The Belt and Road Initiative Results from the Advancing of Our Times

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The Belt and Road Initiative Results from the Advancing of Our Times

The Belt and Road Initiative is a positive exploration for new models of global development and governance

“If one is to achieve success, he should have good timing, a good location, and the right people.”The Belt and Road Initiative has been proposed by China as the international structure is changing and world economy is developing. The Initiative conforms to the trends of multipolarization, economic globalization, and the information age and it will help promote the orderly and free flow of economic factors, efficient allocation of resources and in-depth integration of markets. For some time, the world economy has witnessed a slow recovery, weak demand, differentiated development, and generally high downward pressure. Problems arising from development are widespread and severe. The world has seen intertwined risks, which would include low growth, low inflation, low demand; and high unemployment, heavy debt, and too many bubbles.

In response to the problems and challenges faced by the world economy, and to seek new impetus for development, countries need to find new sources of growth, and break the bottlenecks constraining economic development. Underdeveloped infrastructure is one major bottleneck restricting the development of the regional economy, the lack of funding for infrastructure construction another. The implementation of the Belt and Road Initiative will help promote the coordination of economic policies of the countries concerned, promote broader and deeper regional cooperation, and create an open, inclusive, and balanced regional economic cooperation framework with shared benefits. It will unite the forces of various parties, build connectivity, broaden sources of income and reduce expenditure, create new sources of growth, revitalize economies, and achieve win-win outcome. Therefore, international cooperation to jointly build the Belt and Road can be regarded as positive exploration of new models of global development and governance.

Since the financial crisis, the global economy has entered a “new normal,”which is characterized by a low growth rate and structural readjustment, and the development of developed economies and emerging economies has slowed or even come to a stop. However, there are still opportunities. For example, according to Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), from 2010 to 2030, global demand for infrastructure investment will be as high as $53 trillion. As the international financial system is in a period of low and even negative interest rates, investment costs will be reduced accordingly. The context of high demand and low costs can be an opportunity for China’s overseas investment.

The Belt and Road Initiative reflects China’s need to deepen reform and open itself up in an all-round manner

After more than 30 years of hard work, China’s pace of development and construction achievements are remarkable. Now the world’s secondlargest economy, China is achieving in-depth integration with other countries in terms of markets, resources, energy, and investment. Accordingly, its mode of development is being upgrading to another level. At this stage in its development, it is natural that China’s growth rate has entered its own “new normal.”It includes three features: shifting from rapid growth to medium-high growth, from extensive growth relying on scale and speed to intensive growth emphasizing quality and efficiency, and transitioning from investment-driven development to innovation-driven development. China is taking the initiative to both adapt to this “new normal”and guide it. It is taking active steps to change its development approach and readjust its economic structure, and it has become more resolved to deepen reform and opening-up.

The Belt and Road Initiative is in keeping with the structural changes of China’s regions carrying out opening-up. The historic journey of reform and opening-up started with the establishment of special economic zones. During the early stages, the emphasis was on the coastal areas in southeast China, making Guangdong, Fujian, Jiangsu, Zhejiang provinces and Shanghaithe first beneficiaries. As the process has developed, greater gaps and even imbalances have appeared between the country’s eastern, central and western regions. The Belt and Road, the Silk Road Economic Belt in particular, mainly extends to West Asia and Europe through western China, which is bound to bring major restructuring and changes to the regional pattern of China’s opening-up. It will promote the development of the vast areas of central and western China, which account for two-thirds of the country, while making the western and eastern regions share the heavy tasks of the country’s opening-up.

The Belt and Road Initiative is in line with the trend of transformation of reforms and opening-up as well as the transfer of international industries. At the beginning of reform and opening-up, China’s priority was on introducing foreign capital, technology and management models. From 1979 to 2012, there were 763,278 foreign-invested projects, with investment reaching $1,276,108,000,000.1Resource from China National Statistics Yearbook.In a way, developed countries implemented international industrial transfer to China. Now, after decades of focus and hard work, the Chinese economy has entered into a new development stage. First, China has changed from a net capital importer to a net capital exporter. In 2014, the scale of China’s direct overseas investment exceeded $100 billion.2“2014 Nian Zhongguo Duiwai Zhijie Touzi Shouci Tupo Qianyi Meiyuan”[The Scale of China’s Direct Overseas Investment Exceeded $100 billion for the first time in 2014], http://finance.chinanews.com/ cj/2015/01-16/6977506.shtml.Second, China possesses the ability to export factors of production. If quality yet excessive production capacity can be exported as China transfers its industries abroad, developing countries and regions along the Belt and Road can benefit from China’s high-speed development—the world has nurtured China, now China is giving back.

