【重磅】“一带一路”倡议节点国家之：意大利——《下一个黄金时代》摘选

导读

3月20日，在对“一带一路”节点国家意大利共和国进行国事访问前夕，中国领导人在意大利《晚邮报》发表题为《东西交往传佳话 中意友谊续新篇》的署名文章，表达了中国同意大利进行合作、发展两国友好关系的愿望。

此前，首届“一带一路”国际合作高峰论坛于2017年5月14日-15日在北京召开。为了更好配合高峰论坛，体现智库的智力支持，盘古智库与中国青年出版社联袂推出《“一带一路”节点国家态度研究》丛书。盘古智库根据现有的研究资源选择八个节点国家：印度、土耳其、韩国、印尼、巴基斯坦、意大利、英国、白俄罗斯，组织力量跟踪这些国家对“一带一路”倡议的反应和态度，探析这些国家如此态度的原因，并给出推动其更好参与“一带一路”建设的对策建议。如很多作者不约而同地都提及：要加强“一带一路”的宣传力度。

本文系盘古智库学术委员会副秘书长、高级研究员吕晶华对意大利在一带一路中的作用研究，摘选自《下一个黄金时代》（本书由盘古智库“一带一路”节点国家态度研究课题组集体撰写，课题组组长为盘古智库理事长易鹏以及盘古智库特约高级策略研究员、中国青年出版社社长皮钧）。

历史上，欧亚大陆通过丝绸之路连结在一起，古代的中国和罗马在两端遥遥相望。作为经济全球化的早期版本，这条贸易通道被誉为全球最重要的商贸大动脉，马可波罗游记中就记载了古代丝绸之路的辉煌和两国交往的历史。如今，中国在全球化大背景之下提出了“一带一路”倡议，意大利在其中依然处于这样一种极其特殊的地位。在西欧各国中，意大利政府和企业界对于“一带一路”倡议的态度相对而言颇为积极，但在实际操作中仍存在一定的顾虑情绪。如何充分发挥中意两国在经济上的互补性，寻找更多合作领域和拓展合作空间，关系到中意两国的各自发展，也关系到中国“一带一路”倡议在欧洲的落地。

一

意大利在“一带一路”倡议中的独特地位

意大利在“一带一路”倡议中所享有的特殊地位，体现在地理、经济和政治等多个层面。

从地理上看，“一带一路”由“一带”和“一路”两个部分组成，两条路线在意大利交汇，赋予了意大利极为特殊的地位。当然，更具重要意义的是中欧在“一带一路”中的合作前景及意大利在欧洲的特殊地位。

从经济角度看，欧盟需要进一步完善欧洲一体化的进程，中国则通过“一带一路”加强与区域经济及全球经济的互动。双方在区域和全球经济一体化中具有较强的共识，这是双方合作的理念前提。中欧在经济结构上也具有很强的互补性。中国在劳动密集型制造业上具有优势，欧洲在消费升级领域具有全球竞争力；中国在基础设施建设上具有领先性，欧洲在基础设施软件服务上具有优势。这是促进双方合作的核心因素。通过路上和海上丝绸之路，中国与西欧之间的距离将大大缩短，贸易成本将大大降低。不仅中方能从中受益，对欧洲而言也是意义重大。广而言之，“一带一路”本身就是以共赢为目标的倡议，中国当然能够从中受益，但这是以相关国家共同受益为前提的。

同样重要的是，反全球化的思潮和民粹主义正在全球蔓延，并且有愈演愈烈之势。这是导致英国做出脱欧决定的原因之一，也有可能对今年欧洲各国将举行的一系列选举产生影响。在这种情况下，中、欧这两大经济体建立更为密切的经贸关系，让更多的企业、民众从跨越国界的贸易往来中受益而不是受损，无疑有着共同抵制贸易保护主义逆潮的重要作用。

在“一带一路”倡议引领下，意大利的地缘优势，可使其成为中国产品进入欧洲大陆的天然门户。国际货币基金组织2016年提供的数据显示，意大利是欧盟第四大国、全球经济第九大国。中意建交47年来，双方关系迅速提升。目前，意大利是中国在欧盟的第五大贸易伙伴，中国是意大利在亚洲的第一大贸易伙伴。2016年，双边贸易额为430.6亿美元，中国对意出口263.6亿美元，进口167.0亿美元。截止2016年12月底，意在华投资项目共计5617个，实际使用投资68.9亿美元，意大利也已成为中国投资的主要目的地。

