The Sino-Italian Bilateral Partnership Within the Framework of the MOU

Contents

致谢

Acknowledgements

摘要

Abstract

Introduction

1. Research background

2. Research purpose and significance

3. Literature Review

4. Research methodology

5. Dissertation Structure

1. The pattern of Sino-Italian relations from the perspective of economic interdependence theory
1.1 The economic interdependence theory and its impact on the global market
1.1.1 The history and theories of Economic Interdependence, the Strategic Interests in the New Global Order
1.2 Increasing interdependence between China and Italy through trade and investments.
1.2.1 Sino-Italian Trade in this century
1.2.2 Horizontal associations and PTA
1.2.3 Economic interdependence and strategic interests
1.2.4 China’s direct investments in Italy
1.3 Spillover effect of interdependence between China and Italy
1.3.1 The influence of interdependence on Sino-Italian political relations
1.3.2 The impact of economic interdependence on the promotion of Sino-Italian diplomatic relations
1.3.3 Promoting bilateral economic cooperation: infrastructure, education, social security, science and technology, culture

2. The new developments in Sino-Italian relations: MOU, BRI, and the Sino-Italian strategic partnership
2.1 The connotation of the MOU: main points
2.1.1 What kind of agreement is MOU?
2.1.2 Analysis of the first four paragraphs
2.1.3 Analysis of the other paragraphs
2.2 The economic interdependence between China and Italy after Italy joined the BRI
2.2.1 The interdependence between China and Italy is strengthened
2.2.2. Italy joining the BRI, the challenges from the European Union
2.3 China and Italy: a strategic partnership
2.3.1 A mutually beneficial economic partnership
2.3.2 How have MOU and BRI shaped the strategic partnership between China and Italy?

3. The progress of the Sino-Italian partnership in the sector of infrastructure
3.1 The Silk Road Economic Belt and The Maritime Silk Road
3.1.1 The strategic position of Italy
3.1.2 Italy connects Europe and Africa
3.2 Cooperation and Economic interdependence in the development of the infrastructure.
3.2.1 Railways, bridges, civil aviation, ports, and trans-European transport networks (TEN-T)
3.2.2 Chinese projects in the South of Italy

4. The Deepening of Sino-Italian economic and trade partnership
4.1 Opportunities for the Chinese investments, and commercial exchanges
4.1.1 Economic interdependence: Unrestricted trade and investments
4.1.2 Facilitation of customs clearance of goods
4.1.3 The new strategy of the e-commerce
4.1.4 Interdependence and bilateral cooperation in the industrial sector
4.1.5 Financial collaboration
4.2 The export of Italian food
4.2.1. The promotion of Italian culinary culture
4.2.2 The export of frozen pig meat, beef and rice

5. Sino-Italian partnership in the field of culture, education, technology, and other sectors
5.1 What does Italy think about China? What does China think about Italy?
5.1.1 Which opinion do Italians have about China?
5.1.2 Which opinion do Chinese have about Italy?
5.1.3 If Italy were an animal, it would be a ‘pig’
5.2 The influence of the economic interdependence theory in Cultural activities
5.2.1 The development of the network ‘two-city’
5.2.2 Sino-Italian cultural forum
5.2.3 Exchanges and cooperation between local authorities and think-tanks
5.2.4 Cooperation between Chinese and Italian media
5.3 Studying abroad
5.3.1 The programs ‘Marco Polo’ and ‘Turandot’
5.3.2 Studying in China for Italian students
5.3.3 Agreements between the universities of the two countries
5.4 Technology and Innovation
5.4.1 The investments of Huawei and ZTE in Italy
5.4.2 Decisions of the Italian government
5.4.3 Technological innovation cooperation
5.5 Cooperation in other sectors
5.5.1 Cooperation between Chinese and Italian police forces
5.5.2 Italian football teams in China
5.5.3 Fashion and Tourism

6. Sino-Italian partnership: opportunities and challenges
6.1 The 50th anniversary of the Sino-Italian friendship
6.1.1 The unceasing dialogue between the systems of the two countries
6.1.2. 2020, a new starting point for the Sino-Italian cooperation
6.2 China and Italy cooperation against the COVID-19 virus
6.2.1 Mutual benefits and trade during the pandemic
6.2.2 Sino-Italian economic partnership in the post-epidemic era
6.3 The future of Sino-Italian relations taking into account the economic interdependence through a comparative analysis.
6.3.1 Italy joining the ‘Belt and Road Initiative’ is an example for the other G7 countries
6.3.2 Potential challenges for Sino-Italian partnership
6.3.3 Expectations on the Sino-Italian economic partnership in the upcoming years

Conclusion

References

Ackanowledgements

My deep gratitude goes to the Chinese government that conferred me the scholarship to attend my doctorate program in one of the best universities in China, as it resulted to be one of the most important experiences in my life, for the knowledge I’ve collected and for the marvelous people I’ve met.

My gratitude also extends to my supervisor, Professor Wang Lianhe, and all the professors of SISU who I encountered in the class or outside the class, during our cultural activities in the university or in other universities. In particular, my supervisor expertly guided me through my graduate education and my research during these 3 years, his guidance was precious.

My appreciation goes to my colleagues of the doctoral program, Chinese and foreigners, and friends of the SISU singing club.

Above all, I am indebted to my family (parents, sister, nonna, aunty and cousins) that notwithstanding the distance always showed me their love and support, to my husband’s family, in particular Farman, my friends, Silvija, Myriam, Olia and my husband Sibghat, he supported and believed in me more than anyone.

摘要

中意两国有着51年的友谊和伙伴关系。中国和意大利拥有历史悠久的古代文 明，两国之间的交流可以追溯到古代罗马帝国与汉朝的接触。1970年11月6日，中华人民共和国和意大利共和国正式建立外交关系。自建交以来，两国在政治、经济、军事、文化、科学和技术领域的交流日益增多，在各个领域进行了友好合作。中意在国际事务中进行了良好的合作，在维护世界和平，促进共同发展等重大国际问题方面有着广泛共识。中国作为世界第二大经济体，在过去三十年中日益融入全球经济，是这种相互依赖的主要来源。中国企业是众多农业、工业和服务业的活跃参与者。目前，中国的经济再平衡标志着中国经济正在朝着更可持续、更高效的方向发展，这是中国与世界各国之间更高相互依赖度的一个主要来源。意大利一直是中国的主要贸易伙伴之一，因为这两个经济体在生产结构上有许多相似之处和联系。在过去十年中，两国之间的贸易和投资有所增加，这可以证明，两国经济的相互依赖性有所增加。因此，可以假设，两个经济体的相互依赖和不同层次的合作，导致了2019年3月的谅解备忘录签署，意大利随之进入“一带一路”倡议。中国和意大利签署了19项协议，开创了中意双边伙伴关系的新纪元（总共29项，但10项是私营公司之间的）。意大利还加入了“一带一路”倡议，这是中华人民共和国的基础设施最大化计划，包括港口、铁路、公路和海上走廊。除了在 “经济丝绸之路” 和 “21世纪海上丝绸之路倡议” 中开展合作之外，十九项机构安排还从促进创新型初创企业之间的合作到两国政府达成的消除所得税双重征税的协议, 以及防止偷税漏税通过一项关于植物保护要求的议定书，并且关于防止盗窃，秘密挖掘，进出口，贩运和非法转移文化产品以及促进其返还的备忘录。本研究采用经济相互依赖理论的分析框架，在详细考察中意谅解备忘录内容的基础上，探讨了中国和意大利通过贸易和直接投资日益发生相互关联的状况。意大利加入了“一带一路”倡议，即中国基础设施最大化计划，其中包括港口、铁路、公路和海上走廊。本研究旨在分析中意双边伙伴关系正在取得的进展，探讨中意两国共享的利益和优势，并从一个侧面观察意大利的经济衰退（基础设施投资不足、研究与创新领域投资不足等）、意大利优越的战略地理位置以及高品质的“意大利制造”。与此同时，本研究还评估了中国在意大利的投资、进出口贸易的重要性以及意大利加入 “一带一路”倡议的优势。首先，意大利的港口和铁路将地中海地区与欧洲北部和东部连接起来；意大利也是非洲和欧洲之间的桥梁。意大利的地理位置、高效快速的边境控制吸引了中国人对这个国家的关注。其次，意大利需要基础设施投资，特别是在南部，因此中国的投资非常有益。此外，通过对两国的社会经济和政治制度的比较分析，本研究在意大利2019年3月加入“一带一路”倡议后，监测了多个部门的合作与交流活动，包括经济和金融合作。由此得出的结论是，中意两国将在今后的几年中，通过持续不断的对话与合作，保持长期稳固的双边伙伴关系。这项研究证明了这种双赢的双边伙伴关系取得的成果。