The Belt and Road Initiative also conforms to the sustainable and indepth development of China’s reform and opening-up. After more than 30 years of reform and opening-up, the Chinese economy is changing from “bringing-in”to a combination of “bringing-in”and “going-out.”Sustainabledevelopment can only be achieved if China sticks to opening-up and deeply integrates itself into the world economy. There is a dialectical relationship between reform and opening-up. The reform process is not merely or simply from inside to outside. In fact, the process of opening-up can exert outside impetus to China for further domestic inside reform. Building the Belt and Road with other countries will help China construct a new pattern of opening-up in an all-round manner. While the global economy is undergoing slow recovery, all parties in the region can complement and reinforce each other through their cooperation, achieve the effect of “1+1>2,”and add momentum to the world economy.

To jointly build the Belt and Road is in keeping with the fundamental interests of all parties

The construction of the Belt and Road will connect the continents of Asia, Europe, Africa as well as neighboring oceans, greatly enhancing the connectivity of all parties. This connectivity will be all-dimensional and multi-level. Countries along the Belt and Road may choose whether to join. By aligning their development strategies with each other, diversified, balanced and sustainable development can be achieved. Through all-round connectivity, the Belt and Road can fully exchange information, explore market potential within and outside a region, create demand, increase employment, promote investment, expand consumption, and promote cultural exchanges and mutual learning among people along the routes.

An important goal of the Belt and Road Initiative is to ensure the sustainable development of all the economies involved. Instead of seizing existing resources, it will focus on creating and adding more value. As one of the founders of the existing international order, China has benefited from it and, in turn, makes contributions to it. At the same time, China is also a participant and promoter in the ongoing reforms of the international order. China advocates reforms, but this does not mean it wants to completely abandon the existing international order and systems and start all over. Rather, China upholds innovation and improvement, and promotes democracy ininternational relations and rule of law in global governance, so as to make the world more equal, harmonious, and secure. The international order must also keep pace with the times, which means some unreasonable elements need to be changed. For example, the international financial rules based on the Bretton Woods system were established by the United States and other Western developed countries, which contained elements that need to be reformed. By launching the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), the BRICS New Development Bank and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Development Bank, China is giving full play to comparative advantages, promoting “incremental reform,”and making targeted steps to contribute to the international economic order in a positive way.

The Belt and Road Initiative will meet the needs of various countries as they carry out economic restructuring. In the early stage of China’s openingup, developed countries and regions were the main targets. Today, many developing countries are also facing with what China has experienced. The construction of the Belt and Road can help them construct infrastructure including roads, bridges, ports and airports, carry out ports renovation, airline upgrading and shipping capacity improvement. It can also help them develop manufacturing and processing industries, such as textiles, garments, household appliances, car manufacturing, iron and steel production and electric power generation. This also meets China’s need to upgrade its industrial structure. Some products no longer have price advantages in China. These industries may embrace a new life if moved to regions with lower production costs. In the process, relevant countries can also achieve industrial development.

The Connotations and Extension of the Belt and Road Initiative

Philosophy and mechanism of cooperation

First, peaceful cooperation for mutual benefits and win-win results. The Belt and Road Initiative proposed by China upholds the philosophy of “wide consultation, joint contribution and shared benefits”and is aimed at win-win cooperation that promotes common development and prosperity. China is committed to advancing a new type of international relations featuring cooperation, friendship and to achieve mutual benefits. The goal of the Belt and Road Initiative is to forge “three-in-one”international relations that combine a community of shared interests, a community of shared destiny and community of shared responsibilities. In keeping with the times, the overall idea and practice of the Belt and Road Initiative have reflected the converging interests between China and other countries.

