, unspecified date.
- Swiss authorities said they hope to have about 10 citizens join the French evacuation of nationals from China.
- A plane brought 138 Thai nationals home from Wuhan last week. They will spend two weeks in quarantine.

Demonstrators in London stand in solidarity with Hong Kong protest movement

HKFP Lens

Thousands rallied in over 40 cities around the world over the weekend in opposition to totalitarianism, and in solidarity with protesters in Hong Kong who also took to the streets en masse. Events were held in the US, UK, Australia, Canada, Germany, France, Italy, New Zealand, the Netherlands, Norway, South Korea, Taiwan, and other places. 

Photographer Darcy Miller captured the rally in London.

Photo: Darcy Miller.

Photo: Darcy Miller.

Photo: Darcy Miller.

Photo: Darcy Miller.

Photo: Darcy Miller.

Photo: Darcy Miller.

Photo: Darcy Miller.

Photo: Darcy Miller.

Photo: Darcy Miller.

Photo: Darcy Miller.

Photo: Darcy Miller.

Photo: Darcy Miller.

Photo: Darcy Miller.

Photo: Darcy Miller.

Photo: Darcy Miller.

If Trump Wants to Take On China, He Needs Allies

And he should start with Europe.
By Julianne Smith

BERLIN — With the prospect of a trade deal between China and the United States all but dead, the Trump administration is no doubt weighing its next steps in its quest to rein in Beijing’s rise. President Trump should try something he hasn’t yet: call Europe.
Just five years ago, such a suggestion would have raised eyebrows. 

Europe’s relationship with China has traditionally been one of close economic cooperation, especially for an export-led country like Germany. 

To the extent that Europeans saw political and security challenges in working with China, they kept faith that growing economic ties with the West would temper the country’s worst instincts.
Over the last few years, though, Germany, along with several other European countries, have experienced a strategic awakening. 

German policymakers, along with industry leaders, have become much more vocal about China’s predatory trade practices, in particular forced technology transfers. 

They have begun to refer to China as a “systemic competitor.” 

So has the European Union.
This should make the countries of Europe, historically among America’s closest allies, well placed to work with Washington to confront China over trade, its destabilizing policies in Asia, and the authoritarian political model it is promoting around the world. 

Instead, Europe and the United States are consumed by cyclical arguments over — to name just a few issues — military spending, trans-Atlantic trade imbalances and the Iran nuclear deal. 

That’s exactly where the Chinese want the two sides of the Atlantic to be: distracted and divided.

On the subject of China, Europeans feel like they have been relegated to observer status. 

Trump administration officials have made few efforts either to brief allies on their China policy or to propose anything like a unified trans-Atlantic strategy. 

When the Trump administration has engaged Europe on China, such discussions tend to focus on tightening investment screening and preventing the Chinese telecommunications provider Huawei from constructing 5G networks. 

Those two important issues merit trans-Atlantic consultations. 

But the Trump administration’s approach — which includes threatening to limit intelligence sharing with any ally that proceeds to build its next generation of mobile infrastructure with Huawei — is a losing strategy. 

Europeans are tired of taking orders from Mr. Trump’s America, which makes them more inclined to ignore American directives on issues like Huawei.
The president should start over. 

The United States and Europe need to come to the table as actual partners and begin a much broader dialogue about China’s political, economic and technological ambitions. 

At the very minimum, the two sides of the Atlantic should be sharing insights on everything from Chinese influence operations to human rights abuses to investments in artificial intelligence and other disruptive technologies. 

More ambitiously, the United States and Europe should aim to fortify their trade relationship; coordinate American and European policies on China’s human rights abuses; and create alternatives to China’s Belt and Road Initiative.
The best way for the United States and Europe to compete with China would be to resolve their own bilateral trade disputes. 

The more the two sides bicker and threaten each other with more tariffs, the more space they allow for China to continue ignoring international trading rules. 

When — or if — the two trans-Atlantic partners turn down the heat on their simmering trade war and focus on strengthening trade ties, they should reach out to Japan and other allies that could bolster the West’s economic strength and influence.
Better coordination should be the next item on the trans-Atlantic to do list. 