关键词：中意伙伴系 经贸合作 相互依赖 机遇与挑战

Abstract

China and Italy are united by a friendship and a partnership that last for 51 years. Both countries are not only ancient civilizations with a long history, from the Ancient Rome and the Han empire, directly and indirectly, contacts between the two countries have been going on for a long time. On November 6, 1970, the People’s Republic of China and the Republic of Italy formally established diplomatic relations, and since the establishment of diplomatic relations, exchanges between the two countries in political, economic, military, cultural, scientific and technological fields have become increasingly frequent; a friendly cooperation in various fields has made progress. China and Italy share broad consensus on major international issues such as safeguarding world peace and promoting common development, and have carried out good cooperation in international affairs. In the last three decades, the deep bilateral trade and economic relations with some of the most advanced and developed countries brought great advantages to the economic growth of China. After the recent world recession, China has maintained its position of major partner for many industrialized actors, as well as Italy. Italy has always been one of the principal trading partner for China, since the two economies disclose a number of similarities and connections in production structures. In the last decade trades and investments between the two countries increased and it can be assumed that the interdependence of the two economies has slightly increased. Thus, it can be hypothesized that the interdependence between the two economies and the cooperation at different level brought to the process towards the signature of the MOU of March 2019 and the consequent entrance of Italy into the Belt and Road Initiative. China and Italy have signed nineteen deals stated in the MOU, which set off a new era for the Sino-Italian bilateral partnership (ten more are between private companies). Italy also joined the ‘Belt and Road Initiative’, the People’s Republic of China’s infrastructure maxi plan, which includes ports, railway lines, roads, and maritime corridors. The nineteen institutional arrangements, in addition to the collaboration within the ‘Economic Silk Road’ and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road Initiative, range from promoting collaboration between innovative start-ups to the agreement between the two governments to eliminate double taxation on income taxes as well as to prevent tax evasion and avoidance through a protocol on plant protection requirements for the export of fresh citrus from Italy to China and a MOU on the prevention of theft, clandestine excavations, import, export, trafficking and illicit transit of cultural goods together with the promotion of their return. This research aims to analyze the ongoing progress of the China-Italy bilateral partnership, exploring the benefits and advantages for both countries, considering the economic recess of Italy (such as lack of investments in the infrastructures, in the research and innovation field), but its strategic geographical position and the ‘Made in Italy’. It also ponders the importance of Chinese direct investments in Italy, imports-exports, and the advantages of joining the Belt and Road Initiative. First, Italian ports and rails connect the Mediterranean zone to the North and the East of Europe; Italy is also the bridge between Africa and Europe. The geographical position, the efficient and fast controls at the frontier drove the Chinese attention toward the country. Secondly, Italy needs investments in the infrastructures, especially in the South, so the Chinese investments are very beneficial. Moreover, through a comparative analysis of the two countries’ socio-economic and political systems, this research monitored events, activities of collaboration, and exchanges in several sectors, including the economic and financial cooperation after Italy joined the Belt and Road Initiative in March 2019. Thus, the thesis is that China and Italy will maintain a long and solid bilateral partnership over the years, thanks to the institutions’ constant dialogue and cooperation. This research illustrates the results of this win-win bilateral partnership.

Keywords: Sino-Italian Relations, Economic and Trade Collaboration, Interdependence theory, Opportunities and Challenges

Introduction

Following the global crisis of 2008, the worldwide economy appears increasingly interconnected. The wealth of all countries is interdependent, and trade relations are crucial for global welfare progress. In this context, China has remained a significant partner for many emerging and industrialized economies, including Italy. China, as the world’s second-largest economy, and its growing integration into the global economy over the last three decades, are the primary sources of such interdependence. Chinese companies are dynamic actors in a vast number of agricultural, industrial, and services sectors. Nowadays, China’s current economic rebalancing marks an evolution towards a more sustainable and efficient economy, as a significant source for a higher interdependence between China and the rest of the world. Beijing has long paid particular attention to the economic and socio-political dynamics affecting Italy, not only because, in Italy, the largest community of Chinese in Europe that retains the PRC’s citizenship is the fourth foreign population of the country, but because Italy remains a logistical hub in the Euro-Mediterranean region. Italy represents an economy of strategic assets, including world-renowned brands, cutting-edge technological, infrastructural know-how, and a large number of under-capitalized but healthy companies that are often placed in critical positions within profitable supply chains¹. It can be affirmed that, generally, the relations between China and Italy are defined as excellent, even if Italy’s collocation in the system of alliances guided by the USA is not just a detail for Beijing, but during the bilateral discussion is irrelevant. China is satisfied by the economic relations with Italy; however, it should consider that Italy is a European country, and for Chinese interest, new negotiations are going on between China and the European Union (at the end of December 2020, China and the EU announced a bilateral investments agreement, which should be approved by the European Parliament and European governments in 2022. An agreement with Beijing that gives European companies significant space). Thus, the partnership between China and Italy cannot be discussed and improved without considering that Italy is not an ‘independent country’: the members of the European Union in debating new agreements with non-EU countries must abide by the European law.

In this sense, the signature of the MOU in March 2019 marks a turning point for different reasons: it delineated a new pathway to improve the partnership in different sectors between the two countries; the signature of the document highlighted the entrance of Italy into the Belt and Road Initiative; Italy, as one of the G7 countries, was the first one to sign such a similar document; the document caused the reactions and critics of the European Union; lastly, the moderate level of economic interdependence between China and Italy, influenced by the increasing intense exchanges, might have brought to the decision of starting a new chapter in the history of the Sino-Italian relations through this significant document.

Therefore, the MOU has a central role in analyzing the recent development of the Sino-Italian partnership.

1. Research background

Currently, China looks at Italy as a medium-sized country, socially drained, with a suffering economy, structural unemployment, uncontrolled immigration, a peripheral profile on the international stage, and harnessed in a system of alliances dominated by the United States. In the G7, NATO, the United Nations, and other international summits, Beijing sees Italy in the lead, anxious to occupy an armchair that it then uses to pander to other people’s priorities and strategies. China’s assessment of Italian marginalization is based on two aspects, one political, linked to the deficit of sovereignty and institutional effectiveness, and another economic, because of an industrial system in distress and a currency managed by different countries that exploit the country’s resources. Institutional coherence, professionalism, and implementation skills are the spheres in which China perceives Italy’s systemic deficit. For the Chinese economy, the Italian market maintains a fair amount of interest, both as an outlet market and for the presence of an internationally vibrant and still technologically advanced industrial fabric. Italian companies generally enjoy a good reputation in the Chinese market.

In the case of Italy and China, it can be affirmed that the two countries have a moderate degree of economic interdependence that produces positive results. Italian companies in China, Chinese companies in Italy, investments, exports, custom services, and commercial digitalization are all contributing to maintain an interdependence between the systems of the two countries. As a result, collaboration and dialogue between institutions and personalities are increasingly deepening also in other areas.

Not only the political dissimilarities, but also the differences that characterize the systems of two countries geographically and culturally distant from each other increase the level of scientific curiosity of scholars specialized in this research area. The above-mentioned aspects were considered while selecting the research area; thus, notwithstanding the differences, China and Italy share a long friendship with old roots that resulted in a beneficial partnership starting from 1970. More interesting is the partnership in different sectors developed in this century, which was boosted by the MOU’s signature. After realizing the importance of this event, it was decided to analyze the recent developments after March 2019.

2. Research purpose and significance

The significance and originality of the MOU can be seen by looking at the content of the text, which expresses China and Italy’s intentions to renew their long-standing and close partnership.

Its interpretation is consistent with the two countries’ national laws, as well as relevant international law and, in the case of Italy, the obligations resulting from its membership in the European Union.

The key question is, “Why did they sign this MOU, and what exactly paved the way for this important step?”

- The importance and benefits of enhanced connectivity between Asia and Europe, as well as the role that the Belt and Road Initiative may play in this regard;
- The intention of concretely deepening their bilateral cooperation;
- The priorities set out in the EU-China 2020 Strategic Cooperation Agenda, as well as the principles guiding the EU Strategy for Connectivity between Europe and Asia, adopted in October 2018;
- The shared historical heritage built along the land and sea routes between Europe and Asia, as well as Italy’s conventional position as a terminal of the Maritime Silk Road;
- The shared commitment to upholding the United Nations Charter’s goals and values, as well as the promotion of economic growth and sustainable development, in accordance with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Paris Agreement on Climate Change.

Italy joined the Belt and Road Initiative considering it as an excellent opportunity especially for the economy of the country, but BRI will also decrease the socio-cultural distances between China and Italy.

Since May 2017, when the Action Plan for the Strengthening of Economic, Commercial, Cultural, and Scientific-Technological Cooperation between Italy and China 2017-2020 was adopted in Beijing, Italy has been considering the BRI as a way to boost their economic relations, and later, the Joint Communiqué of the Italy-China Intergovernmental Committee’s Ninth Session, was held in Rome on January 25, 2019, just a few months before the MOU was signed. China and Italy pledged to promote bilateral cooperation in a spirit of mutual respect, equality, and justice, in mutually beneficial ways, with the goal of strengthening global solidarity.

This dissertation analyzes several aspects related to this new partnership, aspects that are favorable for China and Italy, but, eventually, less advantageous for other countries. For example, regardless of the Silk Road, the Conte government had to deal with the American ally-master, that had already severely digested the MOU of March 2019 and that can see how the Chinese technology, not only Huawei, probably will supplant that of the United States in a NATO member country.