Second, political mutual trust and economic integration. The Belt and Road are “public goods”China is presenting to the international community. Based on, but not limited to, the scope of the ancient Silk Road, all countries, as well as international and regional organizations, can participate in the initiative on a voluntary basis. Countries, inside or outside this region, can combine their comparative advantages and give full play to their respective capacities. The Belt and Road will realize the overall revitalization of Asia, and gradually exert a positive influence beyond the region, thus forging a wider road for business, trade and economic development.

Third, openness, inclusiveness and mutual help. One of the ideas of the Silk Road Economic Belt is to “start with work in individual areas and then link them up.”This is drawn from China’s experience of reform and openingup. Efforts will be made to facilitate land-ocean interaction and east-west coordination, take into account the interests and concerns of all parties, and seek converging interests and best results from cooperation. The “one-sizefits-all”approach is not an option, and the different development stages and economic demands of all countries along the routes will be fully taken into consideration. Efforts will be made to seek common ground while shelving differences, and the development paths and choice of development model of all countries will be respected.

Fourth, mutual learning and borrowing, and strategy alignment. The roles of existing bilateral and multilateral cooperation mechanisms will be given full play. Rather than starting all over again and replacing existing regional mechanisms and initiatives, efforts will be made to build uponexisting mechanisms, take inclusive approaches to learn from each others’advantages and make up for one’s own shortcomings, reinforce each other, gather wisdom and innovative ideas from all countries’, and make the most of their respective advantages and potentials. It is also important to launch marketable products, align with appropriate local programs, introduce applicable technologies and managerial expertise, and establish new cooperative mechanisms which are multi-level, multi-format and compatible with one another.

Fifth, integration of man, land and ocean. The Belt and Road are new Silk Roads of peace and friendship and, like the ancient Silk Road, they can promote understanding and trust and strengthen all-round exchanges. With economic cooperation being the principle axis and supported by cultural and people-to-people exchanges, the Belt and Road Initiative is of great significance in the new era. In country-to-country communications, the Belt and Road will help promote dialogue and integration between different civilizations, demonstrate the spirit of peace, friendship, openness, inclusiveness, mutual benefit and win-win cooperation, nourish intangible cultural heritages that belong to the world, and make new and unique contributions to the peace, development and cooperation of the world.

Routes of the Belt and Road

The Belt and Road run through the continents of Asia, Europe and Africa, forming a huge region for all-round economic cooperation. At one end is the vibrant East Asia economic circle, at the other the well-developed European economic circle. In the middle are the inland countries with huge potential for development. The Belt and Road Initiative has identified five major strategic directions for Asian and European regional cooperation. An important task of the Silk Road Economic Belt is to extend the routes from China to Europe (the Baltic Sea) covering Central Asia and Russia, from China to the Persian Gulf and the Mediterranean Sea covering Central Asia and West Asia, and from China to Southeast Asia, South Asia, and the Indian Ocean. The 21st Century Maritime Silk Road mainly starts fromChina’s coastal ports through the South China Sea to the Indian Ocean, and further to Europe and from China’s coastal areas through the South China Sea to South Pacific.

The five strategic directions are supported by some economic corridors and a number of maritime pivots: On land, the initiative relies on major international channels, takes key economic and trade industrial parks as cooperation platforms, and strives to forge six corridors for economic cooperation. These are the New Eurasian Land Bridge, the China-Mongolia-Russia Economic Corridor, the Central Asia-West Asia Economic Corridor, the Indo-China Peninsula Economic Corridor, the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor and the Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar Economic Corridor. With influence on surrounding regions, these economic corridors have extended and transcended traditional theories on development.

Throughout history, the old Maritime Silk Road comprised three main routes: The eastern route is from Chinese ports to Korea and Japan; the southern route is from Chinese ports to Southeast Asian countries; and the western route is from Chinese ports to South Asia, Arabia and countries along the coasts of East Africa. With much larger coverage, the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road will establish a market chain connecting ASEAN, South Asia, West Asia, North Africa and Europe, and develop an economic belt for strategic cooperation that opens to the South China Sea, Pacific Ocean and Indian Ocean, with the long-term goal of economic and trade integration among Asia, Europe and Africa. Located at the crossroads of the Maritime Silk Road, ASEAN will play an important role as a transport hub. The 21st Century Maritime Silk Road will be supported by key ports. For example, in South Asia and Southeast Asia, these can include Chittagong in Bangladesh, Gwadar in Pakistan, Hambantota of Sri Lanka, Kyaukpyu in Myanmar, and Bitung in Indonesia.

