Global community coalescing
The Belt and Road Initiative has made significant progress and remarkable achievements over the 10 years since it was launched
This year marks the 10th anniversary of the Belt and Road Initiative, a globe-spanning infrastructure development project proposed by President Xi Jinping, which marks a shift in China's relationship with the rest of the international community. It is a mammoth project, which has attracted great attention from all over the world. Since being proposed in 2013, the initiative has gone beyond a vision to become a reality, distributing concrete benefits to countries along the routes. As the initiative advocates tolerance among civilizations and respects different countries' development paths, its integration with domestic priorities has become more systematic year after year, establishing new drivers for shared development. The Belt and Road Initiative stands as the most accountable international platform for international cooperation across six main economic corridors; it also brings huge benefits to the world, particularly to developing countries. Moreover, China's involvement in the Belt and Road Initiative is significant, both in terms of construction projects and investment by Chinese companies.
It is Beijing's main engine for project activity globally, with many roads, railways, ports and other connectivity infrastructure completed, in progress or planned. The initiative is a manifestation of China's magnificent determination to connect Asia, Africa and Europe. The Chinese government has engendered a formula of "infrastructure diplomacy" at the heart of the initiative, which consequently affects the global trade, investment and finance environment in substantial ways. It is precisely the reason that China's Foreign Minister Qin Gang has lately described the initiative as a "global enterprise to build a belt of prosperity and a road to happiness".
By 2023, 151 countries and 32 worldwide organizations are participating in the Belt and Road Initiative, which now spans three continents, touches 60 percent of the world's population that makes 30 percent of the world's GDP and 75 percent of its energy reserves. It should also be pointed out that China's trade in goods with the countries involved in the initiative broke new records in 2022, hitting 13.8 trillion yuan ($2.05 trillion). Since it started, China's cumulative Belt and Road projects have totaled $962 billion — including $573 billion in construction contracts and $389 billion in non-financial investments. Overall, China has embarked on about 200 deals linked to over 3,000 projects. More than 80 overseas economic and trade cooperation zones have been built, and more than 420,000 jobs created for local people.
Countries involved in the Belt and Road Initiative have received, to a great degree, significant investment and infrastructure. Meanwhile, China's foreign direct investment has increased significantly in recent years, accounting for approximately 11 percent of total global direct investment, which was lower than the European Union's share of about 33 percent, nonetheless higher than the US share of about 8.5 percent.
Moreover, we should recognize the fact that the Belt and Road Initiative investments in the EU, explicitly Southern and Eastern European countries, are "win-win "situation. Indeed, China has invested heavily in the Western Balkans and Eastern Europe by investing in ports, including Piraeus in Greece, and financing transport routes. Most noteworthy is the cooperation mechanism between China and CEE countries, which brings together a mix of EU members and candidate countries in Eastern and Southeastern Europe. China's immense Belt and Road Initiative infrastructure has become an imperative locomotive for a new era of trade for European economies.
For example, China has become Greece's sixth-largest source of foreign investment, mainly in transportation, energy, communications, finance and other fields. In the Republic of Cyprus, which has the third-largest merchant fleet in Europe and the 11th largest globally, the Belt and Road Initiative trade reached nearly $1 billion in 2022, a jump of more than 50 percent on the figure of the previous year. Meanwhile, the International Digital Economy College jointly established by the European University Cyprus and Minjiang University of Fujian province is progressing well.
Overall, some European countries evidently benefit from their Belt and Road Initiative links with China. As China continues to accomplish manifold growth, some European societies are optimistic about China's economic prospects and, consequently, remain committed to the Chinese developmental initiatives. Sino-European cooperation is generally viewed as offering enormous prospects and, thus, some European countries are catching up rapidly with the pace of Belt and Road Initiative cooperation.
In light of this situation, it deserves to be mentioned the fact that the Belt and Road Initiative is in alignment with both the provisions of the United Nations Charter and the Chinese government's foreign relations principles on the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence: mutual respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity, mutual non-aggression, non-interference in each other's internal affairs, equality and mutual benefit, and peaceful coexistence. Despite the uncertainties, instabilities, unilateralism and hegemony occurrences that still persist today, China is committed — within the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative and the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence — to deepening the connectedness and cooperation among countries, and fostering concerted contributions to peace, stability and prosperity worldwide.
China is further aligning the Belt and Road Initiative with the UN's 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. In September 2021, President Xi announced the Global Development Initiative at the UN General Assembly, then a few months later the Global Security Initiative and in March the Global Civilization Initiative. All these initiatives are significant to 21st century societies as they pave practical ways to forging robust coexistence and play an inimitable role in advancing the harmonious development of the world fraught with manifold tasks and crises. The four interconnected initiatives reinforce China's image as a responsible great power.
With people worldwide aspiring to peace, development and cooperation, China is promoting strength through unity and the building of a global community with a shared future.
The author is a former director of the European University Cyprus and an ordinary member of the European Academy of Sciences and Arts. The author contributed this article to China Watch, a think tank powered by China Daily. The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.
Contact the editor at editor@chinawatch.cn.