The aim of this dissertation is to determine how far the relationship between China and Italy has progressed since the signing of the MOU, by examining various aspects of economic and financial activities, as well as political, technological, cultural, and social factors that directly influence economic relations, starting from the perspective of the economic interdependence theory. A good knowledge of the country’s system, particularly the political and cultural features that characterized a country, leads to a fruitful dialogue between countries, such as China and Italy, afar and diverse from each other, but now closer thanks to the achievements of the new partnership.

In summary, the aim of this study is to examine through a comparative analysis the scenario created by the signature of the MOU in March 2019 and Italy’s subsequent participation in the Belt and Road Initiative, as an opportunity to renew the bilateral relationship between China and Italy.

Below, the main questions raised and answered:

1. How can the relations between China and Italy be outlined from the perspective of economic interdependence?
2. Why did Italy sign the MOU and join the Belt and Road Initiative?
3. Which advantages and benefits are there for the two countries? Which projects?
4. What would be the future of this partnership from the perspective of the interdependence theory?

Originality of the research

The originality of the research can be defined in the following aspects.

First of all, objectively, the research presents a dynamic and contemporary nature determined by the recent events that the topic itself sets to analyze. It opens a window on the contemporary partnership between China and Italy considering three main elements: the MOU, the BRI and the strategic partnership between the two countries. It considers all the events happened after the signature of the MOU until recent days explaining how a document delineated the new developments of the Sino-Italian bilateral partnership. The MOU and the entrance of Italy in the BRI are hypothesized as a result of the interdependence between the economies of the two countries; in this case the economic interdependence theory can be applied to describe the intense collaboration between agencies and economic bodies, companies and qualified personnel, that leads to an increasing level of trade and investments between the two countries.

Secondly, taking into consideration the studies conducted about Sino-Italian relations during the twenty-first century, the present work links the past of the bilateral relations to the present and future. It fills the chronological gap of the Sino-Italian partnership found in the previous academic works -some of them mentioned in the literature review- and can give a contribution to further studies since the research considers the progress in different fields during the current century: infrastructures, economy, culture, education, science, technology, innovation, society, military, arts, fashion, gastronomy, and tourism.

Considering the actual dimension of the research, some works were helpful for the first chapter, scholars like Bertuccioli, Samarani, Masini, Bergère or郭长建, 赵启正, 李冰 have focused on diplomatic, political, cultural and social relations in a historical background very far from the new century. They mainly focused on the relations from ancient times until the 90s of the twentieth century. Information about Chinese-Italian bilateral partnership in the twenty-first century was found in recent academic works such as Bradanini, Marinelli, Adornino, Fardella, Cristiani, Prodi, 赵先进, 张晓婷, 孙彦红, 郭博文, that investigates on the current developments, explicitly giving a picture on the newly renovated bilateral partnership between the two countries with the related consequences.

Besides, the originality of the research also consists in the method used to discover the updated information after the signature of the MOU: the analysis of official documents, such as the MOU, the collection of articles, papers of the leading journals (Italian, Chinese, and others) that gave an outstanding contribution to the research, in particular from the second to the sixth chapter.

Finally, the research examines the latest developments exploring the benefits and the advantages for both countries conducting a comparative analysis, considering the economic recess of Italy, but its strategic geographical position and the quality of ‘Made in Italy’ products; besides, it considers the importance of Chinese investments in Italy, imports-exports and the advantages of joining the Belt and Road Initiative.

3. Literature Review

The following literature review is organized respecting a chronological order, with several works that focus their analysis on the Sino-Italian relations in the current century. Some of the most relevant works that gave a significant contribution to the research have been selected. Starting from analyzing the roots and the principal elements of the economic interdependence theory, following some of the works that were relevant for the delineation of the other chapters of the dissertation.

- Economic interdependence theory

Much of the literature concerning the economic interdependence theory analyzes its impact on conflict and the outbreak of war. Keohane and Nye assert that interdependence enhances economic governance, international law, environmental sustainability to the international agenda and corrodes military conflict’s primacy. In some cases, occurrences in these issues may cause strategic conflicts, but they may also lead to cooperation. Economic issues are not subordinate to security ones nor vice versa. Recent updates in the literature focus on the complexity of strategic relations; still, they lack sufficient conceptualization of how transformations in the global economy alter the systemic structure that defines the context in which a nation is chasing its strategic interests.

Baldwin, David A. in “Interdependence and power: a conceptual analysis”² states that the definition of dependence, as well as related concepts such as interdependence and dependency, should be assessed using existing scientific criteria. While it is generally assumed that among economists and possibly other social scientists, ‘sensitivity interdependence’ reflects the natural or traditional definition of interdependence, this is difficult to support in terms of the history of international political-economic thinking. The term ‘vulnerability interdependence’ was not coined recently; rather, it has been used by international relations scholars for decades. While the recently proposed distinction between ‘dependence’ and ‘dependency’ may be useful to Latin Americanists, the drawbacks of this distinction are likely to outweigh the benefits for most scholars. Baldwin also affirms that the application of social power theory to dependency definitions will significantly enhance their clarity and accuracy without distorting their simple common-sense context.

The research of Echeverri-Gent John, Herlevi April, Ganczak Kim, “Economic Interdependence and Strategic Interest: China, India, and the United States in the New Global Order”, gave a profound contribution to the literature, as the authors explained how the expansion of global markets boosts the number of accessible trade partners, slowing down the costs. Decentralizing control over economic resources increases indirect dependence, affecting the bilateral economic relations between the two countries. The global economy has been reorganized by the increasing volume of global trade and financial drifts. Markets broaden quickly as exports and investments from developed and also developing countries. These occurrences may increase the strategic suppleness of powers like China, India, the United States, and the European Union and increase the weight of nourishing alignments and fruitful partnerships³.

As a result, the authors define that the global trading system is far more decentralized than at the end of the Cold War. This research contributed to comprehend how the economic relations between China and Italy should be considered and analyzed within the interdependence theory framework.

Brancati, E., Brancati, R. & Maresca, A. in “Global value chains, innovation and performance: firm level evidence from the Great Recession”⁴, design a newly available survey on the Italian industry to assess the actions of global value chains (GVCs) in the aftermath of the Great Recession. They develop a taxonomy of GVC participation modes and investigate their effect on firm innovation and success.

Their results reveal important differences in how GVC participants dealt with the crisis. Although high-skill relational suppliers have a higher proclivity for creative activities and R&D ventures than domestic firms, other types of GVC participation have no advantage over domestic firms. Differences in efficiency and revenue growth illustrate this heterogeneity. It shows a severe demand shock for low-skill and subordinated firms compared to pre-crisis patterns, while relational GVCs tend to be somewhat isolated from the crisis’ impact.

In the report of OCSE of April 2018, “Productivity and Jobs in a Globalized World: (How) Can All Regions Benefit?”⁵, the importance of the tradable sector as a driver of productivity growth and its relationship with jobs has been thoroughly examined. It discusses the potential risks that an increasing tradable sector can bring, as well as how diversification is critical to regional economic resilience. It shows how regions fit into global value chains and emphasizes the importance of regional and policy ties in boosting productivity and job development. It also asks what policies can help specific regions better predict or cushion trade shocks, as well as what strategies and framework conditions are conducive to regional competitiveness and job growth in general.

Surugiua, Marius-Rzvan & Surugiu, Camelia in “International Trade, Globalization and Economic Interdependence between European Countries: Implications for Businesses and Marketing Framework”⁶ confirm that international trade accounts for a significant portion of GDP in various countries. Various businesses from various countries are searching for new markets for development outside of their home countries. Significant sectors of the economy, such as transportation and ICT, can be boosted as a result of foreign trade. Consequently, foreign trade can be beneficial to businesses in terms of profit growth, decreased reliance on known markets, business expansion, and so on. The globalization process has resulted in a rise in foreign trade over time. Thus, both customers and businesses now have access to a broader variety of goods and services. Globalization also refers to the interdependence of countries as a result of the convergence of various facets of the economy, such as trade. International trade will help countries that are increasingly interconnected to develop economically. Because of the opportunities presented by international markets, companies can no longer overlook globalization.

Globalization is the mechanism by which different countries’ economies become intertwined, allowing customers in one country to easily purchase goods from other countries. It was aided by factors such as an increase in cross-national trade, the removal of trade barriers, and the simplification of procedures. It has both benefits and drawbacks, including a greater offer of goods and services for customers, cost savings for businesses, access to new markets, and so on. On the one hand, it has an impact on developed countries’ economies, a lack of small businesses’ ability to compete with larger ones, and so on. On the other hand, it has an impact on developing countries’ economies, a lack of small businesses’ ability to compete with larger ones, and so on. Globalization impacts business growth by providing the ability to address the global market by using advantages, and the method of expanding foreign operations varies depending on the size of the company. However, the international environment presents opportunities, threats, and risks to any organization, regardless of size, the latter of which can be mitigated by successful planning.