The Belt and Road Initiative continues to be enriched and improved. For example, South Africa has demonstrated great enthusiasm for the initiative, proposing the concrete concepts of 2D’s (connecting Durban with Dares Salaam) and 2C’s (connecting Cape Town and Cairo). It hopes tobecome the hub for the development of Africa by seizing the opportunities presented by the Belt and Road Initiative. And, after the devastating earthquake in April 2015, Nepal discussed with China about jointly building the Arniko Highway. All in all, based on the general plan of the Belt and Road Initiative, China will consult with countries along the routes, and allow enterprises to make the final decisions according to their investment willingness and market demand.

Scope of cooperation

All-round cooperation includes five factors of connectivity: policy communication is an important guarantee; connectivity of infrastructure is a priority; investment and trade cooperation is an important content; monetary circulation is an essential support; and understanding between peoples is the foundation.

As the Belt and Road Initiative has been advanced from top-level design to practical operation, the five factors of connectivity have further developed into eight areas of concrete cooperation:

First, infrastructure. Infrastructure includes roads, railways, aviation, telecommunications, electric power (including nuclear power) and urban public facilities. Regions along the Belt and Road have strong demands for infrastructure. China will strengthen cooperation with other countries in the three fields of transport infrastructure, energy infrastructure and communications networks. Infrastructure connectivity and international cooperation on production capacity are the key fields for cooperation, which can also promote the all-round cooperation in other fields.

Second, international trade. In the areas of mechanical equipment, mechanical and electrical products, high-tech products, energy and resource products, and agricultural products, China will carry out extensive investment and trade cooperation with countries and regions along the routes, continue to innovate, further improve the level of trade facilitation, and constantly upgrade cooperation and expand the area and scope for trade.

Third, cross-border investments. China has strong capacity in suchfields as new equipment manufacturing, engineering and infrastructure construction, rail building, and communications equipment. Therefore, it should encourage Chinese enterprises to expand industrial investment and cooperation, start businesses in countries along the routes, join hands with local businesses to build industrial parks, set up R&D centers, upgrade industries, and increase local employment.

Fourth, resource development. Efforts will be made to intensify cooperation on the exploitation and development of traditional energy and resources, including coal, oil and gas, and metal minerals, and to deepen cooperation on various links including production, transportation and processing. Cooperation will be strengthened on energy efficiency and the development of new energy, including clean and renewable energy such as hydropower, nuclear power, wind power and solar power. Cooperation will also be enhanced on deep processing technology, equipment and engineering services. Local processing and the transfer of energy and resources will be actively promoted to form an industrial chain that integrates upstream and downstream sectors.

Fifth, financial cooperation. For most of the countries along the Belt and Road their relatively weak financial systems are in urgent need of strengthening cooperation with China. China will expand the areas of financial cooperation, speed up the operation of AIIB and Silk Road Fund, and give more play to the role of bilateral policy funds and social funds. The globalization of the Chinese renminbi (RMB) is a major issue. China should carry out in-depth research on it, continue to expand the scale of bilateral local currency swaps, and increase the scale of RMB settlements.

Sixth, cultural and people-to-people exchanges. Efforts will be made to enhance cultural and people-to-people exchanges and cooperation, inherit and carry forward the Silk Road’s spirit of friendly cooperation, and extensively carry out cultural exchanges and friendly communication, so as to lay a solid foundation of public opinion for deepened cooperation. Each year, China will offer 10,000 government scholarships to countries along the routes, with an aim to expand educational exchanges. Countries alongthe routes will also strengthen tourism cooperation, sports exchanges, and medical and healthcare cooperation, and jointly increase their capabilities in scientific and technological cooperation.

