▲On August 31, the return train of the China-Europe Express loaded with Turkmenistan licorice traditional Chinese herbal materials arrived at Xi'an International Port Station. (Xinhua News Agency Photo)
Over the past decade, China's door to opening up has become wider and wider. China has proposed the initiative of jointly building the "Belt and Road" to promote the building of a community with a shared future for mankind. The interactive relationship between China and the world has undergone historic evolution. "China continues to carry forward the spirit of partnership, and move forward firmly along the new path of country-to-country exchanges between countries that are dialogue rather than confrontation, and partnership without alliance, and strive to promote the construction of a framework for major-country relations with overall stable and balanced development, deepen relations with neighboring countries, and strengthen unity and cooperation with developing countries in ." The white paper "China and the World in the New Era" gives the answer: China continues to enhance the value of partnership and continuously expands its global circle of friends.
The birth of the "Belt and Road" Moments Circle
On September 7, 2013, President Xi Jinping said in his speech at Nazarbayev University in Kazakhstan that in order to make the economic ties between countries closer, the mutual cooperation is deeper, and the development space is broader, we can use an innovative cooperation model to jointly build the " Silk Road Economic Belt ", and use points to lead the surface, from line to piece, gradually form regional cooperation.
On November 19, 2021, President Xi Jinping emphasized at the third symposium on the construction of the "Belt and Road" that the new development concept of , will be fully, accurately and comprehensively implemented, with the goal of high standards, sustainability and benefiting people's livelihood, consolidate the foundation of interconnected cooperation, expand new space for international cooperation, strengthen the risk prevention and control network, strive to achieve higher cooperation standards, higher investment efficiency, higher supply quality, and higher development resilience, and promote the joint construction of the "Belt and Road" high-quality development to continuously achieve new results.
Since President Xi Jinping proposed the "Belt and Road" initiative in 2013, the circle of friends of the "Belt and Road" has expanded and expanded. China's " Five Connections " concepts have achieved remarkable results. Policy communication provides guarantees for the construction of the "five links" from the top level, allowing China solution to move towards international consensus; facilities connectivity and trade smoothly provide support for the construction of the "five links" under the guidance of the project, build a soft and hard interconnection pattern, promote the facilitation of international trade and investment, and innovate global economic governance; financial connectivity provides financial support for the smooth progress of cooperation; people-to-people communication provides social foundation for it, promote the formation of a situation of mutual learning and cultural integration, and lay a public opinion foundation for deepening bilateral and multilateral cooperation. In the past decade, through the "five links", the construction of the "Belt and Road" has continuously sought points of harmony with the interests of all parties and the greatest common divisor of development, promoted the opening and development of the global economy, and promoted the joint construction of countries to achieve complementary advantages, coordinated development and shared results.
The circle of friends with great potential
(I) In terms of policy communication, the international consensus on jointly building the "Belt and Road" is widely gathered
uphold the principle of consultation, joint construction and sharing, fully communicate and coordinate with the international community, and form a broad consensus on international cooperation. The "circle of friends" has steadily expanded. As of the end of July 2022, China has signed more than 200 cooperation documents on jointly building the "Belt and Road" with 149 countries and 32 international organizations, covering most countries on five continents and major international organizations such as the United Nations. The "Belt and Road" International Cooperation Summit Forum was successfully held, and the scale, content and results of the forum were continuously expanded and enriched. Rules and standards are coordinated and promoted in an orderly manner. The "Standard and Unicom Action Plan for Co-construction of the Belt and Road Initiative (2018-2020)" was issued, and nearly 100 standardized cooperation documents were signed with more than 50 countries and international organizations. Establish and improve the national standard information platform for jointly building the "Belt and Road" and realize the standard information retrieval of 45 countries jointly building the "Belt and Road" and 5 international and regional standardization organizations. Actively participate in the formulation of international standards and release more than 1,000 foreign language versions of Chinese standards.