Michael Zürn in the chapter, “The driving force: different forms of interconnectedness and social spaces”⁷, explains that interdependence refers to specific types of behavior in specific issue areas and is defined as a situation of mutual dependency between social actors. Interdependence in foreign affairs may be attributed to two factors, based on the distinction between the types of social actors that serve as external powers. Nation-states and national economies, on the one hand, are reliant on the actions of other states (state interdependence). Since the Westphalian system, states have been dependent on one another in this way. There can be no community of states without reciprocal interdependence. National security has always been reliant about neighboring governments’ decisions on whether or not to wage war. On the other hand, the consequences of a government’s decisions may be influenced by social changes that occur outside of its control (societal interdependence).

Furthermore, it is impossible to comprehend the growth of national economies and communities without considering what is happening elsewhere. The Westphalian state system does not need societal interdependence; rather, it is a product of society’s growing interconnectedness. Different types of social interdependence may result from social interconnectedness. A few of these distinctions are crucial. The distinction between ‘sensitivity interdependence’, defined in terms of reciprocal consequences, and ‘vulnerability interdependence’, defined in terms of the opportunity costs of disrupting the relationship, as outlined by Keohane and Nye in 1977, is the most important but also the most contested. Vulnerability differs from sensitivity in that, while vulnerability interdependence implies reciprocal consequences, sensitivity interdependence does not. The distinction is generally recognized, and it can be used to structure the history of interdependence thought. In International Relations, the term ‘interdependence’ applies primarily to societal interdependence. Despite the term near association with vulnerability, interdependence is more commonly understood as reciprocal sensitivity, which implies that events and activities in one unit of the international system have an effect on other units. Most notably, the interdependence literature is based on the idea that social actors (most often governments) are structurally influenced by the behavior of others (most often other countries’ societies), but remain autonomous. In this sense, as Keohane notes in 1993, each state determines for itself how it will deal with its internal and external problems, including whether or not to seek assistance from others. Even if a unilateral strategy is less effective in terms of the degree to which the actor’s intentions are met than a fruitful multilateral endeavor, such a concept of interdependence still implies an option between unilateral and multilateral strategies.

The author provides a comprehensive description of the principle of interdependence, which is linked to multilateralism and globalization.

In the case of Italy and China, it is reasonable to conclude that the two countries have a small degree of economic interdependence that produces positive results. Italian companies in China, Chinese companies in Italy, investments, exports, customs services, and commercial digitalization are all examples of economic interdependence.

Powell and Chaha in “Investing in stability: Economic interdependence, coups d’état, and the capitalist peace”⁸ state that the capitalist peace thesis claims that cross-national economic links have a calming impact on interstate tensions. Economic relations can prompt major powers in civil wars to peacefully settle their disputes and can draw third-party involvement from states with strong economic ties, according to an expansion of this literature. They argue that economic relations have a pacifying impact in the sense of coups d’état: as a state’s economic interdependence with the rest of the world grows, the opportunity costs of domestic political disturbances rise for both the targeted state and its financial partners. These costs persuade state belligerents to settle their conflicts by constitutional means, while offering greater incentives to international economic partners to control the calculus of these belligerents as they consider the coup attempt. They put this theory to the test by looking at the impact of a dozen economic openness indices on coups in a global sample of countries from 1952 to 2007. The findings showed that the capitalist peace thesis can be applied to coups d'états, which are forms of political instability that are less likely to result in significant loss of life or infrastructure destruction.

Chuang Y. C. in “Economic Interdependence and International Interactions: The Impact of Market Power and Dyadic Conflict and Cooperation”⁹ presents a theoretical framework for examining how a market-dominant country could influence international relations. According to the liberal perspective and trade dispute model, if countries want to maintain their trade profits, trade would minimize conflict between pairs of countries, referred to as ‘actors’ and ‘targets.’ The dispute and partnership relationships between countries change if the distribution of trade benefits is changed between countries. He used the trade dispute model to come up with the following two propositions:

(a) The more monopoly power a monopolistic target has over exports, the more actor-to-target conflict there is; (b) the more monopoly power a monopolistic target has over imports, the more actor-to-target conflict there is. To summarize, these theories predict that a country with market power benefits from trade and experiences less conflict and more cooperation, while a country that is exploited experiences more conflict and less cooperation.

- Sino-Italian relations during the last decade

Marinelli Maurizio, Adornino Giovanni, in “Italy’s encounters with modern China, Imperial dreams strategic ambitions”, collect the research of different Italian scholars. The work is structured in ten chapters, eight chapters written by academics, and two chapters authored by governmental officials with extensive expertise acquired through their privileged operational positions on the ground in China. It aimed at giving a detailed and accurate account of the dynamics in the relations between China and Italy in contemporary time, from the foundation of the People’s Republic of China. It is not a collection of academic literature already circulating in Italian, but this new research offers analysis from fresh perspectives and sources. The authors considered the mechanisms behind the political and economic interaction between unstable Italian govern and newly modernized Chinese countries. This work gives a new assessment that was helpful to the present research: usually, other works used to have a positive approach on the relations, describing a fruitful friendship between two countries with a long history and tradition, but here authors have identified two different phases. The first one goes from antiquity until the end of the eighteenth century, when Italy was initially playing a leading role and, later, one of China-EU relations’ leading roles. The symbols of this long friendship during this phase are Marco Polo and Matteo Ricci. The second phase goes from the beginning of the nineteenth century, which witnessed a drastic enfeeblement of Italy’s capacity to engage East Asia compared with other European countries until the first decades of the twenty-first century.

Over the past two decades, Italian-Chinese economic relations are explored in greater depth in chapter eight by Giorgio Prodi. He traces the evolution of trade, foreign direct investment (FDI), and supply chain relations from 2000 to 2010, focusing on Italy and China’s key strengths and weaknesses in their economic engagement. Prodi concludes that Italian-Chinese economic relations “might develop over the next decade to express their hitherto untapped potential: the structural transformations occurring in China’s society and economy are projected to play to Italy’s advantage, providing the country and its business new engagement strategies.”¹⁰

In 2014 a closer economic partnership with China was still far away; Italians’ skepticism in opinion surveys on China was relevant. Such negative views were likely due, in particular, to the harsh competition that Italian companies have had to face from Chinese products, both made in China and Italy by Chinese people living in Italy. A more extensive understanding of the benefits of closer economic engagement with China among the Italian public would establish firmer societal foundations for the bilateral relationship, mitigating this diffuse and entrenched skepticism¹¹. Nowadays, this issue is far from reality. Both populations still have to learn a lot from each other. Nonetheless, they are closer than before. The Italian majority, as well as the Chinese one, does not express a negative opinion anymore.

Bradanini Alberto (2018), in “Oltre la grande muraglia, Uno sguardo sulla Cina che non ti aspetti (Beyond the Great Wall, a look at a China you do not expect)”, points out the changes in the markets after Beijing entered into the WTO in December 2001. The manufacturing sector of some European and American countries was damaged. Europe had paid hard consequences, although some countries, like Germany, have been able to defend themselves. If China and the countries of Northern Europe strengthened their partnership, allowing the Chinese production of steel, electronics, and some environmental technologies, Italy’s damage would be more significant, with the loss of hundreds of thousands of jobs. “In 2005, for example, the expiry of the WTO Multifiber Agreement, which protected Western textile production, caught Italy by surprise, including the government and business world. The cancellation of those protections has favored the exporting and importing countries of Northern Europe but severely damaged the textile industries of the South, ending with factory closures and job losses. In 2018, thirteen years later, few Italian textile companies survived and those left producing mainly outside of Italy.”¹²

Bradanini focuses his economic analysis on data; in his book, it is easy to find China-Italy import-export tables, which helped to understand the economic partnership qualities. Italy is the fourth-largest exporter after Germany, France, and the Netherlands as well as the fifth-largest importer after the Netherlands, Germany, the United Kingdom, and France; the first position of the Netherlands depends on the weight of the port of Rotterdam from which goods transit throughout Europe and even in Italy, where it is estimated that at least one and a half of million containers arrive every year. The trade deficit of Italy with Beijing grew from 4 billion euros in the early 2000s to 16-18 today, a similar trajectory to the EU as a whole, whose deficit has increased in the same years from 30 billion to over 176 billion euros.

Considering his words and the opinions of different Italian scholars and politicians, Italy should consider all aspects in the present and future of economic collaboration with China. In his book Bradanini, the former Italian ambassador in China and Iran, gave a clear and detailed analysis of the relations between Italy and China during the new century, pointing out the political, economic, and social differences, considering the positive and negative aspects of the increasing influence of China on the Italian economy.

Luo Hongbo, Sun Yanhong, in “Changing Italy”¹³, highlight that in recent years, Italy has experienced comprehensive and profound changes. Apart from the ‘gradual evolution’ caused by the constant inertia of the government, it is also full of ‘passive’ changes brought about by the external international environment. These changes and Italy’s response to the changes are intricately intertwined and interacted, and together shape the main characteristics of today’s Italian economy, society, politics, diplomacy, culture and education, besides, it will continue to be the driving force for the future development of Italy. This book deeply analyzes the important changes in Italy in recent years from the perspectives of economy and society, political diplomacy, culture and education, and explores the new characteristics and new trends of the development of Sino Italian relations under new circumstances.

