During the Beijing Winter Olympics, the "Belt and Road" circle of friends welcomed a new partner - China and Argentina signed a memorandum of understanding on the joint construction of the "Belt and Road".
Since the joint construction of the "Belt and Road" initiative was proposed in 2013, after more than 8 years of development, from concept to action, from "freehand brushwork" to "fine brushwork", it has achieved tangible achievements.
Especially in the past two years, under the severe challenges of the new crown pneumonia epidemic, China has adhered to peaceful development, adhered to mutual benefit and win-win results, and worked with partners to build the "Belt and Road" into a road of cooperation that unites to meet challenges and safeguard people's health and safety. The road to health, the road to recovery that promotes economic and social recovery, and the road to growth that unleashes development potential.
This initiative from China that benefits the world continues to flourish, attracting more and more countries to participate.
What dazzling achievements have been made in the joint construction of the "Belt and Road" in the past two years?
In recent years, the circle of friends for jointly building the "Belt and Road" has continued to expand.
Since December 2021 alone, China has signed cooperation documents on the Belt and Road Initiative with Sao Tome and Principe, Cuba, Morocco, Nicaragua, Syria and Argentina.
As of February 6, 2022, China has signed more than 200 cooperation documents on the Belt and Road Initiative with 148 countries and 32 international organizations.
Xu Xiujun: In the past two years, the partnership of jointly building the “Belt and Road” has continued to expand.
Despite being disrupted by the new crown pneumonia epidemic, the joint construction of the "Belt and Road" not only did not press the "pause button", but instead moved forward against the trend.
The cooperation partners of the Belt and Road Initiative have extended from the Eurasian continent to Africa, Latin America, the South Pacific and other regions, and the international cooperation of the Belt and Road Initiative has further demonstrated strong resilience.
At the same time, the cooperation in the joint construction of the "Belt and Road" industrial chain and supply chain has become closer.
In terms of economic and trade cooperation, the scale of trade between China and the countries and regions along the “Belt and Road” has steadily increased, and the scale of investment has grown against the trend.
According to data from the General Administration of Customs, in 2021, China's total trade in goods with countries along the "Belt and Road" will be 11.6 trillion yuan, an increase of 23.6% over the previous year and a new high.
In addition, the joint construction of the "Belt and Road" regional docking presents new highlights.
In June 2021, the "Belt and Road" Asia-Pacific Regional International Cooperation High-level Conference was successfully held, launching the "Belt and Road" Vaccine Partnership Initiative and the "Belt and Road" Green Development Partnership Initiative, in order to deepen Asia-Pacific regional cooperation and high-quality joint construction The Belt and Road Initiative injects new impetus.
Wang Lei: Since the outbreak and continued spread of the COVID-19 epidemic around the world, the joint construction of the "Belt and Road" conforms to the trend of economic globalization, and has provided great help for countries around the world to fight the epidemic and promote cooperation.
First, the Healthy Silk Road promotes the construction of a community of human health.
Under the framework of the Healthy Silk Road, relevant countries exchange epidemic prevention experience, strengthen anti-epidemic cooperation, promote the establishment of a joint prevention and control mechanism for major infectious diseases, and vigorously promote the building of a human health community.
Secondly, the high-quality development of the "Belt and Road" has become the mainstay of resisting the tide of anti-globalization and promoting global cooperation and common development.
In recent years, the trend of "de-globalization" has continued to emerge, and the new crown pneumonia epidemic has further exacerbated this trend.
The joint construction of the "Belt and Road" will unswervingly promote economic globalization, provide an effective and open cooperation platform for global multilateral cooperation and common development, and make great contributions to stabilizing the world economy.
Xie Laihui: After the outbreak of the epidemic, in the context of the sluggish world economic recovery, the joint construction of the "Belt and Road" has shown a trend of rising against the trend, and has been warmly welcomed by relevant countries, especially developing countries.
In carrying out international anti-epidemic cooperation and providing COVID-19 vaccines, the Healthy Silk Road plays an important role and further expands the cooperation connotation of the joint construction of the "Belt and Road".
