“Italy is stuck between a rock and a hard place, and what to do with the cooperation pact is a real diplomatic conundrum for Meloni,” Francesca Ghiretti, an analyst at the Mercator Institute for China Studies research firm, said in an interview.

“Renewing it would send a very difficult message to Washington, but not renewing it would put a strain in relations with China.”

With US-China relations deteriorating, Beijing is looking to prevent Europe from following Washington, particularly on measures like export controls of key technologies. The EU is struggling to balance a desire to engage with China on trade and investment with resisting economic coercion.

Eoin Treacy's view

Memoranda of Understanding (MOUs) are not worth the paper they are written on. More often than not, they are an opportunity for politicians to stand around congratulating one another and make for good headlines. Concrete efforts to follow through on these photo opps is a lot more difficult. That’s exactly where Italy’s MoU on the Belt and Road Initiative sits. It is about to expire but nothing has been done to further it since it was signed. Nevertheless, refusing to re-sign is a PR mess.