As Chinese President Xi Jinping kicks off his European tour, China has plenty to celebrate: On Friday, Italy is expected to become the first G-7 nation to join the Belt and Road Initiative. Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei has secured a foothold rolling out 5G networks across the continent. And Chinese firms have successfully taken over European businesses in key sectors.
China’s growing reach in Europe comes in spite of well-grounded warnings from Washington. Trump’s National Security Council has warned Italy against joining the Belt and Road Initiative. The Trump administration has pushed back against Huawei, characterizing the company’s networks as little better than a direct feed of information to Beijing, and raised concerns about China’s ambitions for technical dominance with stolen technology.