金融危机后的意大利经济面临更多挑战，仅靠欧盟內部市场很难实现全面振兴，加强与亚洲国家特别是中国的合作交流则成为其重要环节。参与“一带一路”，恰恰为中意两个文明古国共谋发展提供了机遇。

二

意大利各方对“一带一路”倡议的立场

意大利总统塞尔吉奥马塔雷拉在近日访华期间，表达了与中国就“一带一路”展开合作的强烈意愿。这表明，意大利政府的高层领导对于该倡议的态度愈益趋向积极。马塔雷拉也已确认参加将于5月14-15日在北京举行的“一带一路”国际合作高峰论坛。

由于意大利媒体对“一带一路”倡议及中意在此框架下合作可能性的报道还比较有限，很多普通民众对于该倡议的了解不多。但意大利商界的热情相当高涨，他们最有可能从相关项目中受益，因此也是最积极呼吁意大利政府积极参与其中的力量。意大利商业界人士对中国投资和并购表示欢迎，也为意政府更加积极地接受中方关于“一带一路”倡议发挥了突出作用。

2015年，中国化工集团以77亿美元资金收购了意大利轮胎巨头“倍耐力”，充分展现了中国企业对于在意投资的浓厚兴趣。这笔交易的部分资金来源于“丝路基金”，后者在中国化工集团子公司持有股权。中国公司在意还有多项大规模投资，如国家电网公司(SGCC)从意大利存贷款公司（CDP）花费28亿美元收购意大利存贷款能源网公司（CDP RETI）部分股权等。投资和收购额日益增多，反映了意大利商业界和商业精英对于中国的开放态度。根据美国财经媒体CNBC和“博雅公关公司”（Burson-Marsteller）所做的调查显示，意大利民众普遍重视商业，认为商业的繁荣将对经济产生积极影响，也不反感企业对于政府产生影响。基于这样的民意，加强双方在商业上的往来，显然将推动意大利政府更积极地参与“一带一路”。目前来看，中意的合作正在沿着这样的方向前行。

除商业界之外，意大利领导人对于“一带一路”相关项目也表示了深厚的兴趣。这在一定程度上源于中意之间的良好关系。意大利不顾美国的劝阻，成为 “亚投行”（AIIB）的创始成员国之一。2016年5月，中国外交部长王毅在罗马与意大利总理、时任意外交部长真蒂洛尼会晤，强调应加强中国“一带一路”倡议与意国家发展战略的对接，并宣布开启多个中意合作项目，内容涵盖节能环保、农业、可持续城镇化、健康卫生和航空航天等5大重点领域。意总统近期访华和确认出席“一带一路”峰会，进一步展示了意大利政府及领导人的积极姿态。

三

意大利对“一带一路”倡议在意推进的主要顾虑

当然，意大利国内对于“一带一路”倡议还有一些负面情绪，主要体现为对中国国企在海外投资与并购的顾虑。包括意大利在内的不少欧洲国家，都对外国企业收购本国企业感到担心。2014年皮尤调查中心发布的一项调查表明，73%的意大利受访民众认为，外国企业收购本国企业是坏事。虽然这种情绪针对的是所有收购行为，但随着中国国企大量收购意大利企业、特别是“倍耐力”等具有悠久历史、广受关注的意企时，这种反对情绪表现得更为强烈。这引发了对于中国国企的不满和不信任，也因此影响到这些企业在意大利的运转。上述皮尤调查也表明，在欧洲各国中，意大利对于跨国贸易的怀疑情绪最浓，只有13%的受访者认为与其他国家的贸易往来有助于增加就业，超过59%的受访者则认为这将导致就业机会减少。另外，52%的意大利人认为，此类贸易将导致收入下降，因此对国家不利。

