Chen Wenling: How the Belt and Road Initiative has profoundly affected the history of human development

【Abstract】 :The joint construction of the "Belt and Road" has profoundly changed the world pattern dominated by the ocean formed by industrial civilization in the past 300 years, and formed a new pattern of marine economy and land economy going hand in hand, common development and interconnection. At present, the interconnection pattern that is being formed and will be formed is mainly reflected in three aspects: first, the spatial layout of land, sea, air, network and ice has been formed, second, a new pattern of multi-dimensional promotion of the development of the "Belt and Road" has been formed, and the third is the formation of a three-in-one "Belt and Road" connectivity mode with hard connectivity as an important direction, soft connectivity as an important support, and people-to-people bond as an important foundation.

At the important historical moment of the 10th anniversary of General Secretary Xi Jinping's joint construction of the "Belt and Road" initiative, at the important historical moment when the competition between major powers is extremely fierce, at the important historical moment when the world pattern has gradually changed from a sudden change after the Russia-Ukraine conflict and the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, the international pattern has accelerated its evolution, and the international geographical, political, economic, diplomatic and military patterns are constantly changing, it is very important and necessary to summarize the achievements and enlightenment of the "Belt and Road" in the past ten years, see the problems in the process, and look forward to the future development vision.

1. The progress made by the Belt and Road Initiative over the past decade

Everyone knows the origin of the major Belt and Road initiative: from September to October 2013, President Xi Jinping proposed the Silk Road Economic Belt initiative at the Nazarbayev Institute in Kazakhstan and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road initiative in Indonesia, both of which are called the "Belt and Road". "The Belt and Road" is the standard formulation, and it is even more standard to add "co-construction", because the "Belt and Road" is not a matter of China, and now 151 countries and 32 international organizations have participated in the co-construction, and they have signed the "Belt and Road" cooperation text with China. In this sense, it is now called the Belt and Road Initiative, and the countries participating in the Belt and Road Initiative are called the Belt and Road Initiative.

When the "Belt and Road" major initiative was proposed, it was to give the spirit of the ancient Silk Road jointly created by China and relevant countries to its connotation of the times under the new situation, mainly focusing on the relevant countries along the ancient Silk Road, and there were roughly 65 countries (including China) along the relevant countries, except for India, which did not participate, and the countries along the ancient Silk Road were 64 countries. According to the different directions of these 64 countries, they are divided into six economic corridors or passages, as well as ports connecting various countries, called "six corridors, six roads, multiple countries and multiple ports".

The first economic corridor is the New Eurasian Land Bridge.

Why is it called the New Eurasian Land Bridge? It is relative to the original First Eurasian Land Bridge. The original Siberian Land Bridge (English name: Siberian Land Bridge, SLB) is the world's first land bridge connecting Europe and Asia. Starting from Vladivostok (Vladivostok) in eastern Russia, it leads to Moscow through the Trans-Siberian Railway, then to various European countries, and finally to the port of Rotterdam in the Netherlands. The railway runs through the north of Asia, and the entire land bridge passes through 7 countries: Russia, China (branch section), Kazakhstan, Belarus, Poland, Germany, and the Netherlands, with a total length of about 13,000 kilometers. As this railway artery connects Europe, Asia and Africa geographically, with the advancement of the Belt and Road Initiative and the enhancement of South-South cooperation (especially China-Africa cooperation), the land transportation of Eurasia and Africa needs to be planned and constructed in a unified manner, mainly to build a "five vertical and five horizontal" transport corridor (railways, highways, etc.) between Europe, Asia and Africa.

The New Eurasian Land Bridge spans the two continents of Europe and Asia, connecting the Pacific Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean, with a total length of about 10,800 kilometers, and connects more than 40 countries and regions in East Asia, Central Asia, West Asia, Eastern Europe and Western Europe. The New Eurasian Land Bridge starts from Lianyungang City, Jiangsu Province on the coast of the Yellow Sea on the mainland, and goes west through Jiangsu Xuzhou, Henan Shangqiu, Kaifeng, Zhengzhou, Luoyang, Sanmenxia, Shaanxi Weinan, Xi'an, Baoji, Gansu Tianshui and other stations of the Longhai Railway, and connects Lanzhou, Wuwei, Jinchang, Zhangye, Jiuquan, Jiayuguan, Hami, Turpan, Urumqi and other stations in Gansu Province from east to west. Germany, to the Netherlands, the world's largest port, the Port of Rotterdam. At present, the construction of the third Eurasian land bridge is planned, which refers to the construction of a coastal port group represented by Shenzhen Port, connecting South Asia and West Asia through Yunnan, and connecting North Africa at the same time, and then extending to Europe A transportation network system with railway traffic as the main body will be built after the first and second Eurasian land bridges.

The route from Tianjin is the shortest, the distance in China and Russia is the shortest, and the freight should be the most economical, but the Beijing-Tianjin railway capacity is very tight, and it is difficult to increase transportation. Moreover, the high standard of fees in Mongolia is not good for both China and Russia. The advantage of the Lianyungang scheme is that the railway has a long distance of more than 4,100 kilometers in China, which can serve more inland provinces. In the past ten years, these three railway arteries have been formed, and the fourth one will be formed in the future, that is, the China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan Railway, which connects Uzbekistan from Kezhou, Xinjiang, China, through Kyrgyzstan, and connects with the Eurasian Land Bridge to form the fourth connecting line. This line is 800 kilometers less than the original Eurasian Land Bridge link, which can reduce the journey by 7-8 days. If it starts now, it is possible that the railway will be completed in 2027.

