The decision to join the Silk Road multiplied China’s exports to Italy but did not have the same effect on Italian exports to China, Italian Defence Minister Guido Crosetto said. “The issue today is: how to walk back [from the BRI] without damaging relations [with Beijing], because it is true that China is a competitor, but it is also a partner,” Crosetto added. Italy signed up to the BRI under a previous government, becoming the only major Western country to have taken such a step.
You underestimate the Chinese craving for admiration. The belt and road initiative was mainly that: A signal to the people in China that said “We are back on the world stage and now we are the guys that help others to develop”. Sure, it may also have been debt trap, but other than populist voices like to portray it, that was not the actual goal.