Li Ruiyu in “Deepening exchanges and writing a new chapter in Sino Italian relations”¹⁴ asserts that since the institution of diplomatic relations, China and Italy have established a comprehensive strategic partnership and maintained close communication and coordination under the multilateral framework including the G20. In recent years, the two countries have made important achievements in high-level exchanges, economic and trade investment, World Expo cooperation, science and technology and culture. In 2015, the two countries jointly celebrated the 45th Anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations. China, as the largest exhibitor besides the host, actively participated in the Milan World Expo and held more than 400 enterprise docking and more than 200 professional exchange activities.

- MOU, BRI and the beginning of a new partnership

Italy and China both believe that MOU would strengthen the bilateral partnership between the countries, and for the future, both are planning new and different projects in all of the fields. Italy, the first G7 country to sign an agreement on the Chinese People Republic’s infrastructure maxi plan, which includes ports, railway lines, roads, and maritime corridors, while the European partners have gone astray for the fear that this signature will break the common front needed to obtain concessions from Beijing on reciprocity in access to public procurement.

- Undersecretary for Economic Development, Geraci Michele (2019), one of the architects of the MOU, in “Italy will secure its place on the new Silk Road”, says that BRI will help Italy in infrastructure, but it must not fall into the debt trap, Italy is a country of 1700 billion GDP. However, Geraci mostly expresses a positive and enthusiastic opinion about the MOU. “Italy has lagged because it has failed to make a system, so other European countries, such as France or Ireland, sell more. MOU for China has a political meaning, but for Italy, it is economical. It could be considered an advantage because, in China, companies follow it when the government moves. It is not the case in Italy. Three years ago, Italy was the first country of the G7 that attended the Belt and Road summit.”¹⁵

MOU implies a remarkable development since Italy is the first G7 country to sign such an economic agreement. It has generated a substantial dispute in Bruxelles and Washington, whether or not this decision could indicate an Italian shift away from its historical pro-European and pro-Atlantic position towards a deeper strategic tie with China. However, Italy reassured the European Union, announcing that there was no intention or evidence of such a strategic move, and that the decision was based solely on geopolitical and economic considerations. China is seen as both a partner and a rival in Europe, and the new relationship between Italy and China will increase Chinese presence in Europe and the Mediterranean. Cristiani Dario (2019), in “Italy Joins the Belt and Road Initiative: Context, Interests, and Drivers”, is analyzing the topic from a geopolitical point of view, and he considers that a geopolitical approach to studying the relations between China and Italy is significant to understanding their influence in the international scenery¹⁶. This analysis gives a different perspective to the research; the new partnership between China and Italy is inserted in a broader context to understand the geopolitical dynamics after the two countries signed the MOU. Other authors are mostly concentrating their attention on the economic implications. That is why this article of Cristiani made a particular contribution.

From the Chinese counterpart, President Xi Jinping (2019) referred to his visit in Italy and the consequent MOU as a new chapter for the friendship between Beijing and Rome, in an article sent to the Corriere della Sera, one of the main Italian newspapers, titled “La grande Storia degli incontri tra Oriente ed Occidente, un nuovo capitolo per l’amicizia tra Roma e Pechino (The great story of the encounters between East and West, a new chapter for the friendship between Rome and Beijing).” In his article, the president evokes the ancient roots of Italian-Chinese friendship, “2000 years ago the ancient Silk Road could connect the Chinese Empire to the Roman Empire, the Han Empire to the ‘Da Qing大秦’. Despite the global conflicts, China and Italy were an example of cooperation based on reciprocal trust and tight cooperation between two countries with different social systems, cultural backgrounds, and development phases. This friendship was based on strategic trust and a far-sighted political vision.”¹⁷ After 2004, diplomatic relations promoted the bilateral partnership and mutual comprehension and sustained the fundamental interests and relevant issues. China and Italy are important trade partners with 50 billion dollars of bilateral trade exchanges and 20 billion of investment in 2018. The two countries reached essential goals in the scientific and technological fields. One example is the ‘China-Italy week of Science, Technology, and Innovation’ in collaboration with civil aviation and satellites. Moreover, the collaboration between police forces of both countries and team works between football clubs must be mentioned.

According to Xi Jinping, China is ready to strengthen the global partnership and collaborate at every level with annual events and activities. China also wants to consolidate communication and synergy with Italy within the United Nations, the G20, the Asem, and other international organizations regarding important thematic like climate change, UNO, and WTO. It is evident from his words that the Chinese-Italian friendship has deep roots and has obtained several results already, the cooperation of two countries and partnership has a prosperous future; the Chinese population is eager to collaborate with the Italian one in order to foster bilateral relations as well as to renovate the Chinese-Italian friendship.

Some of the articles of the Chinese scholars focused on the time frame after the MOU, giving a unique contribution from different perspective to the research, especially in the drafting of chapters three, four, five.

In 2019, Sun Yanhong published his research entitled “Sino-Italian Cooperation under the Framework of Belt and Road Initiative: opportunities, advantages and prospects”, in which the sudden developments brought by the MOU of March 2019 are examined.

Following the Belt and Road Initiative, as a new platform for the bilateral partnership, the Chinese-Italian cooperation will enter a new stage of all-round and high-quality development. The author gave an in-depth analysis of the contents of the MOU underlying the critical points of the new strategic cooperation among the two countries: “The two countries will strengthen cooperation in the following areas: policy dialogue, transportation, logistics, and infrastructure, as well as eliminate trade and investment barriers. Promote personnel exchanges and promote environment-friendly development. In trade and investment, the two sides promised to eliminate barriers as much as possible, expand bilateral investment and trade volume, and strengthen industrial cooperation and cooperation in the third-party markets.”¹⁸

A relevant parenthesis has been opened to the ports’ situation in Italy, small ports with strategical positions, but lack of infrastructures, “Low in throughput capacity and insufficient in depth to accommodate large and super large container ships. This problem exists in the important ports in Northern Italy, such as Trieste port, Genoa Port, and Venice port.”¹⁹ This information was crucial for the outlining of the third chapter of the dissertation.

Zhao Xianjin and Zhang Xiaoting, in their research published in 2019, “Opportunities and challenges of Economic and Trade Cooperation between China and Italy under the Belt and Road Initiative”, based their analysis on accurate economic data, like Bradanini. Watching the Belt and Road Initiative’s achievements and the benefits that occurred for many countries, Italy has paid significant attention to China’s economic and trade cooperation. In 2018, direct investments of China in Italy were around US$ 129.83 billion, making Italy the third-largest EU investment destination after the UK and Germany. The “BRI has become a new platform for economic and trade cooperation between China and Italy, that will develop at a higher quality and more comprehensive stage. China-Italy economic and trade cooperation should strengthen top-level design, guidance, and supervision, seek new investment opportunities with Italy, adopt diversified investment models, innovative financing channels, improve risk awareness and responsibility.”²⁰

This article was influential because it enlightened two crucial points: Italy’s geographical position and China’s risks to invest in Italy.

Italy has a strategic position in Europe and the Mediterranean region; it can connect China to Europe and Africa attracting Beijing, and other foreign capitals, which can easily find benefits since the regulations on foreign investments are not strict. Investors can have advantages, but at the same time, there are some risks, this is the second point. These risks are still related to the global economic crisis of 2008 and the recession of Italy before 2015, the bank system is weak, the loans of the banks to the small and medium enterprises affect their economic development. Thus, it could be difficult for Chinese companies to obtain financing from local Italian financial institutions in some cases. The solution for this could be a campaign of information and training for Chinese enterprises wishing to invest in Italy to guide them on policies, risks, investment processes; and support investment in industries with the potential for sustainable development. “For Chinese enterprises interested in investing in Italy, we should do a good job in the pre-preparation work, collecting relevant information about the political, cultural, economic, social and other aspects of the host country; fully understanding the local labor policy, the market situation and risk level of the investment industry.”²¹

4. Research methodology

This research aims to analyze the partnership between China and Italy: their socio-economic status in an international scenario in the picture of 50 years of bilateral relations and the new strategic partnership boosted by the MOU, in order to examine the benefits, advantages, and all the activities related to the MOU. To answer the research questions, it was employed the following method: comparative analysis of the socio-economic, political systems of the two countries. The evolution of the Sino-Italian partnership after March 2019 is the object of the research, and the MOU is the official document that determined the beginning of a new chapter in the history of the relations between the two countries. The analysis of this particular event and the points of the MOU with the consequent new partnership, can be defined as the analysis of the case study.

Comparative research analysis has been used for a long time in cross-cultural studies to classify, investigate and describe similarities and differences between societies. Whatever methods are used, the research considers the socio-cultural background. While managing and funding cross-national projects, problems appear while gaining access to comparable datasets and accomplishing common points over conceptual and practical equivalence and research parameters. Attempts in defining solutions to these problems implicate negotiation and compromise and a good knowledge of different national contexts. The benefits of working on two or more countries include a deeper understanding of other cultures and the progress in research.

