Illustration: Liu Rui/GT

Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi's visit to Europe is set against the context of increasing tensions between Washington and Beijing.  

From Italy to Germany, the aim of these meetings is to strengthen cooperation mechanisms between the two key players of the Eurasian continent and promote multilateralism, which is now under stress by the irresponsible actions of the current US administration. 

In recent months, the White House has drawn a lethal line in the sand and pushed countries to pick sides. Instead of handling their domestic chaotic situation and out-of-control COVID-19 pandemic, they're waving a finger to distract from their failures (often unsuccessfully, as recent US proposal to extend arms embargo to Iran at UNSC demonstrated). Instead of promoting more cooperation to deal with current crises, in each important international affair, Washington asks allies to interfere with global technology deals to advance US business at cost of their own. 

The US' call to Australia and European countries to boycott China, for instance, is clearly against these countries' national interests. More importantly, it is against international needs for more cooperation. A great power unable to promote stabilization in a time of global crisis and prone to feed chaos cannot be in anyway legitimate. The US is acting even more like a bully. And it is doing so damaging its own business and isolating itself.

For this reason, strengthening China-Europe diplomatic ties is more important than ever. This must be done in order to avoid the negative outcomes of a new cold war wanted and instigated by Washington. For this reason, working for multilateral and cooperative initiatives in a period of global crises should be welcomed and widely supported.   

Italy and China confirmed these main goals, along with other specific chapters on digitalization, infrastructure and crisis management. The first stop of the trip by Chinese foreign minister in Italy carries particular symbolic meaning. Why? Because Italy was the first G7-European Union-NATO country to officially join the Belt and Road Initiative in March 2019. During the last few years, bilateral relations with China remain solid. The Italy-China telecommunication projects, for example, are open and concrete, according to bilateral strategic interests and previous agreements. This is in spite of White House pressure put on all of its allies to block Chinese companies. 

Take the 5G. Relations between Italy and China in this cooperation field are promising and based on mutual interests. The Italian government has the right to monitor strategic activities. However, without evidence it cannot ban Chinese firms if it does not want to stay backward. As far as we know, Chinese technologies could be safer than the existing one. Recently, the UK decided to exclude Huawei from its market within seven years. But I predict that this choice will likely reverse over the coming years. 

The accusations against China from the Trump administration are fabricated. Take the classical example of the 5G issue and the relations between government and companies. US networks and US companies, according to empirically proved evidence, have been spying constantly on the entire world. Since the 1970s, several national security programs have employed US private corporations with strict collaboration between government agencies for strategic purposes. This means that US carriers, apps, store, cloud, and cables are not safe. They are vulnerable and politically intertwined with the US government and its particular interests. 

Given this historical truth, one can easily understand the nonsense of the US' accusations against Chinese corporations.   

Going back to the matter of China-Italy bilateral relations and their importance, we should understand that China, with an estimated 52-percent global growth contribution in 2020-21 according to the IMF, is supporting global economic recovery - namely, for instance, current US and EU exports. We should bear in mind that the most promising market for Italian trade and industrial interests is China.

Even though other Western markets remain important, they are already consolidated with no consistent margin of growth. The Italian government is obliged to assert itself. It needs to improve its China's policy for better development opportunity. After all, there is a slow and uncertain recovery path in the US and EU. The health-economic crises and political inefficiency in the West is stark.  

In sum, Italy and China can expand beyond infrastructure deals and work on enhancing their health and cultural ties. China and Italy can aspire to establish a new model of cooperation at international level. 

The author is associate professor of Geography/International Studies (ASN), teaching at the International Institute Lorenzo de' Medici, Florence. He is also associate professor at China Foreign Affairs University, Department of Diplomacy, Beijing. Follow him on twitter @fabiomassimos