总体而言，包括意大利在内的欧洲国家对于中国的投资和收购主要有三个方面的顾虑：

一是投资可能导致本国重要和战略工业受中国控制。其中包括被认为对国家经济增长、全球竞争力至关重要的组织和企业，特别是高技术和技术先进企业。这种担忧导致部分欧洲国家制定了更具贸易保护色彩的政策。例如，在过去5年的对华贸易中一直处于顺差地位的德国，就在近期阻止了中国以6.7亿欧元收购“爱思强”（Aixtron）的要求。在意大利，反对全球化和要求效仿英国“脱欧”的“五星运动”正在迅速崛起。如果与这种对中国并购者的怀疑情绪相结合，加之意大利对华贸易仍存在逆差，有可能促使意大利采取类似的保护性政策。

二是公司治理和商业行为模式的差异。勿庸置疑，随着中国国企越来越多地在意大利发起收购，这些企业的领导人必然也会寻求将他们所习以为常的商业行为模式运用到意大利企业当中，从而影响甚至取代欧洲原有的架构和模式。这种方式有时会与欧洲现有的劳工法和环境保护措施相冲突，从而加剧了人们的担忧。还有一些人担心，这些意大利企业被收购后，部分业务会转移到中国国内，这会导致当地人失业。

三是对等投资不足和进入中国市场受限。在不少欧洲国家，人们普遍存在的一种看法是，虽然这些国家对中国非常开放，但中国却未保持同样的开放度，相反却给予中国国企和其他国内企业更多的优惠措施。在欧洲国家看来，中国在金融服务等重要领域依然对国外投资持限制或禁止态度，表明中国政府明显有所偏袒。不少欧洲国家一直认为中国的投资者和政治机构透明度不足，也加剧了这方面的担忧和疑虑，因此出现了对中国一些投资和并购行为的抵制。

四

中意在“一带一路”框架下开展的合作

总体来看，中意两国在经济结构上具有很强的互补性，在“一带一路”框架下开展经济合作的潜力巨大。对于许多中国人来说，意大利是创意时尚和高端制造的代名词。中国又是意大利纺织品及原料、家具玩具、鞋靴伞等轻工产品和皮革制品及箱包的首要来源地，是意大利机电产品的第二大进口来源地，分别占其市场份额的为21.2%、30.1%、19.9%，16.3%和15.5%。中国企业越来越关注可再生能源利用和环境保护问题，这对于具有丰富经验的意大利相关企业同样是巨大的发展机遇。中意已经开展的经贸合作，及具有巨大潜力的合作领域包括：

一是港口基础设施建设合作。2017年2月，由中国交通建设股份有限公司领衔的中意联合公司4C3与意大利威尼斯港务局签订了离岸深水港口一期设计协议。威尼斯港务局主席保罗·科斯塔称，这一工程将使威尼斯港成为连接亚得里亚海各港口的重要枢纽，从而真正实现与海上丝绸之路的对接。事实上，意大利还在规划更大规模的“五港同盟”建设项目，计划在北亚得里亚港口协会管辖的五个港口（意大利的威尼斯港、的里雅斯特港、拉文纳港，斯洛文尼亚的科佩尔港，和克罗地亚的里耶卡）“打造巨型多功能平台，形成离岸/在岸船泊靠泊系统”。据估计，项目完成后这五个港口的集装箱容量将达180万至300万TEU 。一方面，中国可以深入参与相关基础设施建设。根据目前的预算，项目总花费约为22亿欧元，意大利政府提供的预算仅为3.5亿美元，他们希望能够通过中国企业和中国政府“一带一路”相关部门募得其他所需资金。另一方面，这也将使中国大型货船在地中海找到新的驻泊港湾。如能有效使用这些港湾，相比于现在常用的汉堡港，中国货船前往欧洲的距离将缩短3862公里、8天时间。

二是中国在意“海外直接投资”（FDI）。2011年的一项研究认为，中国在意大利的投资被称为“马可·波罗效应”。这项研究认为，正像当年将中国的高技术带回意大利的马可·波罗一样，当今中国在意大利的“海外直接投资”主要集中于高技术领域和设计领域，通过并购大品牌和知名企业，提升其技术能力和在设计方面的水平。这样的合作显然具有双赢性质，因为中国的产业主要集中于劳动密集型产业和基建领域，可以在并购意大利企业的过程中不断完善。而在2008年金融危机中遭受重创的意大利，也亟需这样的投资来恢复元气。

