It has been 10 years since Xi Jinping put forward the Belt and Road Initiative in 2013. During this period, China has established excellent economic and trade cooperation with countries along the “Belt and Road,” and the promotion of the initiative has yielded fruitful results. It not only supported the socio-economic development of emerging economies and developing countries along the routes, but also actively enhanced China’s role and responsibility in global governance. The third Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation held by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in Beijing from 17 to 18 October this year, was attended by leaders from more than 130 countries. This demonstrates that the promotion of the Belt and Road Initiative has won the recognition and support of the international community, and has brought about subtle changes and impacts to the international political and economic landscapes.
In 2013, the CCP General Secretary Xi Jinping, put forward the idea of jointly building the “Silk Road Economic Belt” and the “21st Century Maritime Silk Road. It was promoted to the level of a national development strategy at the Third Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee in November 2013 and from 2014 onward saw the “Belt and Road” move from concept to specific construction projects. In 2014, the CCP conducted research and planning for this development strategy, and initiated the establishment of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) and the Silk Road Fund (SRF). The latter which the CCP announced to be set up with a capital of US$40 billion on 8 November. Since then, the Belt and Road Initiative has become a key task in the CCP’s economic work.
In the report of the 20th CCP National Congress in October 2022, a special chapter was devoted to “accelerating the construction of a new development pattern and striving to promote high-quality development”, which called for “promoting a high level of openness to the outside world”, and emphasized “promoting the high-quality development of building the ‘Belt and Road.’” In the CCP’s “Initiatives and Actions” published by the State Council in September this year, “promoting the high-quality construction of the Belt and Road’” and “implementing the ‘Three Global Initiatives’” are listed as the objectives and way of development.
For the CCP, the Belt and Road Initiative has profound political and economic implications, mainly: First, to create new points of economic growth for the sustainable development of China’s economy. Second, to enhance cooperation with neighboring Asia-Pacific countries in order to maintain regional peace and stability. Third, to promote as an international currency. Fourth, to promote the transformation of the CCP’s foreign aid and create a new cooperation platform for the development of new “South-South cooperation.” Fifth, to accelerate the reform of China’s economic, trade and financial systems to speed up its global integration with the launch of the Pilot Free Trade Zone. Sixth, to defuse the adverse impact of the US’ Pivot to Asia and its rebalancing act in the Asia-Pacific region.
In terms of external development strategy, the Belt and Road Initiative aims to strengthen international cooperation by complementing with each other’s development strategies to promote common development. Specifically, the “Belt” starts from Chongqing, Shaanxi and Gansu, traveling through Xinjiang, Kazakhstan, Russia and Eastern Europe to the German port city of Duisburg, while the “Road” runs along the East China Sea and South China Sea, crosses the Strait of Malacca, passes through Sri Lanka, and enters the Mediterranean Sea from the Red Sea, and finally ends in Duisburg.
In fact, according to the CCP’s plan, the key direction of this development strategy is to build a number of international economic cooperation corridors on land by relying on major international routes and using key economic and trade and industrial parks as platforms for cooperation; and to build smooth, safe and efficient transport corridors on the sea by relying on key port cities. Obviously, the CCP’s development strategy of the Belt and Road is based its economic spatial pattern, with a view to build integrated hub cities, and focus on highways, railways, ports and maritime transport. This is to enhance the connectivity and convenience of Asia’s infrastructural facilities.
In the 10 years after the establishment of the Belt and Road Initiative, the CCP has deepened its policy communication with the countries along the route to promote cooperation in economic and trade related areas. As of June 2023, China has signed more than 200 cooperation documents with more than 150 countries and 30 international organizations across the five continents.
In terms of external trade, from 2013 to 2022, the total value of imports and exports between China and the countries along the route is US$19.1 trillion, with an average annual growth rate of 6.4%. In 2022, the total value of imports and exports between China and the countries along the route is nearly US$2.9 trillion, which accounts for 45.4% of the total value of foreign trade during the same period, representing an increase of 6.2% compared to that of 2013. In terms of investment, from 2013 to 2022, the non-financial two-way direct investment between China and the co-establishment countries exceeds US$270 billion, and the newly signed contracts and turnover of contracted projects with the co-establishment countries exceed US$1.2 trillion and US$80 billion respectively.
In terms of financial exchanges and cooperation, the CCP has also provided the Belt and Road with a fairly strong impetus for development. As of June 2023, the Silk Road Fund has signed a total of 75 investment projects, with a committed investment amount of about $22.04 billion. The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank has 106 members and has approved 227 investment projects, with a total investment of $53.6 billion in areas such as transport, energy, public health, etc.