There is also a line that we don't pay much attention to, the original Siberian railway artery and the original Eurasian land bridge is not connected, now from Siberia from the Eurasian land bridge through Manchuria, that is, through Heilongjiang Province and the domestic Eurasian land bridge, and the Eurasian land bridge to Europe has been connected, and now Russia is also an important starting point of the Eurasian land bridge, and it is the connection point.

The above is the first economic corridor of the Belt and Road Initiative. However, there are some issues that cannot be ignored that need to be solved urgently. For example, the Lanxin Railway in the mainland is a single line, with a large amount of oil and a serious shortage of water, and its transportation capacity is relatively tight; the Baoji-Tianshui Railway of the Longhai Railway is also a single line, with a small transportation capacity, and it often collapses and breaks the road, and it is a stuck neck section in and out of the northwest; and the Longhai section east of Xuzhou is also a single line. Outside the borders of the Soviet Union, Central Asia became a number of countries, and many issues were difficult to coordinate, and technical problems in railway construction and containers were hampered by the passage through many caves.

The second economic corridor is the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor.

The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor starts in Kashgar, Xinjiang, and ends at Gwadar Port, Pakistan, with a total length of 3,000 kilometers, connecting the "Silk Road Economic Belt" in the north and the "21st Century Maritime Silk Road" in the south. As an important pilot project of the Belt and Road Initiative, the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) has achieved fruitful results over the past decade. This economic corridor will play a very important role in connecting China and Pakistan, and helping Pakistan to become prosperous and develop its economy.

Construction of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) began in 2013. In 2015, the governments of China and Pakistan signed more than 50 cooperation agreements, defining the "1+4" cooperation layout with the construction of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor as the center and the Gwadar port, energy, infrastructure construction and industrial cooperation as the four key points. Over the past decade, the construction of the corridor has contributed significantly to infrastructure development, energy production, industrial cooperation and socio-economic development throughout Pakistan.

According to the data provided by the Chinese Embassy in Pakistan, by the end of 2022, the corridor had brought a total of 25.4 billion US dollars of direct investment to Pakistan, created a total of 236,000 jobs, and helped Pakistan add 510 kilometers of highways, 8,000 megawatts of electricity and 886 kilometers of national core transmission grid.

The third economic corridor is the China-Central Asia-West Asia corridor.

The economic corridor runs from Xi'an, China, through Urumqi, Xinjiang, Almaty, Tashkent, Tehran, Iran, Turkey, and connects Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Iran, and Turkey. Stretching from China in the east to Central Asia in the west to the Persian Gulf, the Mediterranean coast and the Arabian Peninsula, it is an important part of the Silk Road Economic Belt.

As the first place of the "Belt and Road", Central Asia is the center of the Eurasian continent, located at the crossroads connecting the east and west and running through the north and south. Central Asia is the farthest place on earth from the ocean, known as the "world island" of land civilization, and has an important strategic position in the world pattern. Most of the China-Europe freight trains connecting Asia and Europe pass through Central Asian countries, and Central Asia is a key hub as the only way to connect the large markets of Asia and Europe.

The Xi'an Declaration of the China-Central Asia Summit was adopted at the first China-Central Asia Summit, and the China-Central Asia Cooperation Mechanism was formally established, which is an important milestone in the upgrading of China-Central Asia cooperation and the sustainable development of high-quality Belt and Road cooperation.

If Afghanistan is politically stable and can embark on a normal development track, the CPEC can further connect Afghanistan, and then Iran and Turkey, forming a new east-west corridor through the Eurasian continent. The United States has stationed troops in Afghanistan for more than 20 years, and now Afghanistan is the poorest country in Asia, with a per capita GDP of only more than $500. But everyone knows that order in Afghanistan is being restored, and that China has played a major and constructive role in resolving the Afghan issue.

Turkey was formerly the Ottoman Empire, but it was divided into several countries, and Turkey is still the main part left after the partition. Turkey's Erdogan is once again in power, and his dream is still a dream of the revival of the Ottoman Empire, and one of the most important things in this dream is that in the centenary of the founding of the Turkish state, that is, in 2023, it will become an economic corridor and economic corridor between the East and the West, and this economic corridor was originally planned to build a 2,000-kilometer railway line. China Railway helped build a high-speed railway from Ankara, the capital of Turkey, to Istanbul, a major commercial city, which was completed in 2016 and is now continuing to build 2,000 kilometers of railway.

The fourth economic corridor is the China-Indochina Peninsula Economic Corridor.

Starting from Nanning in Guangxi and Kunming in Yunnan Province and ending in Singapore, this economic corridor runs through Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, Myanmar, Malaysia and other countries in the Indochina Peninsula. This economic corridor, which mainly connects ASEAN countries, is currently making the fastest progress.

On the one hand, the sea passage is smooth, from the sea Beibu Gulf to the sea, along the line of Vietnam, the Philippines, Indonesia, Singapore sea channel is smooth, now there are two more land channels, one is from Nanning, Guangxi to Vietnam, from Vietnam to other ASEAN countries, mainly land transportation, mainly highways, this road is called "two corridors and one circle", and Vietnam parallel to the two economic corridors to form an economic circle with Vietnam.