三是教育交流。随着中意在“一带一路”倡议下经贸往来的日益密切，双方也需要在更深的层面加深相互了解。事实上，确实有越来越多的意大利学生通过各类学者项目来到中国。自2011年以来，在意大利学习的中国留学生数量仅次美国留学生，在所有在意外国留学生中占第二位。单从留学生数量来看，中国年轻人对于了解意大利的热情，似乎远远高于意大利年轻人了解中国的热情。但值得注意的是，意大利有12家孔子学院，覆盖了多数知名大学和最主要城市，展现了意大利对于研究中国、了解中国文化的积极姿态。

四是旅游业。意大利是中国旅游者心目中的旅游圣地之一。有旅游机构提供的数据显示，意大利是在中国人海外旅游目的地中排位在前10名。当前，意大利正在采取提供更好的服务等措施，来吸引中国旅游者。博洛尼亚近期就与中国旅游研究院签署协定，以研究旅游者的习惯和需求，从而更好地满足他们的需要。[17]此类协定充分显示了中国旅游者对于意大利经济的重要提升作用。随着“一带一路”倡议带来的更多商机和政治合作，中国同样有可能成为意大利旅游者的重要旅游目的地。中国方面也有必要与意大利城市建立更稳固的合作关系，开启更多的直飞航线，并且培养更多的意大利利语导游，以便为意大利旅游者赴华提供便利。

五是吸取意大利经验推进“中国制造2025”。自20世纪80年代以来，意大利就将“意大利制造”的标签打造成金字招牌，意味着产品是在意大利设计、生产和包装的，展示了意大利的独特地位，也是高品质的象征。通过与意大利的合作，以及在并购和投资意大利企业的过程中学习经验，中国可以更有效地推进“中国制造2025”。多年来，意大利将创新作为产业发展的支柱，其时尚、食品、家具和机械工程等行业尤其如此。“中国制造2025”也同样将创新作为驱动力，旨在借此实现产业升级。“一带一路”倡议为双方基于这一共同需求开展双赢合作提供了重要机遇。

五

与意开展“一带一路”合作需关注的几个问题

“一带一路”虽然是明显具有共赢特质的重要倡议，但其涉及国家多、项目多、范围广、周期长，其间必然会面临这样那样的问题，在意大利也不例外。为推动中意在“一带一路”框架下的顺畅合作，有以下几点需要关注：

第一，降低政府参与的色彩，推动“自下而上”的合作。客观而言，意大利等欧洲国家奉行的“多层治理”模式，与中国“强政府、弱社会”模式差异巨大。这也是中意“一带一路”合作中面临的最大障碍。不少人一提起与中国的经贸往来，就自然而地联想到政府支持、国家背景，不仅在心理层面容易产生抵触情绪，而且在实际操作中也容易与欧洲国家的法律规范相冲突。“一带一路”虽是国家最高领导人提出的倡议，但在具体落实中，还有必要考虑到欧洲的特殊性，尽量降低政府色彩和国企色彩，让更多的民营企业走在前列，强调企业、行业、城市之间的合作。

第二，降低国别属性，强调基于“欧洲一体化”理念的中欧合作。与其他“一带一路”相关国家不同，欧洲国家的一个显著特点，是在关注本国利益的同时，也强调欧洲的整体性。在中国提出“16+1合作”倡议后，欧盟出现了质疑“中国分化欧洲”的杂音，虽然未在欧洲占据主流，但依然值得关注。在合作中更多地强调与欧洲一体化相关政策相对接，如可利用“容克计划”提供的对欧投资制度性渠道，深化中欧经贸合作；在参与铁路、港口等基础设施建设时，除关注目标国需求外，也应适当考虑铁路在其他国家的延伸与贯通，港口设施在功能、容量上与邻近国家现有港口设施的差异化配置等。

第三，通过政策配套，为中、小企业对接提供便利。在欧洲国家中，意大利是除德国之外制造业基础最为雄厚的，中、小企业尤其发达，素有“中小企业王国”之称。据统计，意大利中、小企业吸纳了全国近82%的员工，在助推国民经济和解决就业方面都发挥着重要作用。在“一带一路”框架下，一方面中国众多正处于发展期的中小企业家可以到意大利学习管理经验，另一方面这些意大利传统优势企业也可以通过与中方企业的深度合作寻求更大的市场。在此方面，有必要在政策上适度放宽对外国中、小企业进入中国市场的限制，在版权和专利保护方面加大管理力度，降低这些企业的顾虑。