In March, when Xi Jinping visited Paris, President Emmanuel Macron invited the chancellor of Germany and the president of the European Commission to join him. 

Mr. Macron’s intended message was clear: Instead of picking off individual European Union members, China would have to deal with a united Europe. 

The United States and Europe could send a similar message. 

The two partners could begin coordinating their messaging on issues like China’s continuing persecution of the Uighurs, or the two Canadian citizens that China is detaining.
One specific area of focus should be China’s Belt and Road Initiative — a vast network of infrastructure and connectivity projects, underwritten by China, across Asia, Africa and Europe. Some of those projects provide much needed investment. 

Many, however, lack transparency, leave the host country riddled with debt, and require political favors in return. 

Given the scale of China’s investment, it is tough for Europe and the United States to offer viable alternatives. 

They should still try.
They could also do more to help countries avoid the Belt and Road Initiative’s many pitfalls. 

Last year the United States Treasury sent a team of evaluators to Myanmar to help it navigate the challenges of a Belt and Road project. 

Europe should be doing the same thing. 

They could start that work not halfway around the world but in Portugal, Greece, Italy and Serbia, which have already signed on to Chinese projects and are looking at more.
It may be hard to imagine the Trump administration doing any of these things. 

This is an administration, after all, that has undermined, not strengthened, America’s network of alliances from the start. 

It prefers to see the world, as two administration officials put it in a 2017 op-ed in The Wall Street Journal, as “not a ‘global community’ but an arena where nations, nongovernmental actors, and businesses engage and compete for advantage.”
Mr. Trump is right to claim that America finds itself in an era of great power competition with China. Where his administration has repeatedly missed the mark, though, is in its determination to deride the very “global community” that could help America in its challenge. 

If Trump were serious about competing with China, he would be doing more to get as many allies on his side as possible.
Working with Europe will not be easy. 

The two will never be in perfect lock step on China, especially when it comes to security issues. Europe doesn’t have anything resembling America’s forces in Asia nor does it share America’s security commitments. 

Even inside Europe, there will continue to be different approaches to China. 

Nonetheless, the smartest thing for Europe and the United States to do would be to find areas where they can come together. 

Right now, they are not positioning themselves for even modest levels of success. 

They aren’t competing, and China wants to keep it that way.

Call for UK to ban patients travelling to China for 'organ tourism'

Forty MPs back effort before inquiry into China's forced organ harvesting
By Owen Bowcott 

UK patients should be banned from travelling to China for transplant surgery, the government has been told, before an inquiry into allegations of forced organ harvesting from prisoners of conscience.
The call has so far been backed by 40 MPs from all parties before the next session of the independent China tribunal, which is investigating claims that detainees are being targeted by the regime. 

Opening a Westminster Hall debate last week, the DUP MP Jim Shannon urged the UK government to consider imposing an organ tourism ban like those already enacted by Italy, Spain, Israel and Taiwan.
“It is wrong that people should travel from here to China for what is almost a live organ on demand to suit themselves,” Shannon, the MP for Strangford in Northern Ireland, said. 

“It is hard to take in what that means – it leaves one incredulous.
“It means someone can sit in London or in Newtownards and order an organ to be provided on demand. Within a month they can have the operation.
“We need to control that structurally, as other countries have, not simply because it is the right thing to do, but also because it is necessary to protect UK citizens from unwittingly playing a role in the horrifying suffering of religious or belief groups in China.”
The China Tribunal, chaired by Sir Geoffrey Nice QC who was formerly a prosecutor at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, has been taking evidence about mispractices from medical experts, human rights investigators and others.
It will hold a second round of hearings on 6 and 7 April in London. 

Its final judgment will be published on 13 June. 

China has been asked to participate but has declined to do so.
In an interim judgment released last December, the tribunal said: “In China forced-organ harvesting from prisoners of conscience has been practised for a substantial period of time involving a very substantial number of victims... It is beyond doubt on the evidence presently received that forced harvesting of organs has happened on a substantial scale by state-supported or approved organisations and individuals.”
Among those killed are members of religious minorities such as Falun Gong, Tibetans, Uighur Muslims and Christian sects. 