There is also the fastest progress now, that is, the Western Land-Sea Corridor, starting with Chongqing and Chengdu, which is the third national strategy of cooperation between the mainland and Singapore. The first is the Suzhou Industrial Park, which is the first cooperation project between the mainland and Singapore, the second is the Tianjin Eco-City, and the third is the establishment of a modern logistics park in Chongqing to jointly build the "Belt and Road", starting from the modern logistics park to the two major cities of Chengdu and Chongqing, extending to the south to form a large land-sea corridor in the west, which is the latecomer and began to be built in 2016, which is the fastest construction of all economic corridors.

There are already 12 provinces and cities in China that have participated in the construction of the western land-sea corridor, and there is also a normalized working mechanism, with 5 ASEAN countries participating after leaving the country. The Western Land-Sea Corridor is the most advanced of the economic corridors, which directly connects the China-Indochina Peninsula, from Chengdu and Chongqing to Singapore. The first is through inland waterway transportation, the golden waterway of the Yangtze River in the Yangtze River Economic Belt, directly to Shanghai, and then to Southeast Asia, by sea; A road, the basic framework of which we will soon see, is the China-Laos Economic Corridor+The Sino-Thai railway, the formation of the China-Laos-Thailand Economic Corridor, China to Vientiane, Laos China-Laos railway 422 kilometers, from the mainland Xishuangbanna to Vientiane, Laos railway has been built; the China-Thailand railway has lagged behind for many years, should have been on a par with the China-Laos railway, but Thailand is a little wavering, after the China-Laos railway was completed, there was a demonstration effect, and finally Thailand chose China, started relatively late, it is estimated that the progress will be relatively fast, if the China-Laos-Thailand economic corridor railway is completed, the Pan-Asian middle road will be fully connected. The China-Laos-Thailand Railway connects Kunming, China, and Vientiane, the capital of Laos, with a total length of 845 kilometers. The Singapore-Malaysia-Thailand Railway starts from the northern Thai city of Padang, crosses Thailand and Malaysia in the south, and ends at Kedah Port on the west coast of Malaysia, with a total length of 1,416 kilometers.

In 1900, when the whole world was still a colonial world, Britain and France proposed to build the Pan-Asia Middle Road, the Pan-Asia West Road, and the Pan-Asia East Road, and the railway from Laos to Thailand was called the Pan-Asia Middle Road. From 1900 to ten years before the "Belt and Road" initiative, Laos was a landlocked country, with only 3.5 kilometers of railways, and it was still a land-locked country, it had no access to the sea, and there was no railway connection with other countries, so it seemed to be locked in a place and could not move the country, so it was called a land-locked country. After the construction of the China-Laos railway, Laos has become a land link, and now Vietnam will also build a railway, and connect with the China-Laos railway, Cambodia is ready to build a railway to connect with the China-Laos railway, the China-Thailand railway and the China-Laos railway, a number of connections with the China-Laos railway, and the economic belt along the China-Laos railway will become the most active economic zone in ASEAN.

The major project of China-Laos cooperation under the Belt and Road Initiative is the China-Laos Economic Corridor, which will become the engine and development center of Laos' economic development. In particular, the China-Laos-Thailand railway can directly lead to the Gulf of Thailand after it is completed, Thailand and Singapore are far away, and this railway can be further connected to Malaysia, the Philippines and Singapore, Thailand and Singapore at sea, and further connect Malaysia, the Philippines and Singapore on land. In this way, we have made significant progress in connectivity with ASEAN, and the network of roads, railways, and ports has become more and more dense.

Now, ASEAN has become China's largest trading partner, which was unthinkable in the past, and this is the fourth economic corridor and one that was originally along the ancient Silk Road.

The fifth economic corridor is the China-South Asia Economic Corridor.

At present, India is a regional power in South Asia, and India is still very wary of the "Belt and Road", and has never participated in the first and second "Belt and Road" International Cooperation Summit Forum held in Beijing.

After China put forward the "Belt and Road" major initiative, in the six economic corridors with countries along the route, the Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar Economic Corridor, starting from Ruili in Yunnan, originally China and Myanmar in the second "Belt and Road" At that time, Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi was determined to promote the construction of the China-Myanmar Economic Corridor, and she personally served as the chairman of the China-Myanmar Economic Corridor Steering Committee, and the ministers of the Ministry of Economy and the Ministry of Industry and Technology of the two main ministries served as vice chairmen. Unfortunately, there was a military coup in Myanmar, so the China-Myanmar Economic Corridor was relatively smooth before the second Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation, and now it has stalled. At the same time, the plan discussed between the two countries at that time was to form a herringbone railway artery, from Ruili to Mandalay, from Mandalay to Kyaukpyu Port, and from Mandalay to Yangon, the capital of Myanmar. The design of the herringbone railway was also very advanced at the time, and the biggest difficulty was to cross a mountain in Yunnan, China, which would take at least five to seven years to complete. But there was no big problem on the Myanmar side, and then because the political turmoil stopped, the Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar corridor was stagnant. The China-Laos Economic Corridor is already taking shape and will connect with Thailand, but Bangladesh, China, India and Myanmar are greatly hindered.

China's relations with Indochina and South Asia, in fact, the maritime issue is not of much significance now, because India is not active.

The sixth is the China-Mongolia-Russia Economic Corridor.

The development of this economic corridor is relatively fast, especially after the Russian-Ukrainian conflict in 2022, the construction of the Sino-Russian direct bridge in Heilongjiang has become a highway aorta, the Siberian domestic railway line and the Eurasian Land Bridge railway line are connected, and a direct port passage with China is also being built, Russia has opened Vladivostok to China, and China can be used as a domestic port.

