The high-quality development of the "Belt and Road" is a stabilizing force for the world economy

【When the "Belt and Road" is in progress】

Author: Liang Haoguang and Zhang Yaojun (Executive Director of the China Modernization Research Center of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Respectively, Professor of the China Institute of "Belt and Road" Strategy, Beijing Second Chinese University)

Jointly building the "Belt and Road" is a big stage for the common development of all countries. In September 2021, President Xi Jinping put forward the Global Development Initiative at the 76th session of the United Nations General Assembly, calling for accelerating the implementation of the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and jointly building a global community with a shared future for development. In November 2021, General Secretary Xi Jinping stressed at the third "Belt and Road" construction symposium that it is necessary to implement the new development concept completely, accurately and comprehensively, with high standards, sustainability and benefiting people's livelihood as the goal, consolidate the foundation of interconnection and cooperation, expand new space for international cooperation, firmly establish a risk prevention and control network, strive to achieve a higher level of cooperation, higher input efficiency, higher supply quality, and higher development resilience, and promote the high-quality development of the "Belt and Road" to achieve new results. The initiative and speech provide a fundamental basis for promoting the joint construction of the "Belt and Road" under the new situation to get out of the haze of the new crown pneumonia epidemic and achieve high-quality common development, and become a stabilizing force for world economic construction.

Peaceful development is a necessary prerequisite for the recovery of the world economy. Global imbalances have a long history of inadequate development, and the COVID-19 pandemic has further exacerbated this imbalance. According to a recent UN report, the deadline for the world's poorest countries to achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goals could be delayed by another 10 years. Since the outbreak of the epidemic, the joint construction of the "Belt and Road" has bucked the trend, and has continuously created opportunities and provided impetus for the common development of all countries in deepening policy communication, accelerating facility connectivity, promoting unimpeded trade, promoting financial integration, and enhancing people-to-people ties. At present, China has signed more than 200 cooperation documents with 147 countries and 32 international organizations to jointly build the "Belt and Road", and signed third-party market cooperation documents with 14 countries such as Japan, Italy and Switzerland. From 2013 to 2021, China's trade in goods with Belt and Road partners has reached US$10.4 trillion, and Chinese enterprises' cumulative non-financial direct investment in partner countries has exceeded US$130 billion. In 2021, the trade in goods between China and countries along the "Belt and Road" reached 11.6 trillion yuan, an increase of 23.6% year-on-year, a new high in 8 years, accounting for 29.7% of China's total foreign trade. In 2021, China's direct investment in countries along the Belt and Road was 138.45 billion yuan, an increase of 7.9% year-on-year, accounting for 14.8% of the total foreign investment; Direct investment by enterprises in countries along the Belt and Road to China exceeded US$10 billion for the first time, reaching US$11.25 billion.

In view of the fundamental development needs of the joint construction of the country, the "Belt and Road" attaches importance to the harm that non-traditional security threats such as infectious diseases, environmental pollution, climate change and food security may cause to the sustainable development of mankind and peace and security, so that more solid and heavy development results can benefit the ordinary people of the joint construction country. According to a McKinsey & Company survey, more than 1,000 Chinese companies in eight African countries alone provide at least 300,000 jobs in Africa.

Poverty reduction and development is the main line adhered to by the world economy. Humanity is suffering from the worst recession since the end of the Second World War, with major sectors of the economy being hit simultaneously for the first time in history, and global poverty reduction gains being severely impacted. Due to the fragility of their own development and the lack of means to cope with the epidemic, many developing countries that jointly build the "Belt and Road" have been more seriously damaged, and the development gap between the north and the south is facing the risk of widening or even solidifying. According to data released by several United Nations agencies, the epidemic has so far caused the loss of 250 million full-time jobs worldwide, at least 120 million people have fallen into extreme poverty (the first time in 20 years that the world has increased significantly), 5.2 million children have been "orphaned by covid-19" because of the loss of loved ones, at least 155 million people have been trapped in severe food insecurity, and the Human Development Index has declined for the first time in 30 years.

As an international cooperation platform oriented to common development, the Belt and Road Initiative is committed to improving the global development model and global development governance, paying attention to the poverty reduction needs of developing countries, and focusing on stimulating the endogenous development momentum of relevant countries. China launched the "East Asia Poverty Reduction Cooperation Initiative", based on China's experience in "promoting the whole village" and "targeted poverty alleviation", and implemented poverty reduction cooperation projects in Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and other countries to help better achieve poverty reduction and development. According to a World Bank study, by 2030, the Belt and Road Initiative is expected to lift 7.6 million people out of extreme poverty and 32 million people out of moderate poverty around the world. Over the years, through the establishment of the South-South Cooperation Assistance Fund and the China-United Nations Peace and Development Fund, China has also provided various forms of assistance to more than 160 countries and international organizations in Asia, Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, Oceania and Europe, etc., reducing or waiving the debts of relevant countries and contributing to building a community with a shared future for mankind free of poverty and common development.

Open development is the path for the realization of the world economy. Opening up is the only way to develop and progress, and it is also the key to promoting post-epidemic economic recovery. The "Belt and Road" integrates China's opening up and development with the world's linkage development, and incrementally promotes global connectivity by finding the convergence of the interests of all parties and developing the greatest common denominator. The United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development is a programmatic document guiding global development cooperation, which is highly consistent with the concept of jointly building the "Belt and Road". On the one hand, jointly building the Belt and Road puts the development agenda in a more important position of international cooperation and promotes the synergy of multilateral development cooperation. On the other hand, China's international development cooperation will continue to tilt towards the countries jointly built by the "Belt and Road", providing stronger impetus, more space and better path for the construction of the "Belt and Road".