The comparative approach in the study of society finds a long tradition from Ancient Greece. Since the nineteenth century, philosophers, anthropologists, political scientists, and sociologists have employed cross-cultural comparisons to achieve various objectives in the modern era²².

The European Commission has established several large-scale programs, observatories, and networks to monitor and report social and economic developments in member states. Simultaneously, government departments and research funding bodies have shown a growing interest in international comparisons, particularly in the social policy area, to evaluate the solutions adopted to deal with everyday problems or evaluate the transferability of policies between member states.

A comparative study evaluates specific problems or trends in various socio-cultural settings (institutions, practices, beliefs, belief systems, lifestyles, language, thinking patterns) using the same research instruments to perform a secondary review of national data or to conduct new empirical work. The aim may be to look for explanations for similarities and differences, generalize them, or acquire deeper awareness and understanding of social reality in different national contexts²³.

A researcher or a group of researchers investigating their national context and the received information may draw up the problem and the hypotheses and finalize investigation in the intended countries, using replication of the experimental design, mostly to collect and analyze new data. The method is often used when a smaller number of countries is involved, for qualitative studies, where researchers are searching for a distinct issue in two or more national contexts and must have a firm knowledge of all the countries under analysis. The approach includes surveys, secondary analysis of national data, personal observation, and interpret the findings concerning their broader social contexts. It is the case because sources in China and Italy were collected and documents in different languages were analyzed: Chinese, Italian, English, French.

Language could represent a significant obstacle to effective international collaboration since it is not merely a medium for conveying concepts, but reflects institutions, thought processes, values, and ideology. The approach to a topic and its interpretation might diverge according to the language of expression.

Moreover, in the present research the speeches of politicians, scholars and relevant personalities are analyzed.

In politics and political science, the political discourse is primarily seen as a form of political action and a pan of the political process. Such a view is perfectly compatible with the dominant paradigm in most social approaches to discourse, where discourse is a form of social action and interaction²⁴ ; this has mostly been shown to hold for spoken interaction or dialogue, it is evident that written texts, or instead of writing texts, form social and political action²⁵. Textual (written, printed, computer) communication may not be face-to-face, but therefore no less a form of action and interaction.

5. Dissertation Structure

The dissertation consists of six chapters. The first one is preceded by an abstract also translated into Chinese language, an introduction, and five points presenting the research background, research purpose and significance, literature review, research methodology, and the dissertation structure. The research background provides the reason for the selection of the research area. In the research purpose and significance, it is also illustrated the innovation of the research.

The first chapter is assigned to the theoretical frame of the research, discussing the theory of the economic interdependence, its history, its influence in the global market, in chapter 1.1, and the analysis of the Sino-Italian partnership from the perspective of the theory.

The global market is continuously evolving; one of the main reasons is the interconnection between countries, their economic activities, and how they are interdependent. In 1.2, the economic interdependence that characterizes China and Italy during this century is outlined, describing the horizontal associations, the PTA, and the countries’ strategic interests, with particular attention on the Chinese direct investments in Italy. 1.3 underlined the spillover effects of this interdependence, considering the political and diplomatic relations and the economic cooperation. The other chapters evaluate the effects of the economic interdependence starting from the signature of the MOU considering different sectors.

The second chapter describes the document that set off the new partnership between China and Italy in March 2019, the MOU. In 2.1, the document’s typology is discussed, followed by the analysis of the paragraphs of the document, underlying the points agreed in the different sectors. In 2.2 the partnership is underlined considering the BRI. 2.3 illustrates the strategic partnership, its strength in the economic area, the unceasing dialogue between the two governments, but also the challenges from the European Union.

The third chapter analyzes the Sino-Italian partnership in the sector of infrastructure; it plays a decisive role in the achievement of research purpose and objectives.

Firstly, 3.1 illustrates the characteristics of the Belt and Road Initiative: the Silk Road Economic Belt and the Maritime Silk Road, also focusing on the strategic position of Italy, that connects Europe and Africa; thus, can connect Chinese maritime and terrestrial trade to Europe and Africa. 3.2 is mainly concentrated on the projects related to the development of the infrastructure.

The fourth chapter focuses on the economic partnership between Italy and China, analyzing different aspects in 4.1, such as unrestricted trade and investments, e-commerce, and the customs clearance of goods. Finally, the industrial and financial collaboration. All these aspects can be defined as the opportunities and challenges for the Chinese investments and commercial exchanges. 4.2 specifies the exports of Italian food, pointing to the exports of the main principal food products, such as milk, fruits, meat; the regulations and the promotion of the Italian culinary culture in China.

Chapter five analyzes the Sino-Italian partnership in other different sectors: culture, education, social security, science and technology, sports, fashion, and tourism. The exchanges between people, students, and professional workers in every sector of two different countries are essential for a deep understanding of the culture and the other country’s socio-economic system (5.1, 5.2). The collaboration between the universities of Italy and China, discussed in 5.3, for example, increases every year the number of students who study abroad, making China closer to Italy and Italy closer to China.

5.4 focuses on Innovation and Technology, while 5.5 analyzes the partnership in other sectors: social security, sport, fashion and tourism.

The sixth chapter concludes the dissertation and summarizes the achievements of the research purpose and objectives. The chapter outlines the fifty-one years long and strong friendship of the two countries (6.1), the future perspectives of their partnership, and the expectations (6.3), considering the recent outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic (6.2).

At the end of the dissertation, the conclusion and the bibliography (MLA format), in which the sources have been divided into Chinese, English, and Italian language, comprising official government sources, and articles from the principal newspaper in Chinese, English, and Italian language.

1. The pattern of Sino-Italian relations from the perspective of economic interdependence theory

During the last three decades, the deep bilateral trade and economic relations with some of the most advanced and developed countries brought significant advantages to China’s economic growth.

Possibilities of economic cooperation are emerging in numerous sectors, such as the agroindustry and the pharmaceutical sectors, where Italian competencies, expertise, and products can match the growing superiority of Chinese consumers. Equally, Chinese manufacturers show a relevant potential to advance into high-value complementary supply chains where Italian skills and technologies have been improved more than other countries.

Italy and China are gradually collaborating in several economic activities in the goods and services sectors, including food manufacturing, showing a moderate level of interdependence. Both countries intend to invest in a more innovative and advanced sector beyond the traditional developed industries, such as healthcare, environmental protection, green farming, industrial upgrading, urban planning, and sustainable development.

The perspective of building new economic interdependencies could consent to China and Italy to maintain a leading position in the global economy, the MOU is an example in this sense.

1.1 The economic interdependence theory and its impact on the global market

Economic interdependence indicates that in the relations between two regions, nations, or other entities, one is dependent on the other for several economic variables such as goods, services, currency, financial tie-ups. It often takes when all parties are focused on the accomplishment of some conditions and must trade with others for unmet conditions. Economic interdependence or integration is related to the four main economic streams of globalization: goods, services (exports, imports); labor (migration rates); capital (direct, indirect investments); technology (international research and development streams). Higher is the percentage of goods; higher is the intensity of globalization in a country, showing intensive interdependence between this country and others. Higher is the rate of migration; higher is the interdependence between one country and others. Inward or outward direct investment is one part of the national income. Thus, higher is the percentage of investments in other countries and higher is the interdependence among countries motivated by the common interest of growth and development of every country, and higher is the level of globalization. Lastly, the higher is the collaboration and cooperation among countries in technological advancement; the higher is the interdependence and the extent of globalization.

Industrialization and the economic progress of a country are the principal causes of economic interdependence. When a nation is advanced explicitly in one sector that is not found in other nations, then interdependence may occur between this nation and the less advanced nation in a specific sector. The auto industry establishment in America could be an example: since the auto industry needed rubber to make tires and America was not producing it, Southeast Asian nations could provide it, so America became reliant upon those countries. When a nation advances, it should produce the goods it needs within its borders, without seeking goods and raw materials from other nations. Moreover, a nation’s progress leads to a transition from a manufacturing-based economy to a service-based economy that depends on other nations for supplying manufactured goods.

The facets of the economic interdependence can be identified as follows: foreign trade, foreign direct investments (FDI), globalization of technology, transitional information flows and networks, economic networking, and financial market²⁶.

Foreign trade is the longstanding signal of international economic interdependence. In recent times, the international trade expanded quickly at a rate higher than the increase of the international output, which also presented variations of the geographic distribution. This resulted in a qualitative difference in the degree and the type of interdependence.

In the last twenty years, Foreign Direct Investment has become crucial in the services sector and technology-intensive manufacturing, while previously they were mostly concentrated in raw materials and primary products. Trade substitution and import barrier elusion are the principal reason behind the decisions to tackle foreign investments.

Technological resources still concentrate in few countries, such as the US, Japan, China, and some European countries; other countries rely on them transferring the technology, generally through direct investments by the multinational enterprises of those countries. This occurrence leads to an increasingly high technological interdependence defined as ‘techno globalism.’