Dmitry Medvedev came to China to propose the construction of the Ice Silk Road, and in the development of the Arctic, substantial steps have been taken in cooperation with China in important cities in the Arctic.

Of particular importance is the acceleration of Russia's energy flows to China, India and other countries since 2022, and the Russia-led Eurasian Union has accelerated its alignment with the Belt and Road Initiative. The eastern line of the energy pipeline from Russia to China is called Siberia, from Heilongjiang through 11 provinces and cities, and finally to Shanghai, the natural gas used in the provinces along the line is basically Russian gas, this natural gas pipeline is 5811 kilometers, and the natural gas we use every day comes from this natural gas pipeline. The natural gas pipeline is designed to transport 38 billion cubic meters of gas, and the mainland's natural gas reserves are 35 billion cubic meters, and the capacity of this pipeline is equivalent to the total reserves of the mainland, and its capacity will increase to 50 billion cubic meters in the future. There is also a Russian gas pipeline that crosses the border from Mongolia to China, and the cost of the toll can reach $1.4 billion per year. The China-Mongolia-Russia energy corridor is now under construction, which is the so-called western line construction, which is a natural gas pipeline witnessed by General Secretary Xi Jinping and President Putin. At present, there is also a route from Russia to Kazakhstan through Xinjiang into the interior. These three energy pipelines have now enabled the mainland to import about 20 percent of the mainland's oil and gas from Russia. Therefore, the China-Mongolia-Russia economic corridor is not only being built, but also plays an important role in the energy corridor.

Our energy corridor with Central Asia is also very important. The first destination country of the mainland's natural gas imports is not Russia, but Turkmenistan, which accounts for 84% of the mainland's natural gas imports, of course, this proportion is declining after Russian gas imports. We have also signed a long-term gas supply agreement with Qatar, the world's third-largest oil producer, for the next 27 years, which will reach 40 billion cubic meters.

China needs more than 350 billion cubic meters of natural gas every year, and I think the mainland's energy security is guaranteed, because now China imports oil from 48 countries and natural gas from 10 large natural gas producing countries. In addition, the China Oil Pipeline, in addition to ocean transportation and ocean oil tankers, is an important pipeline that is transported to Yunnan through Myanmar, and then transported to the mainland after processing in Yunnan.

Therefore, you must not think that the United States and Europe have high inflation, and China has low inflation, many economists are very nervous, saying that China has entered deflation and the price level is too low. Personally, I think that it has to be put in the context of the international context, why is they high inflation and China is not high inflation? Energy is a very important internal reason. Because this global high inflation started from the energy crisis, it started from energy prices, it started from Russia, Ukraine, Russia and Europe interrupted the energy supply and demand relationship, especially after I don't know which country blew up the Nord Stream pipeline, cut off the supply and demand relationship between Europe and Russia for low-cost energy, resulting in the rise in energy prices caused by the energy crisis, and the rise in energy prices leading to the rise in prices of electricity and a series of commodities.

China's inflation rate in 2021 is only 1.5%, 0.7% in 2020, and 2% in 2022. I believe that after long-term planning and layout, China has formed a diversified market layout for energy. The "Belt and Road" related to the import of 48 oil-producing countries and 10 gas-producing countries imported, the diversified layout of energy and the joint construction of the "Belt and Road" are advancing simultaneously. In other words, without the joint construction of the "Belt and Road", our energy resources will not be diversified, and we will not be able to form such a stable source of energy and stable energy prices.

For example, Iran is also a country that has jointly built the Belt and Road Initiative, and we have signed a 25-year long-term agreement with Iran, and the price of oil we get from Iran is 44 percent of the average market price. Therefore, we should realize that the joint construction of the "Belt and Road" is not only a potential risk, but also a real risk, and we have also taken a lot of additional risks, and even some losses, but the opportunities and development environment that it has brought to China such as energy security are huge.

Each of these economic corridors has brought significant benefits to the countries concerned, and at the same time, China has been able to obtain stable cooperation in resources, energy and other aspects that can support the development of the mainland for a long time. The Belt and Road Initiative has made progress in many aspects, and these gains and successes were unforeseeable when the Belt and Road Initiative was proposed.

What are the other achievements of the Belt and Road Initiative?

First, policy communication.

As an important support for the "Belt and Road", the standard rules mentioned by General Secretary Xi Jinping have made significant progress in this regard, called soft connectivity, why put soft connectivity in the first place? Because soft connectivity is based on the consensus on the joint construction of the "Belt and Road", it is a kind of cognition, and the recognition of the "Belt and Road" is based on cognition, and on this basis, from response to participation, and then to joint construction, such a leap has been completed, so we must put soft connectivity in the front.

So far, China has signed the Belt and Road cooperation text with 151 countries and 32 international organizations, and the partners of the Belt and Road Initiative are now in Asia, Europe, Africa, the Americas, Oceania, five continents and four oceans, covering 52 African countries. African countries AU a total of 54 countries, originally the AU as a member and the "Belt and Road" cooperation, later at the second "Belt and Road" cooperation summit forum, General Secretary Xi Jinping said that many friends in Africa, especially the leaders when they met, put forward that we should also participate in the "Belt and Road" construction. Therefore, after the construction of the "Belt and Road", Africa has signed the "Belt and Road" cooperation text with China in the name of a country, and now 52 countries have arrived. There are 40 Asian countries, 27 European countries, 11 Oceania countries and 21 American countries, so the "Belt and Road" initiative and many countries' planning and strategic docking, in retrospect, have been very effective.