As for the China-Europe Railway Express, otherwise known as the steel camel caravan linking Asia and Europe, the cumulative number of trips has exceeded 20,000. The Yiwu-Xinjiang Alashankou border crossing- Kazakhstan-Russia-Belarus-Poland-Germany-France-Spain line and the line connecting to the Yangtze River Delta have cumulatively operated more than 20,000 train trips carrying more than 2 million TEUs of cargo.
In terms of connectivity, the “Six Corridors, Six Roads, Multiple Countries and Multiple Ports” framework has basically taken shape over the past 10 years. The “Six Corridors” refer to the China-Mongolia-Russia, New Eurasia Land Bridge, China-Central Asia-West Asia, China-Indochina Peninsula, China-Pakistan, and Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar Economic Corridors. The “Six Roads” refer to the interconnection of railways, highways, waterways, airways, pipelines and information highways. The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor has injected strong momentum into Pakistan’s economic and social development over the past 10 years; the China-Laos Railway has transformed Laos from a landlocked country into a land-connected one; the Jakarta–Bandung high-speed railway has become the first railway in Southeast Asia to achieve a speed of 350 km per hour; and the Mombasa–Nairobi Standard Gauge Railway has boosted the Kenyan economy by more than 2%.
At the first Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation held in Beijing from 14 to 15 May 2017, Xi Jinping delivered a speech entitled “Work Together to Build the Silk Road Economic Belt and The 21st Century Maritime Silk Road.” The second Forum was held in Beijing from 25 to 27 April 2019, and under the theme of “building and sharing a clean Silk Road,” the Forum emphasized that “in pursuing Belt and Road cooperation, everything should be done in a transparent way, and should have zero tolerance for corruption.” Xi Jinping delivered a keynote speech entitled “Working Together to Deliver a Brighter Future for Belt and Road Cooperation.”
The third Forum was held in Beijing from 17 to 18 October 2023, with the theme of “High-quality Belt and Road Cooperation: Together for Common Development and Prosperity.” The Forum included an Opening Ceremony, three high-level Forums on connectivity, green development and digital economy, as well as six thematic Forums on trade facilitation, people-to-people exchanges, think-tank exchanges, clean Silk Road, local cooperation and marine cooperation, as well as an Entrepreneurs’ Conference.
On 18 October, Xi Jinping delivered a keynote speech entitled “Building an Open, Inclusive and Interconnected World for Common Development” at the opening ceremony, stressing that “humankind is a community with a shared future” and that “the Silk Road spirit of peace and cooperation, openness and inclusiveness, mutual learning and mutual benefit is the most important source of strength” in the pursuit of common development. He also announced the following eight actions in support of high-quality Belt and Road Initiative: First, to build a multi-dimensional Belt and Road connectivity network. Second, to support an open world economy. Third, to carry out practical cooperation. Fourth, to promote green development. Fifth, to advance scientific and technological innovation. Sixth, to support people-to-people exchanges. Seventh, to promote integrity-based Belt and Road cooperation. Eighth, to strengthen institutional building for international Belt and Road cooperation. Finally, Xi stressed that China will continue to host the Forum and establish a secretariat for it.
The Forum is a large-scale home-grown diplomatic event hosted by the CCP in the midst of an easing covid-19 epidemic, a world economy that still lacks a stimulus of growth, a Russian-Ukrainian war that exacerbates the disruption of global industrial chain, and an Israeli-Palestinian war that adds unpredictability to global peace and stability. These contribute to the following characteristics of the Forum:
First, in line with the theme of “High-quality Belt and Road Cooperation,” the CCP has proposed several initiatives and actions, which is expected to give a strong impetus to international cooperation in various fields.
Second, the concept of open, green and clean cooperation, and with clean as an intrinsic requirement and a necessary condition, is conducive to the efficient operation of funds and projects, and the implementation of various co-operation initiatives.
Third, green, digital and ocean are the focus of this year’s Forum. From the setting of green development and digital economy as high-level Forums, and the inclusion of marine cooperation in the thematic Forums for the first time, places an emphasis on sustainable blue economy, protection of marine ecosystems, and promotion of marine science and technology innovation.
Lastly, government’s finance is an issue of concern to the Forum. Given the sluggishness of the international economy in the wake of the corona virus outbreak, which severely impact developing countries and put heavy pressure on government debt, the need to alleviate this predicament is a serious issue that all participating countries must face.
(Wei-Ai, Director, Center of Cross-Straits Political and Economic Affairs, National Chengchi University)
(Translated to English by Chen Cheng-Yi)