A Study of China-Italy Cooperation in BRI

Hua Jing, Senior Fellow, Deputy Secretary-General of Academic Committee, the Pangoal Institution

Anurag Ram Chandran, A Schwarzman Scholar at Tsinghua University

In ancient times, Europe and Asia were connected together by the Silk Road, with Rome and China respectively serving as the two major terminals. The Silk Road was viewed as the main line of trade and business across borders at that time--an early version of economic globalization. In fact, the grand history of the Silk Road and the connection and exchanges between the two countries are well documented by Marco Polo in his Travelogue. Upholding the concept of globalization, China proposed the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI)in which Italy matters a lot. Relatively speaking, among all the countries in the Western Europe, the government and business community in Italy holds a positive stand towards BRI. Even though, it is still undeniable that there is still skepticism and doubt in carrying out relevant projects. Whether we can succeed in exploring more areas and spaces for cooperation and making full advantage of the complementarities between China and Italy, will affect not only the future development of the two countries but also the implementation of the BRI all across Europe.

1

Why does Italy matter in BRI?

The significance Italy enjoys in the implementation of the BRI include several aspects, including geographic, economic and political facets.

Geographically, BRI includes both the land and the maritime Silk Roads. Italy stands at the intersection of the two roads, making it uniquely special in BRI. What’s more important, however, is the huge potential of the cooperation between China and Europe in the framework of BRI and Italy’s special position in Europe.

From the perspective of the economy, the European Union needs to further improve the process of European integration, while China strengthens the interaction between regional economy and global economy by means of BRI. Both sides have strong consensus for regional and global economic integration, which is the core premise of cooperation between the two sides. Besides, China and Europe have mutually complementary economic structures-- China has advantages in labor-intensive manufacturing industries, while Europe has global competitiveness in the field of consumption upgrades. Similarly, China has superiority in infrastructure construction, while Europe has advantages on the software services of infrastructure. This complementarity is the core factor that will promote cooperation between the two parties. Through the land and sea route, the distance between China and Western Europe will be greatly shortened, which will significantly reduce the trading costs. This not only benefits China, but also has important significance to Europe. Broadly speaking, the Belt and Road (BRI) is an initiative that aims to achieve a win-win goal. Of course, China will benefit from it-- but this is based on mutual benefits and the parallel benefits for the relevant countries involved.

It is also important to note that trends of anti-globalization and populism are spreading all over the world, becoming more intense as time goes by. This is one of the primary reasons that led to the UK’s decision to exit Europe, the repercussions of which, may also have an impact on the series of elections that are going to be held in several European countries this year. In this situation, if China and European economies can develop much closer economic relations, more enterprises and people can benefit from transnational trading. Undoubtedly, it will play a significant role in opposing the protectionist trends in Europe, and more broadly, throughout the world.

Italy enjoys a distinctive geopolitical advantage in being the gateway for Chinese products to find markets in Europe. Based on statistics provided by IMF’s World Economic Outlook Database, October 2016, Italy is the fourth largest economy in EU and the eighth in the world. In the past 47 years after the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Italy in 1970, bilateral relations have experienced powerful acceleration. Today, Italy is China’s fifth largest trade partner in Europe, while China is Italy’s largest one in Asia. The annual bilateral trade volume amounts to $ 43.06 billion in 2016, in which China exported 26.36 billion and imported 16.70 billion. By the end of 2016, the investment projects in China initiated by Italy totaled 5617, with $ 6.89 billion of actual fund. Italy, on the other hand, has become a main destination for Chinese investment.

It is of no doubt that Italy’s economy has been facing several challenges after the occurrence of the financial crisis. As the comprehensive economic resurgence cannot be achieved solely on exchanges within the European market, it will be important for Italy to enhance cooperation with Asian countries, especially with China. BRI, therefore, will provide unprecedented opportunities for China and Italy, the two ancient civilizations, to cooperate and develop together.

2

How Italy reacts to BRI?