(II) In terms of facility connectivity, the level of international connectivity continues to improve
"Six corridors, six roads, multiple countries and multiple ports" architecture has basically been formed, and a large number of cooperative projects have been taken root. Infrastructure connectivity is constantly deepening. China-Laos Railway , China-Thailand Railway , Hungary-Serbia Railway , and Jakarta-Bandung High-speed Railway have made positive progress. Piraeus port , Gwadar port , Hambantota port and other cooperative ports are well built and operated. , the construction of natural gas pipelines in China-Russia East Line, and other aspects is progressing steadily. The China-Europe freight train is operated safely, efficiently and smoothly. The China-Europe Express has become a flagship project and star brand for jointly building the "Belt and Road". During the 13th Five-Year Plan period, the China-Europe freight trains were launched in a total of more than 32,000 trains and 2.864 million standard boxes of goods were transported. During the COVID-19 epidemic, China-Europe freight trains grew against the trend, running "acceleration", playing an important role as an important strategic channel.
(III) In terms of smooth trade, economic and trade cooperation has reached a higher level
actively maintains the multilateral trading system, promotes the liberalization and facilitation of trade and investment, and achieves win-win cooperation. Foreign trade and investment have risen steadily. During the 13th Five-Year Plan period, my country's total import and export of goods with countries along the route was close to US$6 trillion, non-financial direct investment in countries along the route exceeded US$77 billion, new contracts signed in countries along the route exceeded US$692 billion, and the completed turnover of contracted projects was nearly US$440 billion. Faced with the impact of the new crown pneumonia epidemic, my country's trade and investment with countries along the route have grown against the trend, providing strong impetus for promoting the recovery of the world economy. The trade and investment environment is constantly being optimized. Launch the "Initiative for Promoting the Smooth Trade Cooperation of the Belt and Road Initiative". Three China International Import Expo were successfully held, actively opening up the market to the world. Signed the " Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement " (RCEP). The negotiations on the China-EU Investment Agreement were completed as scheduled. Deepen Silk Road e-commerce cooperation and promote the construction of a comprehensive cross-border e-commerce pilot zone.
(IV) In terms of financial and financial communication, the diversified investment and financing system has gradually improved
Focusing on promoting the construction of a long-term, stable, sustainable and controllable diversified financing system, providing sufficient and safe financial guarantees for the joint construction of the "Belt and Road" project. Effective guarantee of construction funds. The financial departments of 29 countries jointly approved the "Guiding Principles for Financing of the Belt and Road". Release the "Belt and Road Debt Sustainability Analysis Framework" and establish the Multilateral Development and Financing Cooperation Center (MCDF). Banks and insurance institutions such as Development Bank, Export-Import Bank, and China Credit Insurance Corporation provide financial support for the joint construction of the "Belt and Road" project. The internationalization of the RMB is progressing steadily and prudently. A total of more than 20 countries jointly built the "Belt and Road" have established bilateral local currency swap arrangements. RMB clearing arrangements have been established in more than 10 countries jointly building the "Belt and Road" initiative. The RMB Cross-border Payment System (CIPS) service has covered more than 70 countries jointly built the "Belt and Road" initiative.
(V) In terms of people's mutual understanding, the public opinion foundation has been continuously consolidated
To jointly build the "Belt and Road" countries to strengthen exchanges on cultural exchanges, public health, ecological and environmental protection, etc., bringing a greater sense of gain, happiness and security to people of all countries. Cultural exchanges and cooperation are further deepened. Two batches of 33 "Belt and Road" joint laboratories have been established. The "Belt and Road" Science and Technology Innovation Action Plan has trained more than 5,000 trainees. Continue to implement the " Silk Road " China Government Scholarship project. Solidly advance the protection of Asian cultural heritage. The construction of a healthy and green Silk Road is further promoted. Foreign medical teams have been sent to more than 50 countries in Asia, Africa, Latin America and Europe, and continue to carry out activities such as "Travel of Light" and "Travel of Love". Actively maintain close communication with the World Health Organization and relevant countries and regions, and provide emergency assistance to more than 120 countries and 11 international organizations to jointly build the "Belt and Road" and 11 international organizations. The "Belt and Road" Green Development International Alliance has been established. At present, more than 150 Chinese and foreign institutions have partners to establish the "Belt and Road" Green Development International Research Institute. Release three action initiatives: green lighting, green efficient refrigeration, and green going global.