For example, when Kazakhstan was still under Nursultan Nazarbayev, the national strategy was the "Bright Road", for example, Turkey's "East-West Corridor of the Middle Corridor", and Russia's "Greater Eurasian Partnership Initiative", which were strategic docking with relevant countries. In 2022, General Secretary Xi Jinping visited Indonesia to further connect and agree with Indonesia's national plan, and there has also been great progress in this regard.

In addition, many organizations such as the United Nations have written the Belt and Road Initiative and building a community with a shared future for mankind into relevant resolutions, and international organizations such as the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, the Eurasian Economic Union, and the BRICS countries have also attached great importance to promoting the Belt and Road Initiative.

The second is the connectivity of facilities.

The Belt and Road Initiative takes hard connectivity as an important direction, and the construction of the six corridors is hard connectivity, starting from infrastructure connectivity. Infrastructure interconnection has formed the "six corridors, six routes, multiple countries and multiple ports" just mentioned, forming a large number of landmark projects, representing the level of joint construction of the "Belt and Road" infrastructure.

For example, in terms of railways, there are the Hungarian-Serbian Railway, the China-Laos Railway, the Jakarta-Bandung Railway, the China-Thailand Railway, the Mombasa-Nairobi Railway, and the China-Mongolia-Russia Central Line Railway. The China-Europe Railway Express has developed rapidly and has played a very important role in the fight against the epidemic. When road, sea and other transport were blocked, rail transport was smooth, and the commodities that were urgently needed to fight the epidemic between China and Europe, especially many countries in Europe, were solved.

By the end of April 2023, there will be 109 cities in China, reaching 25 countries and 211 cities in Europe, and the logistics and distribution network will cover the entire territory of Europe, building an international trade artery through the Eurasian continent, so it is also called "steel camel team".

In terms of ports, at present, the mainland and more than 600 major ports in more than 200 countries and regions around the world have established route links, and the port groups of the mainland are roughly divided into five port groups, one is the Yangtze River Delta, the second is the Pearl River Delta, the third is the Bohai Rim, the fourth is the southeast port group, and the fifth is the southwest port group. The southeast port group is along the line from Jiangsu to Shanghai, and the southwest port group is mainly the Beibu Gulf area, so in fact, China's port group has formed five major port groups.

More than 90% of international trade still depends on sea transportation, for example, the China-Europe train has been close to 65,000 trains, but the trade between China and Europe, the proportion of China-Europe train transportation is less than 10%, and the remaining 90% is still by sea transportation, and there is also a part of land transportation, so we can see that sea transportation is very important. At present, COSCO SHIPPING Group has invested in the construction of 56 terminals and 49 container terminals around the world, ranking first in the world in terms of container throughput capacity. Our China Merchants Group has invested in the construction of more than 50 ports in 26 regions in South Asia, Africa, Europe, the Mediterranean and South America. Among the top 20 ports in the world, there are 15 ports in China, and 7 of the top 10 ports in China, all of which are Chinese ports.

China's manufacturing industry accounts for 30% of the world, and our material flow is very large, such as manufacturing, oil, natural gas, and mineral resources, so the material flow accounts for 50%-60% of the world, and our resource transportation volume is particularly large, because our material flow is large, our manufacturing industry is large, and the trade volume accounts for about 15%, at least more than 60% of the domestic market consumption. Therefore, the development of ports has also become an important fulcrum for the joint construction of the "Belt and Road".

In terms of port and shipping construction, the Air Silk Road has also made important progress, and the mainland has established routes with relevant countries, and the routes are becoming more and more dense and connected. We have signed bilateral air transport agreements with more than 100 co-operating countries, maintain regular passenger and freighter flights with 64 countries, and helped a number of countries build new airports.

Third, unimpeded trade.

Trade has played a very important role in the countries participating in the Belt and Road Initiative, and has played a significant role in ensuring the safety, stability and smoothness of the global supply chain and industrial chain. Trade between countries participating in the Belt and Road Initiative is becoming more active and expanding. According to the data of the Ministry of Commerce, the number of free trade agreements signed between China and the co-construction countries has now reached 15, and the number of FBAs has reached 15. Nine are under negotiation, six are under study, and 35 countries have signed MRAs. During the epidemic in 2022, the Shanghai International Import Expo, the Hainan Consumer Expo, the Guangzhou Expo, and the Beijing Fair for Trade in Services have not stopped.

The China-Indochina Peninsula corridor is being built at a fast pace, with higher and closer connectivity, and a closer relationship with ASEAN's manufacturing industry and supply chain. China and ASEAN are now each other's largest trading partners, and in 2022, six of the top 10 countries in non-financial direct investment along the Belt and Road were ASEAN countries. Recently, the IMF has made an analysis of China's economy, believing that every 1% growth of China's economy will drive the growth of ASEAN countries by 0.3 percentage points, so China's economy has a very large driving force for ASEAN. Of course, China's economy also accounts for the highest proportion of the world economy, and China is the locomotive of world economic growth, and now it is worthy of its name. In the past decade, China's contribution to world economic growth has averaged 38.63% per year, exceeding the total incremental growth of the G7 countries.

By the end of June 2022, the number of council members and 30 observers of the Belt and Road Collection and Management Cooperation Mechanism Initiative has reached 36, and the tax treaty network has been expanded to 110 countries. We can see that in the countries related to the "Belt and Road", during the epidemic, trade has accounted for more than 30% of all trade, and investment has accounted for more than 60% of the increase, and the smooth trade of the "Belt and Road" has also played a very big role.

Fourth, financial integration.

