Vol. 11 No. 2 (2020): Italy and China: 50 Years of Relations

The 50th anniversary of the normalization of diplomatic relations between the Italian Republic and the People's Republic of China (6 November 1970-2020) coincides with a significant deterioration of the international political and economic framework. The COVID-19 pandemic, the effects of the "Jacksonian moment" on US foreign policy under the Trump administration, and the growing firmness of the European Union towards Beijing have accelerated the realignment of the factors that have enabled the agenda of "regeneration of the Chinese nation" pursued by the Chinese Party-State under the leadership of Xi Jinping. The statement issued at the end of the 5th plenary session of the 19th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on 29 October 2020 reflects this awareness and signals how the leaders of the Party-State note a "profound change in the balance of international power". Particularly exposed after the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding for collaboration on the Belt and Road Initiative in 2019, Italy appears caught between the need to renew its agency on an international level through tangible and timely manifestations of authority and the risk of growing irrelevance disguised as consoling self-representations, not very effective in avoiding an uncomfortable position of subjection to the dialectic between the United States and China.