He argued that cooperating with China on the infrastructure push would allow Italy, which is saddled with enormous debts and stuck at about zero growth, to export fashion, machinery, food, chemical and other goods to China in greater numbers. He said Italy’s current exports to China paled next to those of Germany and France. France, he said, sells seven times as much wine to China, and even Ireland exports more food and beverages there.

Those countries have been aggressive in pursuing trade with China, but they have also been wary of One Belt, One Road investment in their nations.

Germany and other countries have erected obstacles to foreign investment after Chinese companies, often with close ties to Beijing, bought big stakes in the carmaker Daimler, Deutsche Bank and Kuka, a German maker of industrial robots.

Italy abstained this month when the European Union voted to approve a regulation giving countries more power to scrutinize and block foreign investment, especially when it is supported by a foreign government. But the regulation, clearly written with China in mind, allows countries to let foreign money in if they choose.

Image Michele Geraci, Italy’s under secretary in the economic development ministry. “It is a very fertile area for investment,” he said of the potential influx of money from China. Credit... Angelika Warmuth/EPA, via Shutterstock

European leaders’ resistance to Chinese investment may have slowed, but it has not stopped. Direct investment by Chinese companies in the 28 countries of the European Union plunged 40 percent in 2018 to €17.3 billion, or $19.6 billion, according to a study published this week by the Rhodium Group, a consulting firm, and the Mercator Institute for China Studies in Berlin.

Much of the decline reflected the reduced buying power of Chinese companies because of slower economic growth. And Chinese investments in Germany still rose €400 million, to €2.1 billion, last year with the acquisitions of a pharmaceutical company and an auto industry supplier, the study found.