In this regard, new ways of financing and financing channels have been explored, such as the "Belt and Road", and now the People's Bank of China has signed currency swap agreements with more than 40 countries related to the "Belt and Road". It has authorized 31 RMB clearing banks in more than 20 countries and regions, and signed a memorandum of understanding with the European Bank for Reconstruction on investment and financing cooperation in third-party markets. Of particular importance is the fact that when the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) launched its initiative in 2015, it started with an initial group of 57 member countries, which was also beyond expectations. At that time, the main direction of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank was Asia, but the 57 countries included Europe and other countries, and the first European to join the AIIB was the United Kingdom. The AIIB has now grown to 105 countries, covering about 80% of the world's population and 65% of the world's economy.

On November 8, 2014, General Secretary Xi Jinping announced at the "Strengthening Connectivity Partnership" host partner dialogue that China will invest US$40 billion to establish the Silk Road Fund to provide investment and financing support for infrastructure, resource development, industrial cooperation and financial cooperation related to infrastructure in countries along the "Belt and Road". By the end of 2022, the Silk Road Fund had invested in more than 60 countries and regions, with a committed investment of more than US$20 billion. There are also such as the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China to take the lead in the establishment of the "Belt and Road" inter-bank normalization cooperation mechanism, which has covered 158 institutions in 71 countries and regions, and issued panda bonds, the issuer has covered financial institutions, non-financial enterprises, national development institutions and government institutions, so far the issuer has reached 86, a total of 382 issued, the scale of 626 billion. We can see that China's AIIB, the Silk Road Fund and other banks have made great efforts in the investment and financing of the Belt and Road Initiative.

In the process of jointly building the Belt and Road, there are contradictions, entanglements, explorations, progress and results. The joint construction of the "Belt and Road" has profoundly changed the world pattern dominated by the ocean formed by industrial civilization in the past 300 years, and formed a new pattern of marine economy and land economy going hand in hand, common development and interconnection. At present, the interconnection pattern that is being formed and will be formed is mainly reflected in three aspects:

The first is the spatial layout, which forms a spatial layout of land, sea, air, network and ice, and gradually forms the Silk Road on land, sea, sky, online and ice;

The second is to form a new pattern of multi-dimensional promotion of the development of the Belt and Road Initiative, such as the Green Silk Road, the Digital Silk Road, the Health Silk Road, the Clean Silk Road, and the Innovation Silk Road, which are three-dimensional and multi-dimensional to the common development of human society.

The third is to form a three-in-one connectivity mode of building the "Belt and Road" with hard connectivity as an important direction, soft connectivity as an important support, and people-to-people bonds as an important foundation.

It's about people-to-people bonds. In 2021, General Secretary Xi Jinping stressed at the third Belt and Road Construction Forum that the goal of high standards, sustainability and benefiting people's livelihood should be to consolidate the foundation of connectivity and cooperation. How can we make more people in more countries have a higher sense of identity, and realize the connection of hearts is an important foundation and the most basic guarantee. In terms of heart connection, there are not only love projects, but also some education projects, as well as scholarships for international students to study in China, as well as mutual recognition Xi of academic qualifications, as well as Luban workshops.

The World Bank did a study in 2019 that the "Belt and Road" initiative can lift 7.6 million people out of extreme poverty and 32 million people out of moderate poverty in relevant countries with the interconnection of transportation facilities alone, and will increase the trade of participating countries by 2.8%-9.7%, global trade by 1.7%-6.2%, and global income by 0.7%-2.9%. With the steady and far-reaching development of the Belt and Road Initiative, the Belt and Road Initiative has brought more and more hope and opportunities to the world. So far, the continent has 115 medical facilities in 56 countries around the world.

About the Green Silk Road.

The Green Silk Road is the background and bright color of the Belt and Road Initiative, which is quite distinct, China has made great efforts in restoring the ecological environment over the years, and it can be said that it is at the forefront of the world to some extent.

According to data provided by international organizations, 25% of the world's new green area comes from China, and the World Conference on Wetland Parks was held in Yunnan in 2022, and China now accounts for 13 of the 43 wetlands in the world that can reach the world's level.

Since the reform and opening up, China's economy has developed rapidly, or is in a stage of rapid growth, but the ecological environment has been greatly affected. I once went to Qinghai on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau to do ecological research on the source of the three rivers, why it is called the source of the three rivers, that is, the source of the Yangtze River, the Yellow River, and the Lancang River are all on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, mainly in Qinghai. The Yangtze River accounts for 16% of the runoff and the Yellow River accounts for 36% of the runoff in the source of the three rivers, and the Lancang River is the only river that runs north-south. The Yellow River was cut off during the period of rapid development of the mainland, and the Yangtze River was also greatly affected.

In the past decade or so, the mainland's ecology has been restored, especially General Secretary Xi Jinping put forward that "lucid waters and lush mountains are golden mountains and silver mountains", the construction of ecological civilization comprehensively implements the river chief system and the lake chief system, and the primary task of the Yangtze River Economic Belt development strategy and the Yellow River national strategy is to carry out large-scale protection and not large-scale development.

China's ecological restoration has been accelerating in the past decade, and it is at the forefront of the world. First, the green area accounts for 25 percent of the world's increase, which is very remarkable; second, the system of river chiefs and lake chiefs vetoes and holds them accountable, which plays a vital role in the protection of rivers, lakes and seas, especially the protection of major rivers; third, the state has invested heavily in governance; and fourth, in recent five-year plans, energy conservation, consumption reduction, emission reduction, and ecological environmental protection have been regarded as binding targets, which are indicators that must be achieved. In the national five-year plan, even GDP is a guiding indicator, but ecological and environmental carbon emissions, industrial pollution, and dust control are hard binding indicators.