Seventh, ecological and environmental protection. It is important to highlight the concept of ecological progress, and work together to build a green Belt and Road. China will work with countries and regions along the routes to build and improve a national interaction mechanism, make coordinated plans and carry out ecological building and environmental protection, and hold various socially beneficial activities on biological diversity and eco-environmental protection.

Eighth, maritime cooperation. Efforts will be made to promote the construction of countries and industrial parks along the maritime routes, advance maritime economic cooperation, develop maritime industries and promote maritime economic development. Efforts will also be made to deepen cooperation in fields such as connectivity of agriculture and fisheries, marine environmental protection, navigational safety, maritime search and rescue, and disaster prevention and mitigation, start the construction of key programs on various fronts, and strengthen personnel training on sea-related subjects and areas.

Main cooperation agreements and early achievements

In March 2015, the Chinese government officially released the document “Vision and Actions on Jointly Building Silk Road Economic Belt and 21st-Century Maritime Silk Road.”3http://www.fmprc.gov.cn/ce/cevn/chn/sghkt/t1251121.htm.Countries along the routes and many international organizations have demonstrated great enthusiasm for cooperation by supporting and joining the construction of the Belt and Road. It reminds people of the ancient Chinese saying: “Those with the same dream will never be apart despite all the mountains and oceans between them.”

The 1st Lancang-Mekong Cooperation Leaders’ Meeting in Sanya, south China’s Hainan Province, March 23, 2016.

In Eurasia, the Silk Road Economic Belt will align with Russia’s “Eurasian Economic Union (EEU)”and with Kazakhstan’s “Bright Path”strategy. In Northeast Asia, China and the Republic of Korea (ROK) have decided to advance the alignment of four development strategies, and promote the integrated connection of the ROK’s Eurasian Plan and the Belt and Road Initiative; China and Mongolia have decided to align the Steppe Silk Road with the Belt and Road Initiative; and an important consensus has been reached among China, Russia and Mongolia about building an economic corridor connecting the three countries. In Southeast Asia, China and Indonesia have agreed to speed up the alignment of the two countries’ development strategies. China and Vietnam are discussing cooperation between the Belt and Road Initiative and the “two corridors and one circle”(Kunming - Lao Cai – Hanoi – Haiphong – Quang Ninh Economic Corridor, Nanning – Lang Son – Hanoi – Haiphong – Quang Ninh Economic Corridor, and the Beibu Gulf Economic Circle). China and Singapore are discussing about jointly exploring third party markets. In South Asia, China and India have strengthened cooperation concerning the Belt and Road Initiative, and the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor’sroad map has been further clarified. Contact work on the Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar Economic Corridor has seen early results. In Europe, the Belt and Road Initiative will align with the Investment Plan for Europe (the so-called Juncker Plan), and the National Infrastructure Plan and the United Kingdom’s England Northern Economic Center. The Chinese government’s “Made in China 2025”strategy will coordinate and align with Germany’s “INDUSTRIE 4.0.”In Central and Eastern Europe, China has signed memorandums of understanding with six countries including Poland, the Czech Republic and Hungary. Under the “16+1”framework, China will start “three seaports cooperation”in the Adriatic Sea, Baltic Sea and Black Sea with Central and Eastern European countries. The construction of the Central European land-sea joint transport express line, with the Hungary-Serbia Railway being the main route, will be accelerated.

The Chinese government has signed production capacity cooperation agreements with more than 20 countries, covering Asia, Africa, Latin America and Europe. The above agreements include the new innovative model of capacity cooperation with Kazakhstan, with a total value of more than $20 billion; the establishment of the first batch of $10 billion China-Africa capacity cooperation funds, and the signing and implementation of the memorandum of understanding on “Three Networks of Africa’s Infrastructure and Industrialization.”Cooperation on production capacity focuses on neighboring industrial parks, cross-border economic cooperation parks and port-side industrial parks. China has reached agreements with France and the ROK to jointly develop third party markets, creating new models of South-North and South-South cooperation.