Regarding the transitional information flows and network, the data communication services are growing their importance in economic activity. The progress in this sector has been influential in promoting new models of corporate strategies internationally. These strategies are centered on cooperation and competition between economic actors. Some analysts referred to the relationship between these countries as a ‘networking’ or ‘networked economy.’

The global financial market has been developed thanks to informatics and communications technology, which have also allowed the development of unceasing trading in currencies and financial assets across the world within the last ten years. The global financial market is one of the most relevant facets of economic interdependence.

1.1.1 The history and theories of Economic Interdependence, the Strategic Interests in the New Global Order

Technological development (e.g., computerization, containerization, low-cost travel, low-cost communications) and associated policies aimed at opening national economies to foreign competition have increased global economic interdependence in the post-World War II era. International economic interdependence is described by David Baldwin as the opportunity costs incurred as a result of potential exit costs faced from the breaking established economic links between nations. Others claim that it refers to a country’s economic vulnerability to the policies and growth of countries outside its borders²⁷.

Although much of the literature concerning the history of economic interdependence theory analyzes its impact on conflicts and the outbreak of war, Keohane and Nye, among the firsts to discuss about interdependence, assert that interdependence enhances economic governance, international law, and environmental sustainability to the international agenda and corrodes the primacy of military conflict. In some cases, occurrences in these issues may cause strategic conflicts, but they may also lead to cooperation. Economic issues are not subordinate to security ones nor vice versa. Recent updates in the literature focus on the complexity of strategic relations. Still, they lack sufficient conceptualization of how transformations in the global economy alter the systemic structure that defines the context in which a nation is chasing its strategic interests.

The analysis of interdependence on strategic interests is conducted considering three perspectives: the realist, the liberal, and the game-theoretical one.

According to the liberal theory, economic interdependence diminishes conflict through three instruments: opportunity costs, international institutions, and domestic interests. In The Rise of the Trading State (1986)²⁸, Richard Rosecrance specifies the function of opportunity costs. He asserts that as the benefits from trade grow, the costs of wars that dislocate trade increase, preventing states from sudden conflict. Incorporation to the international financial markets has also been found to be connected with less conflict. Liberal theorists admit the possibility that international economic interdependence may lead to conflict and peace but highlight the importance of international institutions that augment and support economic openness and mitigate conflict. These institutions endorse peaceful international adjustments through a forum for negotiations and dispute resolution, observing and spreading information about international actors, facilitating the exchanges of information that diminish the possibilities for miscalculating resolve, and forming third party authorities that can implement regulatory resolutions. Economic interdependence and international institutions can give rise to powerful interests in those states that yearn for avoiding conflict.

Keohane and Nye, in 1977, have enlightened how states can considerably increase their perceptions of self-interest to amplify the scope for cooperation through their membership of international institutions. Observance to these organizations’ rules dissuades the limited chase of national interests and weakens the significance and request for state sovereignty. It can be said that the international order is more normatively regulated, and this position was further renovated by Wight and Bull in 1980, scholars of the English School. If economic and political exchanges between states are marginal, there are few mutual interests to encourage international cooperation. If interdependence is high, states begin to share a broad range of interests, from international trade management to the protection of the global environment. The subsistence of shared interests is a precondition for international cooperation; however, neo-liberals claim that such interests do not clarify the nature and amount of collaborative relations between states, and international cooperation could remain challenging to accomplish. While having interests in common, the absence of a central world authority often discourages states from sustaining the joint responsibilities that cooperation takes them to be afraid that others will violate the agreements. They frequently lack adequate information to identify the common interests with other states. These conditions elucidate why states fail to cooperate even while sharing mutual interests and explain how they collaborate when they do. According to neo-liberals, to prevail over these barriers to cooperation, governments create international institutions or regimes. International regimes are supposed to increase the cost of cheating, drop transaction costs, and improve information, consequently accelerating cooperation under anarchy.

Keohane and Nye, lately, reconceived state power in the light of ‘complex interdependence’. States were acknowledged to be the primary actors in world politics. However, persistent interdependence was alleged to modify state power’s nature and efficacy, including the balance of military power, so long highlighted by realists, no longer meaningful political results, as thoughtfulness and liability to interdependence generated new power relations between states.

The initial cooperation among countries was successfully achieved in technical areas, later in other functional sectors, with mutual advantages for the countries involved. Liberal institutionalism remarked this argument, though arguing that the potential cooperation, even in an anarchical world, is superior to the prospects for cooperation discussed by the Neorealists²⁹.

In contemporary times the benefits of trade and cooperation among states significantly went beyond that of military competition and territorial control. The annexation of territory has always been considered as the primary way of accumulating national wealth, but, in recent years, however, it has become apparent that additional territory does not necessarily help states to compete in a worldwide system, where the ‘trading state’ instead of the ‘military state’ is becoming prevailing.

In the 70s, states began to comprehend that wealth is defined by their share of the world market in value-added goods and services. This conception has had two significant effects. Firstly, states are no longer independent and self-sufficient: the economic interdependence ensures that states, included great powers, cannot operate hostilely without risking economic sanctions imposed by other members of the international community. It does not make any sense for a state to menace its commercial affiliates, whose markets and capital investment are indispensable for its economic expansion. Secondly, the territorial acquisition is both detrimental and costly for outlaw states. Thus, economic development through trade and foreign investment is a much more appealing and hypothetically advantageous strategy.

According to the realist line, states are moved to extend security in a world of anarchy. Trade can be handled as an instrument of power among competitive states; its benefits do not accumulate across states. Thus, their distribution could alter economic and diplomatic relations. Less powerful states must be alarmed in trading with powerful ones since they may use trade to profit. When trade generates emerging powers, they grow dissatisfied with the order imposed by hegemonic powers and go to war to change it³⁰.

In 1979 Kenneth Waltz published his book the Theory of International Politics³¹ , improving a thoroughly reviewed realist theory, consequently identified as ‘neo-realism’ or ‘structural realism.’ Waltz drew on two intellectual vision sources: the model of theory construction of the philosopher of science Imre Lakatos and microeconomic theory. Lakatos’ model guided him to conceive a theory with marginal assumptions, a stingy set of heuristically dominant proposals that could produce empirically acceptable hypotheses about international relations; the microeconomic theory supported him to underline the structural determining factor of state behavior. Waltz’s neo-realist theory is created on two statements: the international system is anarchical, lacking a central authority to enforce order, and states are mainly interested in reinforcing their power, principally their military power, for securing their survival. For Waltz, states are ‘defensive positionalists’: when a state increases its military power inevitably reduces the power of a different state. For this motive, he argued that the power struggle is a permanent feature of international relations; then, tension is endemic. Moreover, cooperation between states is at best unstable, at worst non-existent.

Robert Keohane reacted to Waltz’s neo-realist theory, stepping away from his former interest in transnational relations and interdependence. He was determined to explain cooperation under anarchy. In 1984, in his book, After Hegemony, Keohane suggested a neo-liberal theory of international cooperation. This theory included three factors of neo-realism: the prominence of international anarchy in influencing state behavior, the state as the most important actor in world politics, and the hypothesis of states as broadly self-interested. He also favored the Lakatosian model of theory construction that apprised neo-realism³².

Neo-realists’ reactions to the liberal claim that economic interdependency is pacifying international relations are two types. From one side, they assert that uncertainty will always prevail over the seek for economic prosperity in the battle between competitors in an anarchic environment. Because states must be concerned about their survival, economic interdependence will never come before strategic security. Governments’ ability to investigate economic cooperation paths will be restrained by their willpower to protect the country and the extent to which they are obliged to be involved in a military struggle with other countries. From the other side, the concept of economic interdependence entails an indefinite level of equality and combined liability to economic energies in the global economy. Interdependence does not eliminate hegemony and dependency in inter-state relations because capability is asymmetrically disseminated. Indeed, conflict and cooperation will not disappear, although they might be directed into more soft outlines.

Scholars of international relations disagree about whether economic interdependence leads to peace or conflict. Statistical studies show that economic interdependence can contribute to both war and peace, depending on a variety of factors. Dale C. Copeland argues that future trade expectations influence whether economic interdependence leads to peace or war; leaders who do not believe future trade trends will be beneficial to their state are more likely to participate in conflict and rivalry than leaders who believe future trade patterns will be beneficial to their state³³. States can ‘weaponize interdependence’, according to Henry Farrell and Abraham L. Newman, by battling for control of key nodes in global networks of information and financial exchange³⁴. Interdependence, according to realists like John Mearsheimer and Joseph Grieco, increases the likelihood of conflict by establishing dependencies and vulnerabilities that states will attempt to eliminate; for example, states will assume that other states will cut off access to key resources^{35 36}.

The core of modern interdependence theory is free trade and the removal of barriers. For instance, in Europe, the conviction that conflicts between states will be lowered by creating a common interest in trade and economic cooperation among countries of the same geographical area encouraged economic integration progress. Thus, states, such as France and Germany, solved their military disparities to collaborate under a settled mutual economic and political outline for expected benefits, peace, and prosperity. The European Union represents the best example of economic integration within economic and political support in a territory, historically, afflicted by wars.