In 2014, China announced that it would stop removing organs for transplantation from executed prisoners.
It is not clear how many UK citizens have travelled to China for transplants. 

Waiting times for operations are said to be far shorter than in the west. 

One inquiry suggested that a liver transplant could be arranged privately at a Chinese hospital for $100,000.
Fiona Bruce, the Conservative MP for Congleton, who is also leading the campaign for a ban said during the Westminster debate: “Our government could inquire about the numbers of organ removals and their sources … They could reduce demand by banning organ tourism … This is not a case of a few voluntary organ transplants; it is a case of mass killings through forced organ removal, of religious persecution, of grave allegations of crimes against humanity.”
Mark Field, the Foreign Office minister, acknowledged that there was a growing body of research, much of which was “very worrying” but he believed relatively few people in the UK chose to travel to China for organ transplants.
Introducing a travel ban, he said, would be difficult to police since it would be hard to establish whether people had travelled there for that purpose. 

Field said: “But, it is important that we make them aware that other countries may have poorer medical and ethical safeguards than the UK, and that travelling abroad for treatments, including organ transplants, carries fundamental risks.”

Italian Horse

Italy is playing with fire when it comes to China

• Italy is to be the first major European economy to join China’s Belt and Road Initiative
• The move exacerbates tensions between Italy and its neighbors.
• France wants a coordinated, united approach to China.

By Holly Ellyatt

Italian Premier Giuseppe Conte meets Chinese dictator Xi Jinping before to sign trade agreements on Belt and Road Initiative, on March 23, 2019 in Rome, Italy.

Italy’s decision to be the first major European economy to join China’s massive investment and infrastructure project, the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), can only exacerbate tensions between Italy and its neighbors.
On Saturday, Xi Jinping and the Italian government signed a non-binding agreement for Italy to join China’s trade route and inked a total of 29 deals worth 2.5 billion euros ($2.8 billion) across an array of sectors. Italy hopes the project will boost its sluggish economy but the deal raised more than just eyebrows in Europe and the U.S. with officials criticizing the move.
The BRI is something of a 21st century Silk Road with the sea and land route stretching from Asia, the Middle East, Africa and now into Europe — with Italy being the first Group of Seven (G-7) country to sign up to the global infrastructure and development project.
China sees the BRI as a way to export more of its goods to lucrative markets; its critics see the initiative as a vanity project that increases indebtedness among its participating countries. 

The BRI gives Chinese companies unfettered access to other markets and economies, but that its own is still largely closed to foreign investment.
At the heart of concerns is that the BRI is seen as a way for China to spread its geopolitical influence — an acute concern for a Europe increasingly uncertain of its place in the world.
As such, Italy’s latest move has been seen as undermining Europe’s ability to compete with China’s economic might. 

Italy’s bilateral deal with China also came a day after French President Emmanuel Macron called for a coordinated European approach to the superpower.
Italy’s anti-establishment coalition government has already clashed with Brussels over immigration and its spending plans. 

Its deal with China is likely to be another source of tension.
“It’s clear that this does undermine Europe’s and the West’s ability to stand up to China,” Federico Santi, senior Europe analyst at Eurasia Group, told CNBC Tuesday. 

“This will be another source of friction between Italy and Europe which, ultimately, will be to the detriment of Italy itself,” he added, although he noted that the terms of the agreement between Italy and China remained to be seen.
Italy and China have played down concerns. 

Italy’s Deputy Prime Minister Luigi Di Maio told CNBC that the accord was “nothing to worry about” and Xi tried to assuage concerns in Europe too, saying on Tuesday during a visit to France that “cooperation is bigger than competition between China and Europe.”
Other EU leaders like French President Emmanuel Macron are keen for the EU to have a tougher approach to China and stress the need for reciprocal commercial ties. 

On Tuesday, Macron said while he wants the EU to deepen its ties with China, there must be a united European front when it comes to the superpower.
To emphasize this point, he invited German Chancellor Angela Merkel and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker for talks with Xi in Paris on Tuesday. 

