Italy is second only to Red China in corona virus deaths, despite Rome being 5,382 miles from Wuhan. Follow the money. The virus did.
One year ago, BBC reported, "Italy joins China's New Silk Road project."
The project was Red China bailing out Italy financially when the European Union would not. German bankers could not. Red China with a billion-dollar-a-day trade surplus from the USA could.
Uganda and Tanzania are among the other nations that have become clients of Red China.
The BBC story said, "Italy's economy is far from booming. The country slipped into recession at the end of 2018, and its national debt levels are among the highest in the eurozone. Italy's populist government came to power in June 2018 with high-spending plans but had to peg them back after a stand-off with the EU."
Red China helped create Italy's crisis, and Communists never let a crisis go to waste.
The New York Times reported last March, "For decades, Italy felt the brunt of the Chinese economic juggernaut that the United States argues poses a threat to the financial and political future of the West.
"China’s government-backed manufacturers, operating on a much larger scale with much cheaper costs, devoured small Italian companies producing machinery, textiles and pharmaceuticals. Chinese knockoffs infuriated its high-fashion brands."
Red China was dumping cheap products to kill industries, thus Red China eventually has a monopoly. Politicians and think-tank pundits cynically defend this as the free market. But Red China closes its market to foreigners.
CNBC reported last March, "Italy’s decision to be the first major European economy to join China’s massive investment and infrastructure project, the Belt and Road Initiative, can only exacerbate tensions between Italy and its neighbors."
The story also said, "China sees the BRI as a way to efficiently and easily export more of its goods to lucrative markets; its critics see the initiative as a vanity project that increases indebtedness among its participating countries. They also complain that the BRI gives Chinese companies unfettered access to other markets and economies, but that its own is still largely closed to foreign investment.
"At the heart of concerns is that the BRI is seen as a way for China to spread its geopolitical influence — an acute concern for a Europe increasingly uncertain of its place in the world."
But now Red China has not only bailed out Italy, it has infected it with the corona virus. A nation with one-fifth the U.S. population has 12 times the infections, and 35 times the deaths.
Foreign Policy magazine sobbed, "The EU Is Abandoning Italy in Its Hour of Need.
"In a shameful abdication of responsibility, fellow countries in the European Union have failed to give medical assistance and supplies to Italy during an outbreak. China is filling the void."
Italy infected Europe with Red China's virus. Let Red China help them.
