Italy Is Turning Away From the Chinese Communist Regime

Italian PM Giuseppe Conte and Chinese leader Xi Jinping during a welcoming ceremony at Villa Madama in Rome on March 23, 2019. Alberto Pizzoli/AFP/Getty Images

New Analysis

A piece of breaking news appeared on various popular Chinese-language websites on June 7 claiming that the Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi had admitted that the COVID-19 pandemic had originated in Italy in a virtual interview by Radiotelevisione Italiana (RAI). The Chinese reports claimed that Italy had mistaken COVID outbreaks in Milan, Genoa, and Venice in the summer of 2019 for influenza.