There, Macron urged China to “respect the unity of the European Union and the values it carries in the world.” 

Juncker stressed that European companies should find “the same degree of openness in the China market as Chinese ones find in Europe.”
Merkel, for her part, said that Europeans wanted to take part in the Belt and Road Initiative but that “must lead to a certain reciprocity, and we are still wrangling over that bit.”
As Macron said in Brussels last week, “the time of European naïveté is ended” as he called for the EU. For many years we had an uncoordinated approach and China took advantage of our divisions.”
With Italy pursuing its own deal with China regardless of its neighbors’ concerns, China could be able to make the most of those divisions again.

"Italy joining China’s Belt and Road project is geopolitically unwise", former prime minister says

Italy’s government provoked controversy as it joined China’s Belt and Road Initiative, becoming the first EU and Group of 7 country to do so.
By Natasha Turak

Ex-Italian PM: Important to pay attention to Belt and Road initiative
Italy’s former prime minister doesn’t approve of the current government’s newly inked partnership with China, calling the decision “unwise” during a conversation with CNBC Monday.
“Politically, geopolitically, I deem (it) really unwise from the Italian government to take such a decision without coordination with the European Union and our allies,” Paolo Gentiloni, who served as prime minister from 2016 to 2018, told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Europe.”
“Europe is showing its divisions toward China, and this is not something that will strengthen our position even on trade.”
The Italian government stirred up fresh controversy over the weekend as it officially agreed to join China’s massive Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), becoming the first EU and Group of 7 country to do so.
Chinese dictator Xi Jinping’s visit to Rome saw a total of 29 deals signed, altogether worth 2.5 billion euros ($2.8 billion). 

They were focused on agricultural, finance and energy sectors, and opened up new access to the Chinese market for major Italian energy and engineering firms.
Gentiloni, who himself visited China in 2017 to discuss the Belt and Road initiative with Beijing’s leadership, echoed the analyses of many observers who described the deals signed as largely symbolic and not an economic paradigm shift for Italy.
“The agreements signed in Italy are not so relevant from an economic point of view,” he said.
“We will not change the mood of our economy with these agreements, and my guess is that perhaps we will not even change the balance of trade between Italy and China, which is unfortunately a balance of deficit on the Italian side.”
But politically, he stressed, “I am worried that we are not showing EU unity, and for this reason I think that the MOU (memorandum of understanding) that was signed from the Italian government was not a wise decision.”
Gentiloni is a founding member of Italy’s Democratic party, whose stances are largely described as a social democratic, center-left and Europeanist. 

Italy is currently led by a euroskeptic coalition whose largest parties are the anti-establishment Five-Star Movement and the right-wing Lega party.

‘Italy is not an African country’
Western critics warn of Chinese debt traps and describe the initiative as a ploy to expand geopolitical and strategic influence, while Beijing pursues links to Europe and Africa via South Asia and the Middle East to expedite and increase the export of Chinese goods.
German foreign minister Heiko Maas criticized Italy’s decision on Sunday, telling local media: “If some countries believe that they can do clever business with the Chinese, then they will be surprised when they wake up and find themselves dependent.”
Still, in defense of his country, Gentiloni dismissed concerns that Italy would become economically beholden to China in the way that some African and South Asian nations have.
“Italy is not an African country … We will not have a Chinese invasion after these agreements,” he said, pointing out that Italy has less Chinese inward investment than the U.K. or Germany.
“We have to be very cautious especially in issues connected to security, telecommunications, but I don’t think these agreements economically will change much in the framework we have.”
Indeed, Italy is not an African country — it has a higher debt-to-GDP ratio and far lower growth than most countries on the African continent. 

Its economy dipped into recession at the end of last year, and the deadly collapse of its Genoa Bridge last August cast a stark spotlight on its dire need for infrastructure investment.

China and 5G: Avoiding ‘dangerous situations
Gentiloni stressed caution toward China when it comes to sensitive sectors like telecommunications, an issue dominating headlines recently amid the U.S. government’s global campaign against Chinese telecoms giant Huawei. 