More and more friends likes and comments
In the past decade, the "Belt and Road" initiative has changed from concept to practice, from blueprint to reality, becoming a popular global public product, injecting strong impetus into the world economy opening up and global free trade.China not only "sells the world", but also "buys the world" and "benefits the world", making the Chinese market a world market, a shared market, and a market for everyone, injecting more positive energy into the international community. Today, a series of international economic and trade events such as Canton Fair, Consumer Expo , Trade Fair, and CIIE have formed a strong matrix, building an international platform for all countries to share opportunities and expand exchanges; 21 free trade pilot zones and Hainan Free Trade Port have formed a pilot pattern covering east, west, south, north and middle, and "each displays its magical powers" are "exploring the way" to open up to the outside world.
In the past year, the construction of the China-Russia Tongjiang Railway Bridge has started, and the second phase upgrade and renovation project of the Karakoram Highway in China-Pakistan and the construction project of the East Bay Expressway in Gwadar Port have been progressing smoothly. Major projects such as the China-Laos Railway have been steadily promoted and completed as scheduled. The competitiveness of China-Europe freight trains exceeds that of maritime transportation, becoming the main transportation artery for the transportation of epidemic prevention materials and promoting economic recovery, and making outstanding contributions to stabilizing the global supply chain. At the same time, the China-Myanmar natural gas pipeline, the China-Central Asia natural gas pipeline line C, and the D-line started construction. Power station cooperation projects in some Central Asian countries, and industrial park cooperation projects in Russia, India, Malaysia, , Indonesia, , , Belarus, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , and other countries have laid a solid foundation for promoting the construction of the "Belt and Road". The rapidly progressing interconnection projects such as transportation, logistics, information channels, and international routes have opened up the bloodline to promote the construction of the "Belt and Road". Under the COVID-19 pandemic, China has promoted the construction of a community with a shared future for mankind, provided epidemic prevention materials and vaccines to countries in need through the "Belt and Road" platform, and continuously expanded the new connotation of the "Belt and Road" as an important platform for global development cooperation with practical actions.
"The Silk Road has played an important role in history, and has made exchanges and trade exchanges on various continents important developments, and we have also benefited a lot from it. We call for further promoting economic and trade exchanges in various countries." said Prince Saud, Chairman of , Saudi Basic Industrial Company.
China-Thailand Railway Construction Cooperation, which lasted for several years, finally made substantial progress, and the Thai National Legislative Assembly approved the draft Memorandum of Understanding on China-Thailand Railway Cooperation. "We can get better development opportunities through cooperation with China," said Thai Prime Minister Prayut.
In the five Central Asian countries and Mongolia, leaders and major officials of various countries affirmed the positive significance of the construction of the "Belt and Road" to the economic development of their own countries and Central Asia through bilateral visits and official documents, and expressed their positive attitude of responding and participating in cooperation with specific projects of the "Belt and Road". So far, nearly 60 countries have expressed their support among the countries along the "Belt and Road" including China, and have also received support from many international organizations such as ASEAN , EU , and the Arab League.
"Great countries should participate in great causes, and the Belt and Road Initiative is a truly great and historical cause." Robert Homaz, former US Deputy Secretary of State and vice chairman of Kissinger Consulting, commented on China's "Belt and Road Initiative" plan in this way.
Singapore Lianhe Zaobao published an article saying that the "Belt and Road" will promote the economic and social development of countries along the route. Most of its coasts are developing countries, even poor countries. For a long time to come, these countries urgently need to develop and get rid of poverty. Among all major countries, only China has the ability to implement large-scale development plans to help them develop.
(Text/Reporter Yang Bingxin of this magazine)
(This article was first published in Hong Kong's " Economic Herald " published on October 16, 2022, total 3,528 issues)