In the three directions of the Silk Road Economic Belt and two major directions of the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, breakthroughs and early achievements have been made on a number of major projects, including railways, roads, ports, power grids, oil and gas pipelines and so on. In the direction of Southeast Asia, the achievements include the China-Myanmar railway and highway, Kyaukpyu Port and Special Economic Zone, Cambodia’s Sihanouk Port and Economic Development Zone, theChina-Laos Railway, the China-Thailand Railway, Indonesia’s Jakarta-Bandung high-speed train project and related ports and development zones, and Thailand’s Rayong Industrial Park. In Central Asia, there are China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan Railway, China-Tajikistan Highway Phase II, and Line C and Line D of the Central Asian natural gas pipelines. In Northeast Asia, there are the East Route and West Route of the China-Russia gas pipeline. In South Asia, the flagship programs of the Belt and Road Initiative are the “1+4”cooperation arrangement with the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor at the core, supported by the four key areas of Gwadar Port, energy cooperation, infrastructure construction and industrial cooperation. In addition, the Trans-Asian Railway Network has begun with the central line.

In terms of financing, the $100 billion AIIB and the $40 billion Silk Road Fund initiated by China can positively contribute to the existing global financial institutions. As President Xi Jinping said at the launch ceremony for the AIIB, apart from making equity payments as scheduled, China will provide another $50 million for a Special Fund to support the preparation of infrastructure projects by less developed member states. In addition, China has also established the China-Eurasia Economic Cooperation Fund and China-ASEAN Investment Cooperation Fund with relevant countries. Supported by financial systems at various levels, financing can be effectively guaranteed.

Besides, in terms of the understanding between peoples and cooperation facilitation, the close exchanges between China and countries along the Belt and Road have constantly expanded educational and cultural cooperation. China has signed mutual visa waiver agreements with 46 countries and regions along the routes, and 19 countries along the routes grant visas on arrival to Chinese citizens.

Risk Prevention Issues of the Belt and Road Initiative

The implementation of the Belt and Road Initiative is a long-term, complex, and arduous systemic project. It is inevitable that it will face a great numberof risks and challenges.

Engage in international order restructuring and rule-setting. Currently, the global political pattern has entered into a period of in-depth adjustment, and the global economic and financial rules are being rebuilt. The Middle East, Asia-Pacific and Europe are experiencing intertwined old and new conflicts, the essence of which is the reconstruction of the regional security orders. Such phenomena as exchange rates and oil price fluctuations concern the reconstruction of world economic and financial order. They may also lead to changes in growth structures, industrial structures and capital flows. In the promotion of the Belt and Road construction, it is necessary to think ahead, join and promote the building of new rules and orders with an in-depth and broad global vision, and constantly reform and improve the global trading and financial systems.

Guard against geo-political risks. Countries along the Belt and Road are highly different in terms of their systems and institutions. Some countries are faced with many uncertainties as their social and economic structures are undergoing transitions. The Middle East, Central Asia and South Asia are called the “Arc of Strategic Instability,”which means that economic programs here will be faced with special political and security risks. Close attention should be paid to the investment problems, risks and losses China has encountered in Libya, Iraq, Ukraine and Syria in recent years. In addition to strengthening inter-governmental policy communication, it is necessary to build multi-level security and protection mechanisms to ensure the success of the Belt and Road Initiative.

Respond to the challenges of traditional and non-traditional security factors. The Belt and Road encompass over 60 countries and 4.4 billion people. With huge differences existing among countries along the routes in terms of geography, history, religion and ethnic groups, the difficulties facing cooperation are many. The coexistence of Christianity, Buddhism, Islamism, Hinduism and other religions has led to complicated historical conflicts. Even different sects of the same religion are at daggers drawn. Terrorism, extremism and separatism in the Middle East, CentralAsia and Southeast Asia have caused chronic regional instability. The insecure investment environments will pose threats to enterprises, personnel and equipment from other countries. Therefore, appropriate measures must be taken to deal with the security threats.

Expand cooperation and eliminate interference. Due to the different understandings of major countries about the Belt and Road Initiative, they are also different in terms of the depth and breadth of their participation. The United States, as a superpower, is naturally concerned about the rise of any other major country. As Japan’s politics have leaned increasingly to the right, it is becoming ever more concerned and vigilant about the expanding influence of China. Some countries along the routes still have territorial disputes with China, aggravated by the interference of other countries. It is essential that ways are found to expand the positive factors and inhibit the negative ones in the international environment for the Belt and Road Initiative.

