Italy is trying to set up police cooperation with China on international gangs, but diffidence, intra-departmental competition, miscommunications and blunders keep making it difficult.
An example of the blunders that slow down the possible cooperation happened last February, when China sent a formal reply to an assistance request from Italian authorities on the attempted murder of a Chinese businessman in Italy in 2024. The reply arrived at the Justice Ministry in Rome, but was not accepted as it required payment from the mail service. Allegedly, no one in Italy knew this parcel was coming, so they didn’t pay the delivery fee. The letter went back to China, according to Reuters.
The episode illustrates Italy’s difficulties in trusting China and how the two countries’ cooperation is slowing potentially crucial investigations into gangs originating in China. There is also some resistance within China to fully collaborating on investigating Italian-based gangs that have counterparts in China.
However, China took some conciliatory steps in the autumn of 2025, contacting prosecutor Luca Tescaroli, who is in charge of public prosecution in Prato. The city in Tuscany is home to the biggest Chinese community in Italy, and as a result of this, it is often the epicentre of illegal activities linked with China.
That particular contact was about a possible collaboration on an investigation into shady stock deals involving a Chinese firm controlling fast-fashion logistics across Europe. Chinese authorities came to Prato on 25 November 2025 to help. Still, there were no follow-ups on the sense of wariness about collaborating with China on this case, even as other important cases languished in Italian courts. During the meeting, they revealed who was behind the attempted murder of 2024 and agreed to send more info.
To complicate further possible future cooperation, Italy accused China of being behind a fruitless cybersecurity attack against the Interior Ministry that aimed to discover the names of Chinese dissident residents in Italy and those investigating Chinese gangs. China denies the allegation. Overall, ever since Giorgia Meloni took office as Prime Minister, Italy has distanced itself from China and declined to renew its Belt and Road Initiative agreement.