Washington says Huawei’s role in building 5G internet infrastructure around the world is a security threat and will allow the Chinese government to spy on users, a claim Beijing rejects.
“I think we have to be very cautious and careful, exactly in this subject,” the former prime minister said.
“Strategic infrastructure and telecommunication infrastructure, and this means now 5G ... We have a very modern infrastructure for mobile phones in our country, we don’t particularly need foreign investment, and in any case we have a law — the golden power law — that allows the Italian government to avoid any form of control in our telecoms infrastructure.”
Italy’s “golden power” legislation refers to state powers designed to protect strategic industries, which it says it plans to extend to 5G technologies. 

This would entail requiring Italian companies in both the private and public sectors to declare to the government any 5G technology purchased from non-European countries.
“I hope that the new government will use these means, these tools, to avoid dangerous situations,” he added.

Italian Horse

Italy takes a shine to China's New Silk Road
BBC News

China has bought up a majority stake in the Greek port of Piraeus - and Italy might be next

China's president lands in Rome on Thursday, where he is expected to sign a landmark infrastructure deal that has raised eyebrows among Italy's Western allies.
Xi Jinping's project is a New Silk Road which, just like the ancient trade route, aims to link China to Europe.
The upside for Italy is a potential flood of investment and greater access to Chinese markets and raw materials.
But amid China's growing influence and questions over its intentions, Italy's Western allies in the European Union and United States have concerns.

By land and by sea
The New Silk Road has another name -- the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) -- and it involves a wave of Chinese funding for major infrastructure projects around the world, in a bid to speed Chinese goods to markets further afield.
It has already funded trains, roads, and ports, with Chinese construction firms given lucrative contracts to connect ports and cities -- funded by loans from Chinese banks.
The levels of debt owed by African nations to China have raised concerns in the West -- but roads and railways have been built that would not exist otherwise:

• In Uganda, Chinese millions built a 50km (30 mile) road to the international airport
• In Tanzania, a small coastal town may become the continent's largest port
• In Europe too, Chinese firms managed to buy 51% of the port authority in Piraeus port near Athens in 2016, after years of economic crisis in Greece

Italy, however, will be the first top-tier global power -- a member of the G7 -- to take the money offered by China.
It is one of the world's top 10 largest economies -- yet Rome finds itself in a curious situation.

The collapse of the Genoa bridge in August killed dozens of people and made Italy's crumbling infrastructure a major political issue for the first time in decades.
And Italy's economy is far from booming.
The country slipped into recession at the end of 2018, and its national debt levels are among the highest in the eurozone.
Italy's populist government came to power in June 2018 with high-spending plans but had to peg them back after a stand-off with the EU.
It is in this context that China's deal is being offered -- funding that could rejuvenate Italy's grand old port cities along the Maritime Silk Road.
Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte has mentioned the cities of Trieste and Genoa as likely candidates.
"The way we see it, it is an opportunity for our companies to take the opportunity of China's growing importance in the world," said Italy's undersecretary of state for trade and investment, Michele Geraci.
"We feel that amongst our European partners, Italy has been left out. We have wasted a little bit of time," he told the BBC.
So what's in it for China?
Italy's move is "largely symbolic", according to Peter Frankopan, professor of Global History at Oxford University and a writer on The Silk Roads.
But even Rome admitting the BRI is worth exploring "has a value for Beijing", he said.
"It adds gloss to the existing scheme and also shows that China has an important global role."

"The seemingly innocuous move comes at a sensitive time for Europe and the European Union, where there is suddenly a great deal of trepidation not only about China, but about working out how Europe or the EU should adapt and react to a changing world," Prof Frankopan told the BBC.
"But there is more at stake here too," he added.
"If investment does not come from China to build ports, refineries, railway lines and so on, then where will it come from?"
Ahead of his arrival, Xi declared that the "friendship" between the two nations was "rooted in a rich historical legacy".
"Made in Italy has become synonymous with high quality products. Italian fashion and furnishings fully meet the taste of Chinese consumers; pizza and tiramisu are liked by young Chinese people," he wrote in an article published by Corriere della Sera.Explorer Marco Polo's travels along the Silk Road were immortalised in the "Book of Marvels"

That "made in Italy" label carries a reputation for quality worldwide, and is legally protected for products items processed "mainly" in Italy.
In recent years, Chinese factories based in Italy using Chinese labour have been challenging that mark of quality.
Better connections for cheap raw materials from China -- and the return of finished products from Italy -- could exaggerate that practice.