On a recent visit to China, Italian President Sergio Matarella stressed his country’s desire to collaborate with China on BRI—a growing sign of the positive reception of BRI in the upper echelons of the Italian government. In fact, Mr. Matarella is confirmed to attend the Belt and Road summit between May 14 and 15.

It is important to note that not much information abounds in Italian media about BRI or the possibility of Italian and Chinese cooperation on BRI-led projects. This leads to a lot of the general public, and civilians largely being unaware of BRI. However, the business community in Italy is largely enthusiastic, as they are slated to be the biggest winners from the likely BRI-led projects, and as such, are the strongest lobbying forces in the Italian government. The business community in Italy has openly embraced the arrival of Chinese investments and takeovers, and have largely contributed to the increased positive government perception of China in Italy.

The buying of Pirelli, Italy’s top tire maker, by China National Chemical Corporation (ChemChina)for US$ 7.7 billion is the most recent example of China’s interest in Italian companies. This deal, was in fact partly funded by the Silk Road Fund, which took an equity stake in the division of ChemChina created to buy the shares. Other large investments by Chinese firms in Italy include the $2.8 billion investment in Italian energy grid unit CDP Reti by the State Grid Corporation of China (SGCC) in 2014 as well as other large-scale investments that have only grown in number every year. The number of increased investments and acquisitions clearly show the openness of businesses and business leaders in Italy to China. This is good, especially in a country like Italy in which the majority of the people believe that strong and influential businesses have a positive impact on the economy, and are comfortable with the influence of corporations on the government—according to a survey conducted by CNBC and Burson Marsteller. Thus, winning over the business community is crucial for China to steer Italian policy-making in a pro-BRI direction, and it already seems to be ahead of the curve in this task.

In addition to the business communities, it appears that the government leadership is especially supportive of embracing BRI-related projects. This is partly due to the strong relationship that Italy enjoys with China. For instance, Italy is one of the founding members of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), deciding to join after ignoring US pleas to refrain from joining. Further, after meeting in Rome in May 2016, China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Italy’s Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni (back then, Italy’s Minister of Foreign Affairs) announced several areas of cooperation between China and Italy. These included five priority fields—energy conservation and environmental protection, agriculture, sustainable urbanization, healthcare, aviation and aerospace. There were also talks on aligning BRI with Italy’s national development strategies. The previously mentioned visit of Italian President Matarella and his confirmation of visit to the BRI summit is just the latest sign that the Italian government and its leaders are positively receptive to BRI-related projects in their country.

3

Whar are the main concerns about BRI in Italy?

One of the concerns often faced by China in its outbound investments and acquisitions drive is the perception of its State Owned Enterprises (SOE) abroad. In many European countries, including Italy, the general public remains apprehensive of foreign companies buying domestic companies. A Pew Research Center study in 2014 found that 73% of the Italian populace surveyed believed that foreign companies’ acquisition of domestic companies is bad. While this sentiment applies to all such acquisitions, it is bound to be strongest against Chinese SOEs that have recently gone on a buying spree and acquired some of the most historic and most recognizable Italian companies like Pirelli. Naturally, this creates resentment and distrust of Chinese SOEs and affects their operational capabilities in the host countries. Further, in the same survey, Italians appeared to be one of the most suspicious of trade and only 13% of those surveyed believed that trade with other countries leads to more jobs, while over 59% believed that it led to job losses. In addition, 52% Italians believed that trade reduced wages and was not beneficial to the country as a result.

Broadly speaking, European governments, including Italy, have three major concerns about Chinese investments and acquisitions in their countries:

Investments resulting in China’s control of assets of key and strategic industries. These generally include organizations and companies considered to be important for a country’s economic growth and global competitiveness, especially high technology/technologically advanced companies. This concern has led to the establishment of protectionist policies in several countries. In Germany, the country that has enjoyed a strong trade surplus with China over the last 5 years, the government recently withdrew its approval for a €670 million takeover of Aixtron by Chinese investors. In Italy, combined with the rapid rising of anti-globalist Five Star Movement that calls for following the model of Brexit, and the existing trade deficit with China, if the growing suspicion of Chinese takeovers do not subside, it will possibly institutes such protectionist policies.

