China has been aggressively initiating infrastructure projects from Bangladesh to Britain, funneling billions into them as part of its ambitious Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) or New Silk Road.

Some European countries are increasingly buying in, while others are skeptical of Beijing’s ultimate intentions. Indicating the continent’s ambivalence, a European Union (EU) spokesperson told Yahoo Finance that China is both a “cooperation partner” and a “systemic rival.”

‘Promoting alternative models of governance‘

Italy signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the People’s Republic of China last month, becoming the first of the G7 economies — which includes the US — to join the BRI. Wide-ranging cooperation is likely to ensue between banks, a Chinese construction company, Italian ports and Italian agriculture.

The deal was highly controversial with many parties criticizing Italy’s willingness to work with China, citing concerns about opaque financial practices.

“China is simultaneously a cooperation partner, with whom the EU has closely aligned objectives; a negotiating partner, with whom the EU needs to find a balance of interests; an economic competitor in pursuit of technological leadership; and a systemic rival, promoting alternative models of governance,” the EU spokesperson told Yahoo Finance.

‘China’s infrastructure vanity project’

The BRI arose from China’s waning economic growth at home, Thomas Eder, a research associate at German think-tank Mercator Institute for China Studies, previously told Yahoo Finance.

“It’s been almost a cliche that the Chinese government is legitimate as long as there is 7.5% growth,” he said. That’s not the case that anymore, so “they’re building up the second pillar of legitimacy with this collection of foreign policy successes, prestige, influence ... worldwide.”

In the meantime, suspicions of China’s motives and methods persist, leading a White House spokesman state that there was “no need for Italian government to lend legitimacy to China’s infrastructure vanity project.”

Jonathan Cohen, acting permanent representative of the United States at the United Nations, in March also chimed in earlier this month, sharply criticizing China's attempt to get Belt and Road language into a resolution on Afghanistan, because it had "known problems with corruption, debt distress, environmental damage, and lack of transparency.”