At the same time, the joint construction of the "Belt and Road" has made improving people's livelihood one of the important goals. A large number of cooperation projects have emerged in relevant countries that meet local development needs and benefit the interests of ordinary people, and have achieved fruitful results in promoting inclusive development.
The joint construction of the "Belt and Road" is also committed to promoting green, low-carbon and sustainable development.
In 2021, China made a solemn promise to the world that no new overseas coal power projects will be built.
Green has become the background color for the joint construction of the "Belt and Road".
In recent years, in the joint construction of the "Belt and Road", environmental protection technology and green industry cooperation projects have been continuously implemented.
In addition, in the field of traditional infrastructure construction, many important large-scale projects such as the China-Laos Railway have been advanced and completed as scheduled.
The China-Europe freight train has effectively smoothed the Asia-Europe supply chain with stable, reliable and efficient logistics services, further showing its strong competitiveness compared with shipping.
Why is the Belt and Road Initiative attractive to countries?
When talking about the signing of the memorandum of understanding between China and Argentina on jointly promoting the construction of the "Belt and Road", the Argentine media "Page Twelve" described this strategic move of Argentina as a significant step, believing that it will bring many benefits to Argentina. Infrastructure works and greater opportunities for exporting goods to China.
According to a research report by the RAND Corporation of the United States, the countries and regions along the "Belt and Road" have improved the level of transportation infrastructure, more prosperous trade exchanges, and accelerated industrialization. "The benefits of participating in the joint construction of the "Belt and Road" are obvious."
Wang Lei: For countries participating in the joint construction of the "Belt and Road", the "Belt and Road" means development opportunities and cooperation potential.
Participating in the joint construction of the "Belt and Road" can take the express train of China's development.
China's commitment to promoting the high-quality development of the Belt and Road Initiative is sincere, and the efforts it has made are real.
All countries realize that by participating in the joint construction of the "Belt and Road", they can promote practical cooperation with China in various fields on a broad platform and share development opportunities with China.
The joint construction of the "Belt and Road" adheres to the principle of "co-consultation, joint contribution and shared benefits", which is the aspiration of the people.
The joint construction of the "Belt and Road" upholds genuine multilateralism, adheres to equal consultation and fully respects the independent choices of all countries, and insists that no political conditions are attached. Share results.
The joint construction of the "Belt and Road" has brought tangible benefits to all participating countries.
Over the past 8 years, the circle of friends who have jointly built the "Belt and Road" has continued to expand, creating a global partnership network of multilateral cooperation; the Healthy Silk Road has provided a platform for countries to join hands to fight the epidemic; the Green Silk Road has effectively promoted participating countries. transformation and upgrading of the economic and industrial structure.
Xu Xiujun: The international community widely recognizes the cooperation concept of jointly building the "Belt and Road".
The principle of "co-consulting, co-construction and sharing" advocates brainstorming, each contributes their strengths, does their best, and shares results. Better safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of all parties, so that all BRI participants have a greater sense of gain.
The mechanism construction provides a strong guarantee for the joint construction of the "Belt and Road".
The Belt and Road Initiative attaches great importance to mechanism building, not only fully consolidating and revitalizing existing bilateral and multilateral cooperation mechanisms, but also creating new mechanisms to make up for the insufficiency of global governance mechanisms.
For example, the "Belt and Road" International Cooperation Summit Forum will provide a platform for dialogue and cooperation to promote global common development; establish the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank and the Silk Road Fund to make up for the deficiencies of the global investment and financing system.
Practical cooperation in key areas has brought tangible benefits to partners in the joint construction of the Belt and Road Initiative.
Over the past eight years, the in-depth development of the joint construction of the "Belt and Road" has played an important role in expanding the economic and trade scale of relevant countries, creating jobs and taxes, and promoting economic growth.
Xie Laihui: In recent years, the joint construction of the "Belt and Road" has attracted attention and popularity around the world, attracting countries from Africa, Latin America and other regions to join in, mainly because the joint construction of the "Belt and Road" reflects China's willingness and willingness to provide public goods to the world. ability.
