Rocco LaCorte (Italy)

The "Belt and Road" is a new engine to boost world development
 

 

Rocco LaCorte (Italy)

Associate Professor of Nankai University

 

The Silk Road is an important step for ancient China to move towards the world. By taking advantage of the interconnection between Chinese civilization and world civilization, it has a long history. This passage has witnessed the trade and people to people exchanges between Eurasia for thousands of years. In the new era, China has inherited and carried forward the "Silk Road Spirit" and creatively put forward the "Belt and Road" initiative based on the principle of "jointly discussing, jointly building and sharing". This unprecedented huge cooperation plan is based on the principle of genuine multilateralism, fully respects the sovereign security, development interests and cultural traditions of all countries, and promotes cooperation and integration of different countries and regions in various fields such as economy, culture, science and technology.

The "Belt and Road" has created a more inclusive globalization. In recent years, some western observers still have a prejudice against China that "a strong country will dominate", but the "Belt and Road" is diametrically opposed to those who insist on the "China threat". The "Belt and Road" is inherently inclusive, and its world outlook pursues harmonious coexistence and interdependence of the world's people. The ultimate goal is to build a community of shared future for mankind with the people of all countries. China has always demonstrated to the world its consistent position of maintaining peace, adhering to openness, coordinated development and shared prosperity. China's development can inject strong impetus into world prosperity; In turn, the peace and development of other countries in the world can also create a better external environment for China's development. The wave of world development is unstoppable. China's "Belt and Road" is an agreement of the times, a win-win road, a promise of China, and a general trend of globalization.

The "Belt and Road" has enabled the long-term development of developing countries. As soon as the Belt and Road Initiative was proposed, it was warmly welcomed and positively responded by developing countries. These countries have also become the biggest beneficiaries under the "Belt and Road" framework. For example, the people of Laos, with the help of Chinese experts and nearly 20000 skilled workers, have successfully built modern hospitals, schools and power plants, and built the China Laos Railway, which stretches thousands of miles across mountains and rivers. This friendship railway from Kunming, Yunnan, China to Vientiane, the capital of Laos, is more than 1000 kilometers long, passing 301 bridges and 167 tunnels, with a design speed of 160 kilometers per hour, and will be completed and opened to traffic in December 2021. This railway has enabled Laos to enter the "era of high-speed railway", and since then, it has "changed from a land locked country to a land linked country". The economic development of the regions along the line has been accelerating. In particular, during the construction of the China Laos Railway, the Chinese technical team paid special attention to environmental protection, reasonably avoided the possible negative impacts on the residents and ecology along the line at all stages of the scheme design, and finally made the China Laos High Speed Railway a "brand project", more importantly, a "popular project". Laos has not only gained modern infrastructure, but also learned China's advanced technology and experience.

The Belt and Road Initiative helps developing countries solve financing problems. According to relevant reports, the global infrastructure investment demand reached 94 trillion US dollars. If this trend continues, developing countries will fall into a dead cycle of "no money, no construction, no infrastructure, no development opportunities". In order to help developing countries obtain the necessary funds at the initial stage of development, China has taken the lead in establishing the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, promoting international financial cooperation with the multilateral system, and developing more adaptable and flexible financing schemes; The Asian Investment Bank, the BRICS New Development Bank and the Silk Road Fund have become the main channels for international investment and financing. In 2018, the China Silk Road Fund and the European Investment and Development Bank jointly established the China EU Common Fund, which further improved the systematic construction of the "Belt and Road" international financial cooperation. Thanks to this, various key projects along the "Belt and Road" have been successfully promoted. For example, Anakria Deep Sea Port and the local special economic zone jointly funded by China and Georgia are expected to have a cargo handling capacity of more than 100 million tons by 2025, which will strongly stimulate the local economic development.

The "Belt and Road" has found a way out for the countries along the Belt and Road to reduce poverty. The research of the World Bank shows that the investment related to the "Belt and Road" can help more than 34 million people get rid of moderate poverty, including 29.4 million people living in countries and regions along the line. Driven by the "Belt and Road", the foreign economic and trade cooperation of the countries along the Belt and Road has continued to grow, and China's investment scale has increased year by year, employing hundreds of thousands of local workers. With the support of Chinese capital and technology, the industrial structure of the countries along the line has become more complete, and the superior production capacity has been revealed. "Poverty alleviation by industry" is no longer an empty word for the local people. At the same time, the digital "Belt and Road" cooperation has also blossomed in the countries along the Belt and Road, and the digital trade dominated by e-commerce has achieved vigorous development.

In addition to its outstanding contribution to fighting poverty, the Chinese government has closely coordinated the epidemic prevention mechanism with countries along the "Belt and Road", shared epidemic prevention information, provided medical supplies and technical equipment for many countries, and sent a number of medical teams to support epidemic prevention at a critical moment when the new coronal pneumonia epidemic is raging around the world. All these have made more countries see that viruses have no borders, epidemics do not distinguish races, and mankind is a community of shared destiny.

The "Belt and Road" initiative is undoubtedly a model of South South cooperation. China is a positive force in promoting the economic and social development of developing countries, especially African countries. China Africa cooperation contributes Chinese wisdom and experience to local development and helps African countries achieve real self-reliance. As the economic benefits brought by the "Belt and Road" continue to show, more and more developing countries will be attracted to participate in it, and the cooperation landscape will continue to expand. No matter how the West obliterates China's positive contribution to the development of the world, the "Belt and Road" is undoubtedly a high-profile example of South South cooperation.