The House Foreign Affairs Committee convened an informal hearing with representatives from the State Department and the US National Security Council. "A high-level delegation that honored us with its presence and with which we were able to address various issues, in view of the G7 under the Italian presidency," M5S MP Federica Onori told 9colonne. The themes covered included freedom of navigation in the South China Sea, security and resilience of supply chains, with a particular emphasis on vital commodities and the so-called "rare earths." "We are holding a series of hearings on the geopolitical consequences of the procurement of these important materials as part of the 2030 Agenda Committee, which I chair," adds the MP, who leads the M5S group in the Foreign Affairs Committee. "It was an important meeting; it is critical to have the Parliament involved in bilateral relations with such a significant country as the United States. The meeting of the US delegation with Italian parliamentarians also addressed the issue of artificial intelligence in the relationship between liberal-democratic and autocratic countries, as well as competitiveness and manufacturing industry, supply chains, and interdependence between countries". Finally, peace and security were among the hotly debated subjects at the hearing: "The role of deterrence was stressed," argues Onori, "that is, the ability to act ahead of the possibility of conflict breaking out. The references, of course, were to the Russian-Ukrainian conflict and the potential of Indo-Pacific destabilization, with China playing a significant role in this regard."
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