Differences in corporate governance and business practices. Several of Chinese SOE takeovers in Italy have led to a major shift in governance structures and business practices, which have replaced age-old practices in Europe. The new leadership is keen on implementing the kind of business practices that they are used to, sometimes at odds with existing labor laws and environmental protection practices, which have exacerbated the concerns. There are also wide concerns if some aspects of the operation will be moved to China, thereby replacing European and Italian jobs in the process.

Lack of investment reciprocity; the limited access to Chinese markets. The general perception in some European countries is that China does not reciprocate the openness shown by the countries, and instead provide priority to Chinese SOEs and other local firms. China’s prohibitions and restrictions of foreign investments in certain key sectors such as financial services, is seen by European countries as a move that tilts the playing field in China’s favor. This is compounded by the fact that several European governments feel that there is a lack of transparency in the investors and political agencies in China—perceptions which further contribute to the concerns and suspicions against allowing Chinese investments and acquisitions.

4

Achievements and potential areas of China-Italy cooperation in the framework of BRI

Generally speaking, China and Italy have mutually complementary economic structures. In the minds of Chinese people, Italy is almost a byword for creativity, fashion and top-level manufacturing. For Italy, China is the largest source of fabrics and its materials, furniture and toys, light industrial products, and leather goods, accounting for respectively 21.2%, 30.1%, 19.9% and 16.3% in Italian market. As more and more Chinese enterprises are paying close attention to renewable energy utilization and environmental protection, Italian companies with rich experiences in these areas are also facing huge opportunities.

The ongoing economic and trade cooperation and the potential cooperation areas include:

Port infrastructure projects. In February 2017, the Chinese-Italian consortium 4C3, led by the China CommunicationsConstruction won the final design of the new Venice Offshore-Onshore Port System (VOOPS). According to Costa Paolo, president of the Venice Port Authority(VPA), the project will enable Venice to enjoy a hub position connecting Adriatic ports, so that they can connect with the Maritime Silk Road. Italy is also initiating the Five-Port Alliance program, aiming “to create an offshore/onshore docking system by building a giant multimodal platform off the shore of the city-port of Malamocco near Venice.” Five ports refer to the ports linked together by the North Adriatic Port Association (NAPA), including Venice, Trieste and Ravenna in Italy, Capodistria in Slovenia, and Fiume in Croatia. This platform, when completed, is projected to have the capacity to handle between 1.8 and 3 million TEU (twenty-foot equivalent units).The entire project is estimated to cost around € 2.2 billion—with about € 350 million already budgeted by the Italian government, and the rest expected to come in from Chinese SOEs and BRI-related money from the Chinese government. It will also attract China’s large cargo ships arriving in the Mediterranean Sea. The greatest advantage from the completion of these projects is that it significantly cuts the travel time, as compared to the alternative route (to Hamburg), which would take an additional 3862 km or eight additional days of navigation.

Chinese FDI in Italy. Chinese investments in Italy can be termed as the ‘Marco-Polo effect,’ according to a 2011 study. This study shows that just as the famous Venetian merchant traveler Marco Polo who brought back to Italy important technological and scientific discoveries from China, nowadays China’ FDI in Italy is mainly in the high skills and design intensive sectors through the acquisition of big brands and other famous companies. Just like Marco Polo, China is now using the reverse strategy of acquiring and learning from Italian firms to complement its prowess in manufacturing and infrastructure. This creates an opportunity for a true win-win cooperation, where Chinese dominance in labor intensive fields and infrastructure construction and development is complimented by the technological and design knowledge learned from the acquisition of Italian firms and corporations. Especially given Italy’s weak performances since the 2008 financial crisis, and some major losses sustained by large firms, the prospect of acquisition or investment from Chinese firms is crucial for Italy.

Education. Since China and Italy have already been on a path to increase economic and trade cooperation under the BRI, it is necessary to build understanding and trust at a deeper level. Today, more Italian students arrive to study in China through scholarships and grants, than ever. Since 2011, Chinese students have been the second largest number of foreign students studying in Italy, second only to the United States. This shows the commitment of the Chinese people to learn more about and understand Italy, while the same cannot be said about the number of Italian students in China. However, it is to be noted that there are over 12 Confucius Institutes in Italy—covering most major universities and the most prominent cities. This is a good start, indicating Italians’ positive reception towards studying Chinese and understanding the culture and values.

