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Monday, June 03, 2019, 14:08
BRI response exceeds expectations
By Yu Hongjun
Monday, June 03, 2019, 14:08 By Yu Hongjun

Initiative pursues higher-level interconnectedness among civilizations, countries and peoples

Six years after China first put forward the Belt and Road Initiative, its achievements and the international response to it have been beyond expectations. 

The success of the initiative and its enthusiastic welcome are not only because of the tangible benefits brought about by this unprecedented public good offered by China, including modern infrastructure, industrial parks, projects enhancing people’s livelihoods and growing trade and investment, but also because it represents a new philosophy of cooperation and inclusiveness against the global backdrop of surging conservatism, isolationism, unilateralism and anti-globalization.

The world we live in is undergoing profound changes unseen in the past century. But among numerous contradictions and conflicts, the pursuit of economic development and social progress still remains the mainstream.

The goal of China’s Belt and Road Initiative is not only to make full use of the domestic and international markets to enhance its own development quality and level, but also to seek common and coordinated development with other countries in order to achieve open and cooperative development for all the regions and countries in the world.

This kind of development not only involves infrastructure connectivity and industrial capacity cooperation, it also entails creating synergy among the national strategies, development plans, laws and regulations, ways of conduct, inspection standards and even systems and mechanisms of various countries.

In this way, various nations, countries and regions can transform their own isolated development into interconnected and open development and turn extensive and unstable development into green and sustainable development. Such an outlook on development is a huge leap forward, and it has won widespread approval and is being applied across the world.

Interconnectedness, interdependence, exchanges and cooperation are therefore inevitable trends. 

In the early stage of economic globalization which was dominated by Western countries, economic ties, cultural exchanges and security policy coordination were not cooperation on an equal footing as they were still characterized by prominent imperial and colonial features.

The economic globalization led by developed Western countries after the Cold War ended was still marked by hegemonism and power politics. And it brought developing countries huge suffering and cost them dearly.

In contrast, the Belt and Road Initiative is guided by the new outlook on cooperation and based on mutual respect and fair cooperation for shared opportunities and benefits.

China, following the principle of consultation and collaboration for shared benefits, will not impose its will on others, attach political strings, or force anybody into anything. Instead, it will fully respect the will and choices of its partners, give a decisive role to companies, follow market rules, uphold justice while pursuing shared interests, and always put fairness first.

This new approach to cooperation has delivered tangible results during the execution of Belt and Road projects. China is championing and implementing a new type of cooperation, transcending influence based on geopolitics.

Cooperation, be it bilateral or multilateral, not only accommodates the interests of the cooperating parties, but also that of others. It not only focuses on economic development and people’s livelihoods, but also considers the environment, culture and security factors. It not only promotes the welfare of people living today, but also respects that of future generations.

These concepts are core values of the new type of international cooperation within the Belt and Road Initiative framework, which transcends different social systems, disputes in ideologies, the constraints of geopolitics, and the divides of development stages.

The world is always full of contradictions and conflicts. Nevertheless, civilizations, at different development stages and with different cultures, are interconnected and in constant interaction. So, while promoting the Belt and Road Initiative, China takes a clear stand and proposes a new perspective that stresses cultural diversity as the world’s fundamental feature and the source of human progress.

As for civilizations, there is no such thing as good or bad, advanced or backward. The differences only exist in their characteristics and locations. Civilizational differences should never become a source of conflicts; instead, these should be the propeller of progress for human civilization.

Upholding this new outlook on civilization in the development of the Belt and Road Initiative, China will not follow the old path of the Western powers, which grabbed the international market and plundered other countries’ resources. Nor will it build spheres of influence or seek to impose its own will on others.

Instead of seeking dominance in regional affairs or influence in international matters, the international cooperation proposed and promoted by China in the form of the Belt and Road Initiative pursues interconnectedness at a higher level among different civilizations, countries and peoples.

The ultimate goal is to promote people of various countries to join hands for common prosperity, to work together through thick and thin and build a community with a shared future.

The author is former vice-minister of the International Department of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and an executive member of the Council on China-Russian Strategic Partnership of Coordination at the China Academy of Social Sciences. 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.


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