1.1.2 The changing structure of the global economy

Global markets’ development amplifies the number of possible business partners, decreasing costs, and converting allegiances. The reorganization of control over economic resources enhances the importance of indirect dependence through which third parties and general discrepancy alters bilateral economic relations. Asymmetries can be reduced thanks to international organizations’ creation by swinging bilateral economic relations to international debates.

Subsequently to the Cold War, the global economy has evolved from a hierarchical, hub-and-spoke structure with determined trading partners to a decentralized one. One aspect of this decentralized configuration is the expansion of global trade and the resulting modification of export markets. Another is the rising contribution of developing countries in global financial markets as both recipients, and capital sources influence the global economy’s decentralization.

The upsurge of emerging economies like China and India and the growing importance of trade and financial flows among evolving and developing economies contributed to the promulgation of horizontal associations among these countries. In 2009, with the transformation of the G8 meetings on global finance to the G20, the world’s developed countries formally recognized the importance of emerging economies. By increasing its linkage to other Asian economies, China expects to boost its leadership in the region. The AIIB unpredictably thrived in attracting countries out of the region, including some of the United States’ closest allies, such as the U.K., Germany, and Israel. It demonstrates how static alliances are substituted with more fluid alignments. The European Union is the leading example of how the power of economic interdependence can hold together in peace countries with a long and bitter history of wars and conflicts between themselves; some analysts suggest that, in practice, ordinary economic exchange has little impact on the complex politics of international security. However, the opposing school of thought advocates that, rather than uniting people through expected economic benefits, extreme interdependence may create anger, rivalry, and, eventually, political dissatisfaction leading to conflict.

The expansion of global markets boosts the number of accessible trade partners, slowing down the costs. Decentralizing control over economic resources increases indirect dependence, consequently affecting the bilateral economic relations between the two countries. The global economy has been reorganized by the increasing volume of global trade and financial drifts. Markets broaden quickly as exports and investments from developed and also developing countries. These occurrences may increase the strategic suppleness of powers like China, India, the United States, and the European Union and increase the weight of nourishing alignments and fruitful partnerships.

In this global interdependence system, where wealth-producing interests are more and more multinational, it is necessary to enable these activities by affording accessible and controlled global economic conditions. For this purpose, those having a significant impact on the world economy should work on coordinated policies between countries.

An accessible economic environment requires open systems for foreign direct investments, capital drifts, and every kind of international economic activity among the superpowers and the developing countries. Involving the Third World in international economic activities will stimulate their economic growth and their political bodies to move forward according to this target. A strengthened partnership between developed and developing governments that engage the seconds in a broader and productive political interchange would make a huger awareness of cohesion of interests possible. In this context, a more inclusive and corresponding attitude to the international guidelines is demanded. Economic interconnections require an appropriate regulatory system; rule makers would have to protect new economic sectors and focus on new interests and transfer recent norms from national to international. For some countries, it could be hard to integrate their political system with new policies according to their specific necessities, especially when the economic conditions require measures such as accustoming the money supply or intensifying public debt to finance infrastructure improvement. Such kind of policies, if indispensable for a country, could distort the economies of others. With a more solid interconnection between global economies, the free market’s promoters represent an extraordinary level of political autonomy and stimulus. Global finance presents a somewhat mixed picture. Foreign direct investment (FDI), foreign exchange reserves, and foreign assistance have become less centered on advanced industrial countries, but portfolio investment remains dominated by developed country markets. The reasons in currently increasing interdependence are four: enhancements in transportation, free trade, progresses in communications, and the skills of labor.

[...]

---

¹ Geraci, Michele, “Italy will secure its place on the new Silk Road”, Financial Times, on 22 March 2019.

² Baldwin, David A. “Interdependence and power: a conceptual analysis”. International Organization, Vol. 34 Issue 4, 1980, p. 471-506.

³ Echeverri-Gent, John, Herlevi, April & Ganczak, Kim, “Economic Interdependence and Strategic Interest: China, India, and the United States in the New Global Order”, Department of Politics, the University of Virginia, 2015.

⁴ Brancati, E., Brancati, R. & Maresca, A, “Global value chains, innovation and performance: firm level evidence from the Great Recession”, Journal of Economic Geography, Vol. 17, No. 1, 2017, p.1039-1073.

⁵ OCSE, Productivity and Jobs in a Globalised World: (How) Can All Regions Benefit? April 2018.

⁶ Surugiua, Marius-Rzvan & Surugiu, Camelia, “International Trade, Globalization and Economic Interdependence between European Countries: Implications for Businesses and Marketing Framework”, Procedia Economics and Finance, Vol. 32, 2015, p. 131-138 .

⁷ Michael, Zürn, “From interdependence to Globalization” in ed. Carlsnaes, W. Risse T. & Simmons, B. A. Handbook of International Relations, London: Sage publications, 2005, p. 235-255.

⁸ Powell, J. & Chacha, M. “Investing in stability: Economic interdependence, coups d’état, and the capitalist peace”. Journal of Peace Research, Vol. 53, Issue 4, 2016, p. 525-538.

⁹ Chuang Y. C. “Economic Interdependence and International Interactions: The Impact of Market Power and Dyadic Conflict and Cooperation”, South African Journal of Economics , Vol. 73, Issue 3, 2005, p. 426-434.

¹⁰ Prodi, Giorgio, “Economic relations between Italy and China”, in G. Adornino and M. Marinelli, Italy’s Encounters with Modern China, New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2014, p.171–200.

¹¹ Ibidem.

¹² Bradanini, Alberto, Oltre la Grande Muraglia, Uno Sguardo sulla Cina che non ti Aspetti (A look at China You Don’t expect), Milano: UBE, 2018.

¹³ 罗红波、孙彦红：《变化中的意大利》，深圳：社会科学文献出版社2017年版。

¹⁴ 李瑞宇：《深化交流谱写中意关系新篇章》,《国际援助》2019年版。

¹⁵ Idem p. 9.

¹⁶ Cristiani Dario, “Italy Joins the Belt and Road Initiative: Context, Interests, and Drivers”, China Brief, Vol. 19 Issue 8, 2019.

¹⁷ Xi, Jinping, “La grande storia degli incontri tra Oriente ed Occidente, un nuovo capitolo per l’amicizia tra Roma e Pechino (The great story of the meetings between East and West, a new chapter for friendship between Rome and Beijing)” in “La visita di Xi Jinping: Un patto strategico con l’Italia (Xi Jinping’s visit: A strategic pact with Italy)”, Corriere della Sera, 20 March 2019. Retrieved from https://www.corriere.it/esteri/19_marzo_20/patto-strategicoassieme-all-italia-efa36c0c-4a8c-11e9-a7a3-5683e4dbacbc.shtml

¹⁸ 孙彦红：《“一带一路”框架下的中意合作 :机遇、优势与前景展望 》，《当代世界》2019年第449期，第52-57页。

¹⁹ Ibidem.

²⁰ 赵先进、张晓婷：《“一带一路”倡议下中国与意大利经贸合作的机遇与挑战》，《对外经贸实务》2019年第6期，第26-28页。

²¹ Ibidem.

²² Ragin, Charles C., Issues and Alternatives in Comparative Social Research, Leiden and New York: E.J. Brill, 1991.

²³ Checkel, Bennet, Process Tracing from Metaphor to Analytic Tool, New York: Cambridge University Press, 2014.

²⁴ Atkinson, Maxwell J., and Heritage, John, Structures of Social Action: Studies in Conversation Analysis, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1984.

²⁵ Boden, Deirde, and Zimmerman, Don H, Talk and social structure. Studies in ethnomethodology and conversation analysis, Cambridge: Polity Press, 1991.

²⁶ Surugiua, Marius-Rzvan & Surugiu, Camelia, “International Trade, Globalization and Economic Interdependence between European Countries: Implications for Businesses and Marketing Framework”, Procedia Economics and Finance, Vol. 32, 2015, p. 131-138 .

²⁷ Idem, p. 16.

²⁸ Rosecrance, R, The Rise of the Trading State: Commerce and Conquest in the Modern World, New York: Basic Books, Inc., 1986. p.150-180.

²⁹ Keohane, Robert O, After Hegemony: Cooperation and Discord in the World Political Economy, Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1984.

³⁰ Idem p.14.

³¹ Waltz, K, Theory of International Politics, New York: McGraw-Hill, 1979.

³² Idem p. 28.

³³ Copeland, Dale C. Economic Interdependence and War . Princeton: Princeton University Press. 2015, p. 1-25.

³⁴ Farrell, H. Newman, A. L. “Weaponized Interdependence: How Global Economic Networks Shape State Coercion”, International Security. Vol. 44 Issue 1, 2019, p. 42-79.

³⁵ Mearsheimer, J. J. “The False Promise of International Institutions”. International Security, Vol. 19 Issue 3, 1994, p. 5-49.

³⁶ Grieco, J. M. “Anarchy and the Limits of Cooperation: A Realist Critique of the Newest Liberal Institutionalism’. International Organization, Vol. 42 Issue 3, 1998, p. 485-507.