Avoid global financial risks. On the economic front, the “doubleedged sword”effect of economic globalization has become more prominent. “Integration”and “fragmentation”have become intertwined while still developing side by side. The worsening aftermath of the financial crisis has added to the downward pressure on global economy. The world is witnessing debt expansion and volatility in the global stock markets. It is important to exercise extreme caution, avoid exchange rate fluctuations and prevent debt risks. Financial supervision needs strengthening and an efficient supervision and coordination mechanism should gradually be established. And, along with enhanced international exchanges and cooperation among credit sectors and rating agencies, the shared interests and risk-taking of different countries’sovereign funds, and various equity investment funds and social funds, should be increased. It is an option to establish a financial early-warning system to respond to risks and deal with crises.

Establish and improve the rule of law. The unbalanced economic development of countries in the region has resulted in the highly different systems of laws and regulations. While some countries try hard to facilitate foreign investment, others close their markets so that the investment evaluationof businesses becomes more complicated. For some regions, which have lower thresholds for cooperation, it is even more important for participants to negotiate and clarify such matters as cooperation rules and profit distribution. Some countries are plagued with unstable political situations and highly different ideas between political parties. Once a change of power takes place, it is likely that new leadership will not adhere to the policies of its predecessor, bringing huge risks to foreign investments. Therefore, in the implementation of the Belt and Road Initiative, it is essential that thorough studies on the political and legal environments of countries along the routes are carried out to avoid any avoidable risks.

Act according to market rules. Efforts should be made to study the rules and technical standards of different countries’ infrastructure to be connected; promote the implementation of trade facilitation agreements, remove investment and trade barriers, build a favorable business environment; strengthen mutual supervision and mutual enforcement assistance of different countries’ customs, enhance the international alignment and cooperation in areas such as border ports, tests and quarantine, certification and recognition, standards and statistics information; improve trade transparency and the level of liberalization and facilitation, advance new industrial models such as international e-commerce and trade in services; and strengthen consultation in bilateral investment protection agreements and agreements on double taxation, so as to protect the legitimate rights and interests of investors.

Make the top-level design of the Belt and Road Initiative more detailed. Enterprise-dominated, market-oriented, government-promoted commercial operations must be upheld as China combines its advantage in production capacity with the demands of related countries. While the government provides planning, guidance and policy support, the final investment decisions should be made by enterprises themselves based on market demand. As a “top-down”initiative, the Belt and Road Initiative still needs to be improved in terms of its short-, medium- and long-term planning. The government needs to gain more experience in promoting international public goods, while enterprises need to improve their operations andmanagement for the global market. Besides, it is also necessary to cultivate a large number of globalized professional talents, as the participants’ educational levels, legal awareness and market integrity are also important issues.

Connect the nation as a whole. While building connectivity with other countries, it is also important for China to also consolidate connectivity among its various regions. Belt and Road construction has been identified as the general guideline for opening-up and economic cooperation in the future. No region of China will be left out by the Belt and Road. As the Belt and Road is a comprehensive and open network, any point along the routes can be a starting point. Different provinces and regions are by no means separated and independent. If they intend to seize the opportunities, they must change old ways of thinking, broaden their horizons, keep the overall picture in mind, cooperate and coordinate with each other, reinforce each other, remove barriers, and achieve interactive development among different regions under the guidance of general planning.

Conclusion

In today’s world, multi-polarization and globalization are gaining momentum. Despite all the regional turmoil, the general trends of world peace, development and progress remain unchanged. With the increasingly intense competition among major countries, the coexistence of cooperation and competition, changing international order, and restructured global economy, the influence of China keeps growing. The role of China in international affairs is becoming larger as it joins hands with other countries to build a new type of international relations with win-win cooperation at the core, and a community of shared destiny for all human beings. The great cause of the Belt and Road Initiative calls for small yet concrete steps in order to successfully complete the long journey. In doing so, China’s major-country diplomacy with Chinese characteristics is bound to make remarkable progress despite all the twists and turns.