Predatory investment
The non-binding deal being signed by the two countries on Thursday comes amid questions over whether Chinese firm Huawei should be permitted to build essential communications networks -- after the United States expressed concern they could help Beijing spy on the West.
That is not part of the current negotiations in Italy.
But a little over a week before the deal was due to be signed, the European Commission released a joint statement on "China's growing economic power and political influence" and the need to "review" relations.
As Xi tours Rome, EU leaders in Brussels will be considering 10 points for relations with China.
While they include deepening engagement, they also involve plans to "address the distortive effects of foreign state ownership" as well as "security risks posed by foreign investment in critical assets, technologies and infrastructure".
In March, US National Security Council spokesman Garrett Marquis pointed out that Italy was a major economy and did not need to "lend legitimacy to China's vanity infrastructure project".

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Italy is a major global economy and a great investment destination. Endorsing BRI lends legitimacy to China’s predatory approach to investment and will bring no benefits to the Italian people.
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Members of Italy's ruling right-wing League party have their owns concerns about national security
Interior Minister Matteo Salvini warned that he did not want to see foreign businesses "colonising" Italy.
"Before allowing someone to invest in the ports of Trieste or Genoa, I would think about it not once but a hundred times," Salvini warned.

Setting the scene
Italian officials are keen to point out that the deal being signed is not an international treaty, and is non-binding.
"There are no specific projects," Mr Geraci said.
"It is more of an accord that sets the scene."
Other European nations already accept Chinese investment through something called the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, he said -- something the UK was the first to sign up to.

"And then one by one, France, Germany, Italy and everyone else also followed suit," Mr Geraci said.
Similarly, he believes Italy's neighbours will soon follow it into the Belt and Road initiative.
"I do believe that this time Italy is actually leading Europe -- which I understand may be a surprise to most," he added.

Italian Horse

Italy May Split With Allies and Open Its Ports to China’s Building Push

By Jason Horowitz and Jack Ewing

The port at Gioia Tauro, Italy. Italian officials are poised to take a first step toward accepting Chinese infrastructure investment as part of Beijing’s One Belt, One Road initiative.

ROME — In a move certain to cause consternation among American officials and leaders of the European Union, Italy appears poised to help China extend its vast global infrastructure push deeper into Western Europe, part of Beijing’s sweeping plan to advance its economic interests and influence around the world.
A first step toward Italy’s cooperation on the Chinese initiative, One Belt, One Road, would be the signing of a memorandum of understanding when Xi Jinping visits Rome this month, Michele Geraci, Italy’s under secretary in the economic development ministry, said in an interview on Wednesday.
“We are not yet as of today 100 percent sure,” said Geraci, one of the lead negotiators on the agreement. 

“But I think there is a likely, good probability.”
If Italy takes such a step toward encouraging Chinese investment, it will be the first member of the Group of 7, the world’s richest economies, to actively participate in Beijing’s effort to build cargo hubs around the world to fuel its own economic growth.
In recent months, top American diplomats in Italy have expressed concerns to leaders of Italy’s new government about the prospect of such a deal. 

Geraci said he and other Italian officials had considered those concerns carefully before deciding to proceed.
Asked on Wednesday about the potential agreement, an official at the United States Embassy in Rome referred to comments by Garrett Marquis, a National Security Council spokesman, in the Financial Times. 

In those remarks, Mr. Marquis said, “We are skeptical that the Italian government’s endorsement will bring any sustained economic benefits to the Italian people, and it may end up harming Italy’s global reputation in the long run.”
Geraci noted that there was currently very little Chinese investment in Italy compared with in the United States, and he sought to allay any concerns about predatory intentions by China.
“I know China very well, and we are more able than others to spot any risks,” he said.
He also said the estimated investments, a few hundred million euros in Italy’s ports, were essentially minuscule.
“We are in no way tilting the geopolitical axis,” Geraci said, emphasizing that nothing in the deal would shift Italy away from its alliance with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization or the European Union.
He argued that cooperating with China on the infrastructure push would allow Italy, which is saddled with enormous debts and stuck at about zero growth, to export fashion, machinery, food, chemical and other goods to China in greater numbers. 

