Wang Yi’s Italy visit yields little good than it could: Report

The recent meeting of a delegation from the People’s Republic of China with Italy’s Foreign Minister failed to find space for a discussion on the human rights issues and was solely focused on PRC’s ties with Russia, reported Better Winter, a magazine on religious liberty and human rights. Wang Yi, a Chinese diplomat and politician, met with Antonio Tajani, the Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs, in Rome on February 16, 2023. The report further states that both human rights in the People’s Republic of China and the PRC’s alliance with Russia should’ve been on the agenda of Tajani’s meeting with Wang. However, there was public silence on human rights, while deep concern was expressed about China’s potential role in the Russia-Ukraine scenario. Italy is one of the countries urging China to exert influence over Russia and persuade it to end its aggression in Ukraine. When Tajani met Wang, it appears that this concern absorbed all other questions. In fact, there was no room for a discussion of the heinous Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed by China and Italy in March 2019. The Memorandum, signed as part of the so-called “Belt and Road Initiative,” is nefarious for a variety of reasons.