During the epidemic, China signed the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement with relevant countries and came into force, completed the negotiations on the China-EU Investment Agreement with the EU as scheduled, and explicitly proposed to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement on Trans-Pacific Partnership. In the face of artificial "building walls" and "decoupling" and other behaviors that violate economic laws and market rules, the joint construction of the "Belt and Road" promotes trade and investment liberalization and facilitation, deepens regional economic integration, consolidates supply chains, industrial chains, data links, and talent chains, and builds an open world economy. Since 2020, breakthroughs have been made in more than 40 major "Belt and Road" projects such as the China-Laos Railway, the Hungarian-Cypriot Railway, and the Israeli Light Railway. In December 2021, under the joint witness of the heads of state of China and Laos, the China-Laos Railway was officially opened for operation, shortening the journey from Vientiane, Laos to the China-Laos border from 2 days to 3 hours. In 2021, the China-Europe Express will run 15,000 trains and transport 1.46 million TEUs throughout the year, an increase of 22% and 29% respectively year-on-year, reaching 180 cities in 23 countries in Europe. In March 2022, the National Development and Reform Commission of China, the China Development Bank and the United Nations Development Programme jointly signed a letter of intent to cooperate in the innovation and development platform to promote global open development through full-process project consultation support, partnership platform construction, and training and capacity building.

Innovation and development is the driving force leading the world economy. In recent years, global scientific and technological innovation has entered an unprecedented period of intensive activity. The new generation of information technology has played a huge role in the fight against the new crown pneumonia epidemic and has also provided new development opportunities for the joint construction of the "Belt and Road".

At the two Belt and Road Forums for International Cooperation, President Xi Jinping emphasized the joint construction of the Digital Silk Road in the 21st century, giving the Belt and Road a more far-reaching connotation of innovative development. At present, the construction of e-commerce, digital economy and digital infrastructure in many developing countries along the "Belt and Road" is still in its infancy, and it is necessary to seize the new opportunities brought by digital development to jointly build a digital cooperation pattern and enhance digital productivity. China has signed memorandums of understanding on digital economy cooperation with 16 countries along the Belt and Road, joined hands with 22 countries to build a Silk Road e-commerce platform, established scientific and technological cooperation with 84 countries, supported 1,118 joint research projects, and launched the construction of 53 joint laboratories in the fields of agriculture, new energy, health and health.

Security and development is the fundamental guarantee for safeguarding the world economy. The century-old changes and the century-old epidemic are intertwined and superimposed, and the governance deficit, trust deficit, development deficit and peace deficit facing human society have increased unabated, and there is still a long way to go to achieve universal security and promote common development. According to the World Economic Forum's 2021 Global Risk Report, the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated global social polarization and geopolitical tensions, exposing the fragility of global industrial chains and the risks inherent in economic globalization. The Belt and Road Initiative practices multilateralism, upholds the international system with the United Nations at its core, upholds the international order based on international law, and strives to enhance its ability to respond to global crises.

In the process of specific cooperation, the security development of the "Belt and Road" has always paid attention to preventing and resolving various risks and challenges affecting the joint construction process, and strives to achieve high-quality development and benign mutual promotion of high-level security. In the face of the challenges of the epidemic, the joint construction of the "Belt and Road" adheres to the concept of life first, and builds a community of human health and health based on the "Healthy Silk Road". Up to now, China has provided more than 2 billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines to more than 120 countries and international organizations, and has carried out joint vaccine production cooperation with more than 20 countries. Faced with the reality that about 83% of the African Union population has not yet been vaccinated with 1 dose, China fully supports the UN target of 70% of the global population by mid-2022, and will provide another 1 billion doses of vaccine to African countries. The "Belt and Road" initiative coordinates epidemic prevention and production, highlights the accuracy of prevention and control measures, and strives to ensure labor demand, personnel rotation, material supply, financial support, etc. Major projects have not been stopped due to the epidemic, and the construction of key projects has made steady progress.

Sustainable development is the goal pursued by the world economy. Since mankind entered the era of industrial civilization, while creating huge material wealth, it has also accelerated the seizure of natural resources, broken the balance of the earth's ecosystem, and the deep-seated contradictions between man and nature have become increasingly apparent. China regards the construction of ecological civilization as the millennium plan for the sustainable development of the Chinese nation, and strives to achieve carbon peak by 2030 and carbon neutrality by 2060.

In this context, China regards the green development partnership as the continuous pursuit of the "Belt and Road", continuously improves the "Belt and Road" green cooperation framework, strengthens a series of measures such as green infrastructure, green energy, green transportation and green finance, launches the "Belt and Road" green development partnership initiative, and improves multilateral cooperation platforms such as the "Belt and Road" Green Development International Alliance and the "Belt and Road" Green Investment Principles, so that green can effectively become the background for jointly building the "Belt and Road". China also strongly supports the green and low-carbon development of energy in developing countries, promotes information sharing and capacity building for green and low-carbon development, and pledges not to build new offshore coal power projects。 In the face of unprecedented difficulties in global environmental governance, the green "Belt and Road" promotes the construction of a fair and reasonable global environmental governance system with win-win cooperation, jointly creates green international public goods, and makes a good ecological environment a support for the sustainable development of the global economy and society.

Jointly building the "Belt and Road" pursues development, advocates win-win results, and transmits hope. At present, China is based on a new stage of development, implementing new development concepts, and building a new development pattern, and the "Belt and Road" partners provide more market opportunities, investment opportunities and growth opportunities for the world economy. It will provide a stronger impetus for promoting the sustainable recovery of the world economy and building a community with a shared future for global development.

Guangming Daily (2022.07.04. 12th edition)

Source: Guangming Network - Guangming Daily