At present, China is the largest trading partner of more than 120 countries and regions, and is willing to strengthen pragmatic economic and trade cooperation with other countries in various fields, increase foreign investment, and demonstrate its responsibility as the world's second largest economy.
At present, affected by the epidemic, all countries in the world, especially developing countries, are facing the huge challenge of weak economic recovery. They need external investment to inject new impetus into their own development, so as to get out of the predicament as soon as possible.
In this context, cooperation with China under the framework of jointly building the "Belt and Road" is an important development opportunity.
In addition, many traditional advantages of jointly building the “Belt and Road” have been further highlighted.
For example, the development orientation of prioritizing infrastructure construction, the promotion of the Silk Road spirit, and the concept of building a community with a shared future for mankind are all in line with the people's hearts and the development needs of the vast number of developing countries.
What contribution has the joint construction of the "Belt and Road" made to the promotion of global common development?
Today, the "Belt and Road" has become the most popular international public product and the largest international cooperation platform, and the "Belt and Road" cooperation has become the backbone of maintaining economic globalization and free trade, and reforming and improving global governance.
According to the relevant report of the World Bank, by 2030, the joint construction of the "Belt and Road" is expected to help 7.6 million people around the world get rid of extreme poverty and 32 million people from moderate poverty.
Xu Xiujun: Guided by the Silk Road spirit of peaceful cooperation, openness and inclusiveness, mutual learning, and mutual benefit, the Belt and Road Initiative has become a popular international development public product and the largest development cooperation platform.
China has fully communicated and coordinated with relevant countries and international organizations, and has formed a broad consensus on jointly building the Belt and Road Initiative.
The Belt and Road Initiative and its core concepts have been written into relevant documents of the United Nations, G20, APEC, Shanghai Cooperation Organization, Community of Latin American and Caribbean States, League of Arab States, African Union and other international and regional organizations.
The "Belt and Road" is not only an important platform for developing countries to cooperate, but also a major measure to deal with the challenge of "de-globalization".
Different from inward-oriented and closed cooperation, the open cooperation advocated by the joint construction of the “Belt and Road” is an outward-oriented regional or cross-regional cooperation.
The tremendous progress and achievements made by the international community in the joint construction of the Belt and Road Initiative show that in order to address various global problems and challenges and make up for the deficit in global governance, we must first focus on development and solve the development deficit faced by mankind.
Wang Lei: The joint construction of the "Belt and Road" echoes the theme of the times of peace and development, and provides an important path for promoting global cooperation and common development in the midst of great changes unseen in a century.
The joint construction of the "Belt and Road" focuses on pragmatic cooperation, focusing on trade, finance, infrastructure and other fields, conforming to the trend of social informatization, and providing valuable opportunities for developing countries to participate in global economic cooperation and catch up with the trend of economic globalization.
At the same time, the joint construction of the "Belt and Road" has created the most inclusive and open cooperation platform and has become a clear stream for promoting global cooperation.
In the future, the joint construction of the "Belt and Road" will closely follow the development trend of world multi-polarization, economic globalization, social informatization, and cultural diversity, firmly uphold genuine multilateralism, and pay more attention to adapting to the development stages of participating countries. It should focus on refined operation and pursue high-quality development, so that people of all countries can further enhance their sense of gain, happiness and security from participating in the joint construction of the "Belt and Road".
Xie Laihui: For more than 8 years, China has always held high the banner of economic globalization, and has strengthened practical economic and trade cooperation with countries along the route under the framework of jointly building the Belt and Road Initiative.
In the context of the global spread of the new crown pneumonia epidemic, when European and American countries have shrunk their foreign investment, China's investment in countries jointly building the "Belt and Road" has grown against the trend, driving the economic development of the countries along the route, and also prompting developed countries such as the United States to take global development seriously. theme.
In the final analysis, the joint construction of the "Belt and Road" is development-oriented.
In the future, around the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the development of the Belt and Road Initiative in the digital economy, green development and people's livelihood improvement and other related fields deserve attention.
Under the framework of jointly building the "Belt and Road", China's advanced technology and huge market can help developing countries bridge the digital divide, promote energy transformation, and speed up the process of poverty reduction.
Our reporter Yan Yu