Tourism. Chinese tourists largely find Italy as one of the top destinations to travel to. According to travel agencies, Italy featured as one of the top 10 destinations Chinese outbound tourists traveled to. Italy is taking great measures to provide services to attract and keep up the number of Chinese tourists. Recently, the historic city of Bologna signed an agreement with the China Tourism Academy to conduct research on tourists’ habits and needs in order to better cater to their requirements. Such agreements and deals show the importance of Chinese tourists to Italy’s economy. With greater business and political cooperation, especially from BRI, China has the potential to become an important travel destination for Italian tourists. As such, setting up agreements with Italian cities, direct flights, and having more Italian speaking tour guides will help establish the Italian tourist’s presence in China.

Made in China 2025. Since 1980, Italy has used the Made in Italy merchandise mark to indicate that products have been planned, manufactured, and packed in Italy. For long, this has been the hallmark of Italy’s uniqueness, and a major indicator of high quality products. In collaborating with Italy, and learning through acquisitions and investments in Italian firms, China can be inspired to make the ‘Made in China 2025’ dream a reality. For decades, Italy has relied on innovation to drive their industries, especially fashion, food, furniture, and mechanical engineering. This is the same goal that China wants to achieve—to have manufacturing driven by innovation, thereby upgrading China’s industries. The BRI presents the best opportunity for a win-win cooperation, especially in this field.

5

Suggestions on enhancing bilateral relations in the framework of the BRI

Although it is a win-win approach, BRI, as a long-term initiative involving many countries and numerous projects, will definitely face various challenges in enhancing cooperation with related countries, including Italy. The following are some suggestions on enhancing bilateral relations within the framework of the BRI.

Promote bottom-up cooperation. It cannot be denied that China and Italy adopt different approaches to governance. While Italy and most of the other European countries adopt multi-governance, Chinese model can be described as “strong government, weak society.” This is the biggest obstacle to the bilateral cooperation. It is even common that trade and business with Chinese is naturally connected with words like state-sponsored or state-backed. It can lead to not only a defensive or even antagonistic attitude, but also a violation of local laws and regulations of European countries. As an initiative proposed by China’s top leader, the implementation of the BRI needs to be more adaptive to the concerns in Europe. To be concrete, the leading and major forces in business and trades with Europe should be private enterprises rather than government and state-owned enterprises; and the main cooperation should be enterprise-to-enterprise, city-to-city, and industry-to-industry ones.

Enhance China-Europe cooperation based on European Integration concept rather than cooperation with individual European countries. Different from other BRI-related countries, a distinctive character of most European countries is that they pay much attention to the integrity of Europe as well as interests of their own nations. In fact, there were speculations about China’s intentions in promoting the 16+1 cooperation. Some people thought it was an act to divide European countries. Despite not mainstream in Europe, it still remains noteworthy. To address these concerns, it is important to find more docking spaces between the BRI and European Integration. For example, China can strengthen the economic cooperation with Europe via the institutional investment approach provided by the Juncker Plan. Also, in building infrastructures like railways and ports in Europe, China needs to take into consideration not only the demands of the targeted country, but also those of neighboring countries, to make sure the new infrastructures will not simply overlap with the existing ones in terms of functions and capacities.

Boost cooperation among small and medium enterprises in China and Italy by giving policy support. Italy possesses tremendous advantages in manufacturing industry, only second to Germany in Europe. With advanced small and medium enterprises, Italy is known as the kingdom of small and medium enterprises. According to some statistics, 82% of domestic employees work for small and medium companies in Italy. It is no doubt that these companies play significant roles in promoting economic development and providing jobs. In the framework of the BRI, a large number of Chinese entrepreneurs operating small and medium businesses can learn from their Italian counterparts. On the other hand, these Italian enterprises can get easier market access to China in the process of cooperating with Chinese companies. Of course, to address the concerns of foreign small and medium enterprises, it is necessary for China to relax restriction on their entering Chinese market to a certain degree, and to further improve the supervision regarding copyright and patent.

（注释略）■

文章摘选于《下一个黄金时代》

责任编辑：罗雨佳

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