He said Italy’s current exports to China paled next to those of Germany and France. 

France, he said, sells seven times as much wine to China, and even Ireland exports more food and beverages there.
Those countries have been aggressive in pursuing trade with China, but they have also been wary of One Belt, One Road investment in their nations.
Germany and other countries have erected obstacles to foreign investment after Chinese companies, with close ties to Beijing, bought big stakes in the carmaker Daimler, Deutsche Bank and Kuka, a German maker of industrial robots.
Italy abstained this month when the European Union voted to approve a regulation giving countries more power to scrutinize and block foreign investment, especially when it is supported by a foreign government. 

But the regulation, clearly written with China in mind, allows countries to let foreign money in if they choose.
Michele Geraci, Italy’s under secretary in the economic development ministry. “It is a very fertile area for investment,” he said of the potential influx of money from China.

European leaders’ resistance to Chinese investment may have slowed, but it has not stopped. 

Direct investment by Chinese companies in the 28 countries of the European Union plunged 40 percent in 2018 to €17.3 billion, or $19.6 billion, according to a study published this week by the Rhodium Group, a consulting firm, and the Mercator Institute for China Studies in Berlin.
Much of the decline reflected the reduced buying power of Chinese companies because of slower economic growth. 

And Chinese investments in Germany still rose €400 million, to €2.1 billion, last year with the acquisitions of a pharmaceutical company and an auto industry supplier, the study found.
Money from China is still welcome in the poorer countries of Eastern Europe that are eager for investment. 

Chinese money is helping to finance improvements to the rail line between Budapest and Belgrade and Black Sea port facilities in Bulgaria.
Chinese investments in the relatively small economies of Eastern Europe fell last year to €2 billion from €3 billion, according to the study. 

Since 2000, Chinese investment in the region has been about €7 billion, or about a third of what has gone to Germany. 

Hungary attracted about €2.4 billion of that sum, much more than any other Eastern European country.
Italy has ports that are attractive to China in Trieste in the country’s northeastern region, in Genoa on the Ligurian coast and in Palermo, a Sicilian city close to Africa, where China has invested deeply.
“All of these ports have the benefit of being closest to Africa,” Geraci said. 

“Without being in Africa,”
For now, China’s most important port in Europe is the Piraeus port outside Athens, where the state-backed shipping conglomerate Cosco had taken control.
Italy wants in on the action.
Already this week, with the framework agreement pending, the port authority of Genoa is proceeding with a deal to create a new company with the China Communications Construction Company, Geraci said.
“One way for us to increase trade values is to first increase investment” from China, he said.
“This is done by these memorandums, One Belt and One Road. It is a very fertile area for investment.”
The office of President Sergio Mattarella confirmed on Wednesday that Xi Jinping will meet with him in Rome on March 22 and be honored with a state dinner that evening.
Xi is also scheduled to meet with Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte.
Geraci said China’s leader had also expressed a desire to visit Palermo.
Geraci spent a decade in China teaching economics and writing financial columns before being called back to Italy in 2018 by Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini, the populist leader, to work in the government with a concentration on China.
During his time there, other Italian officials seemed to warm up to the country.
In May 2017, the Italian prime minister at the time, Paolo Gentiloni of the Democratic Party, was one of the few Western leaders to attend the One Belt, One Road conference in Beijing.
“Italy can be a protagonist in this great operation that China cares about so much,” Gentiloni said at the time.
“It is a great opportunity for us, and my presence here speaks to how important we consider it.”
But Gentiloni, a supporter of the European Union who believed in keeping a united European front, did not ultimately sign on for Italy to cooperate in the infrastructure initiative.
The populists now in control of Italy’s government ran against Brussels and seem less interested in maintaining such unity.
“The big change,” Geraci said, “is wanting to do things.”