After General Secretary Xi Jinping solemnly pledged to peak carbon emissions by 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality by 2060, General Secretary Jinping announced to the world the following year that we will no longer carry out coal-fired power generation projects in the relevant countries of the "Belt and Road", which is very remarkable. Because more than two-thirds of the countries related to the "Belt and Road" are poor countries, developing countries, and some countries rely on coal for power generation, it is very important to balance the two or grasp the balance of the two in order to bring development opportunities to these countries in the "Belt and Road".

In line with General Secretary Xi's promise to the world, China has not added coal power projects in any of the new BRI countries since 2016. We have strengthened green development partnerships with countries along the Belt and Road, built the Green Silk Road, established the Belt and Road National Infrastructure Development Indicators, established the Belt and Road International Alliance for Green Development, signed more than 50 ecological and environmental protection documents with relevant countries, launched the Belt and Road Green Development Partnership with 28 countries, and implemented the Green Silk Road Messenger Program, training more than 3,000 green talents for more than 120 countries.

In October 2021, China released an action plan to peak carbon emissions before 2030, proposing to strengthen efforts to improve the environmental sustainability of overseas projects in green infrastructure, green energy, green finance and other fields with co-construction countries, and build a green and inclusive "Belt and Road" In the past ten years, we have cooperated with more than 100 countries and regions to carry out green energy projects, and the investment in green and low-carbon energy in the co-construction countries has exceeded that of traditional energy.

About the Silk Road of Innovation.

By February 2022, the Chinese government had established scientific and technological cooperation with 84 co-construction countries, laying an important institutional foundation for the "Belt and Road" scientific and technological innovation cooperation, supporting 1,118 joint research projects, in agriculture, energy, In the field of health, 53 joint laboratories have been launched, 31 bilateral and multilateral international technology transfer centers have been established, 5 national technology transfer platforms have been established, and a South-South cooperation center for technology transfer has been established under the framework of the United Nations South-South Cooperation, and a regional technology transfer collaboration network has been initially formed.

About the Online Silk Road.

In October 2022, we signed a memorandum of understanding on cooperation on the construction of the Digital Silk Road with 17 countries, a memorandum of understanding on bilateral e-commerce cooperation with 23 countries, a letter of intent with the International Telecommunication Union to strengthen cooperation in the field of telecommunications and information networks under the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative, an initiative with ASEAN to establish a digital economy partnership, and a statement by leaders of the China-ASEAN Smart City Cooperation Initiative to promote the Belt and Road Initiative In 2017 and 2018, it signed cooperation with Egypt and Rwanda to promote e-commerce and Internet+, among others.

China has done a lot of work on innovating the Silk Road and the Digital Silk Road. So far, China and the co-construction countries have built 34 cross-border onshore fiber optic cables and more than a dozen international submarine fiber optic cables. Cross-border terrestrial cable coverage to the "Belt and Road" In many countries and regions, the construction speed of submarine fiber optic cable is also relatively fast, especially important in addition to air route connectivity, the Beidou system can cover more than 230 countries around the world, more than 120 countries have applied products, and 137 countries have signed a cooperation text, our Beidou system is actually higher than the United States GPS positioning system accuracy, coverage is larger, the rate of transmission is faster, according to an academician who participated in the Wuhan Digital Economy Forum, the GPS positioning system can see through ten meters from the ground, our Beidou satellite system is five meters, the accuracy is just doubled。

2. The most important experience and enlightenment of the Belt and Road Initiative in the past ten years

First, the Belt and Road Initiative has contributed unique Chinese wisdom to the world today, showing General Secretary Xi Jinping's mind and courage as the leader of a major country.

Before and after China put forward the "Belt and Road" major initiative, the world has put forward more than 50 similar proposals, before about 27, and after that, there are more than 20, especially in recent years, the United States and some countries put forward the B3W plan, the global infrastructure partnership plan, Japan's Japan-Africa connectivity plan, Japan-India connectivity plan, the United Kingdom-India connectivity plan and the United States-Japan-India-Australia alliance. Before China proposed the Belt and Road Initiative, the United States proposed the New Silk Road during the Obama era, and other countries have similar plans.

Why has the Belt and Road Initiative been recognized, responded to, participated in and promoted by more than 30 international organizations, which account for three-quarters of the world's total? This is because in today's world, people are puzzled by too many questions: Where is the world going, economic globalization, deglobalization, or hemisphericization? Is it decoupling and breaking chains, or is it close cooperation and nesting each other? Is it peaceful development, cold war, or even hot war? Where is the earth on which we live going, what kind of earth should we leave to future generations, and what is the direction of mankind's future and destiny? These questions of the times, history, the world, and the century need to be answered. What should we do if the world's development deficit, peace deficit, trust deficit, and governance deficit are rising sharply?

Through ten years of practice, General Secretary Xi Jinping proposed the "Belt and Road" major initiative, as well as the Global Development Initiative, the Global Security Initiative, and the Global Civilization Initiative, a series of Chinese voices, Chinese initiatives, and Chinese ideas, which are answering or will continue to answer these major questions. As can be seen from the past few aspects, the Belt and Road Initiative conforms to the aspirations and expectations of the vast majority of countries and people in the world for development and peace, and adapts to the laws of human social development, economic development and social development, and can lead the new direction of human civilization.

