{"title":"China–Italy BRI Cooperation: towards a new cooperation model?","authors":"Yu Xiao, F. Parenti","doi":"10.1080/23792949.2021.1985397","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT A strategic/geoeconomic/geopolitical as opposed to a short-term contextual approach to the Italy–China Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) agreement identifies significant opportunities for cooperation alongside important challenges: opportunities derive from emerging interests in port interconnectivity, investment and industrial development, the digital economy, and third-party markets, while challenges are associated with uncertain economic recovery, increasing geopolitical rivalry, volatile Italian politics, and contrasting Chinese and Italian and European Union norms. Frequent short-term policy turns result, while Italy–China cooperation may presage a reorientation of the BRI in the direction of multilateral negotiation, soft cooperation and development of city-to-city networks. If not, the outcome may be a less interconnected and vibrant BRI and a more confrontational game between the European Union and China.","PeriodicalId":31513,"journal":{"name":"Area Development and Policy","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.8000,"publicationDate":"2021-11-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"3","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Area Development and Policy","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1080/23792949.2021.1985397","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q3","JCRName":"DEVELOPMENT STUDIES","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 3
Abstract
ABSTRACT A strategic/geoeconomic/geopolitical as opposed to a short-term contextual approach to the Italy–China Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) agreement identifies significant opportunities for cooperation alongside important challenges: opportunities derive from emerging interests in port interconnectivity, investment and industrial development, the digital economy, and third-party markets, while challenges are associated with uncertain economic recovery, increasing geopolitical rivalry, volatile Italian politics, and contrasting Chinese and Italian and European Union norms. Frequent short-term policy turns result, while Italy–China cooperation may presage a reorientation of the BRI in the direction of multilateral negotiation, soft cooperation and development of city-to-city networks. If not, the outcome may be a less interconnected and vibrant BRI and a more confrontational game between the European Union and China.