The Chinese path to modernization opens up a third path outside the Western system, which fully proves that developing countries can achieve a catch-up strategy or a strategy of comparative advantage, and China represents a common aspiration of developing countries and poor countries that are standing from the ashes to leapfrog development. Therefore, the Belt and Road Initiative and the Chinese-style modernization proposed by the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China have enabled these countries to see the future of China's development, and the practice of the Belt and Road Initiative for 10 years has made the countries and the world see China's strength, and we have achieved tangible results and made the world see China's future.

The road we are walking is rugged, but we are walking uphill, and the uphill road must be bent down and forced, and the feet must be strong. This is called climbing, climbing is more difficult than going downhill, although the road of Chinese-style modernization is difficult, the joint construction of the "Belt and Road" is not easy, in addition to the misunderstanding we have received, there are all kinds of smears, we also lack experience, and it is true that there are many defects or shortcomings in some project demonstration, design, risk prevention, investment evaluation and other aspects, but the general direction represents the greatest common divisor of human development.

What is a world-class leader? What kind of qualities do leaders of major countries need to possess in order to become world-class leaders? That is, to be able to transcend the limitations of one country and lead many countries and people to seek the greatest common divisor of the development of each country from the perspectives of human development, world development, long-term development, and the development of future generations. Therefore, what is the export of the Belt and Road Initiative, which does not export the political model, the debt, or China's difficulties? What is exported is the concept of a community with a shared future for mankind, the way for major countries to get along through extensive consultation, joint contribution and shared benefits, and the huge stock that China has accumulated by relying on its own socialist construction, including market stock, industrial stock, talent stock, and capital stock, and through interconnection and improving economic connectivity, to find development opportunities for the world, especially developing countries and poor countries.

Second, the Belt and Road Initiative has formed a basic framework and development trend for cross-border international cooperation through ten years of efforts, and built a global platform and carrier for the formation of interconnection.

For example, the construction of land, sea and air network and ice space, for example, based on the six corridors and six land along the ancient Silk Road, multi-country and multi-port, for example, multi-dimensional promotion of interconnection in related fields, such as the Digital Silk Road, the Energy Silk Road, the Green Silk Road, the Innovation Silk Road, the Clean Silk Road, the Open Silk Road, and so on.

The unofficial report issued by the United Nations Environment Conference in 1972 pointed out that we had entered the globalized phase of human evolution, and that each person clearly had two countries, one for his own homeland and the other for the planet Earth. After 10 years of hard work, the Belt and Road Initiative has become a platform for transnational economic cooperation for the joint development of the countries of the country, a driving force for developing countries to take fewer detours and more paths, and achieve leapfrog development, injecting new momentum into the world economy. Therefore, so far, we have worked with the co-construction countries to build more than 3,000 major projects, which are not just commercial projects, but have allowed the world to see an unprecedented development scene and scene.

At present, 83% of the countries participating in the Belt and Road Initiative have established diplomatic relations with China and 78% of the members of the United Nations, and China's overseas investment project contracting labor cooperation and assistance projects have covered all the countries that have signed the "Belt and Road" cooperation text.

Third, the Belt and Road Initiative is bridging the differences in civilization, culture, humanity and development stages, and is tapping into a growing social foundation of reverence for peace and prosperity.

The reason why the Belt and Road Initiative is called a global public good is not that it is invested by China and built by China, but that China has put forward this concept, as well as the basic principles and main contents, which have brought new development concepts and opportunities to the world and formed more development channels and platforms. The Belt and Road Initiative has transcended the differences of different countries, different stages of development, different religions and cultures, and promoted the common values of peace, development, fairness, justice and freedom for all mankind. In this sense, the Belt and Road Initiative is not so much a "belt" and a "road", but rather the most important category of Chinese civilization, "Tao" and "potential".

General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out at the forum on cultural inheritance and development that Chinese civilization has outstanding inclusiveness, which fundamentally determines the historical orientation of the Chinese nation's exchanges, exchanges and blending, determines the harmonious pattern of the coexistence of various religious beliefs in China, and determines the Chinese culture's openness to the eclecticism of world civilizations. Only a civilization full of self-confidence can tolerate, learn from, and absorb the excellent achievements of various civilizations while maintaining its own characteristics. Therefore, under the new situation of economic globalization, the joint construction of the "Belt and Road" represents the general direction of future development.

Fourth, the Belt and Road Initiative cannot be achieved overnight, but requires years of perseverance and continuous resolution of problems in the process of progress, so as to jointly promote the steady and far-reaching development of this great cause.

Now just ten years have passed, so many things have been done in the past ten years, so many achievements have been achieved, and there are many experiences or lessons, but the "Belt and Road" decade is just the beginning, if the "Belt and Road" is compared to a long march, we have just taken the first step.

Therefore, there is still a lot of work to be done in a number of decades, working together in one direction, transnational economic cooperation into the consensus of all countries of mankind, improving economic connectivity, and achieving global connectivity, instead of erecting barriers to each other and blocking economic globalization, and we still have great challenges ahead of us, but the biggest challenge comes from the hegemony and bullying of some countries.

Fifth, the Belt and Road Initiative is a high-level opening-up, an institutional opening-up, a leading opening-up, and a glue and bridge between an open China and an open world.

The Belt and Road Initiative is an open, innovative and historic initiative related to the destiny and future of mankind, a miracle in the history of human development, the history of world development and the history of China's development, and a landmark event of landmark significance.

Martin Jacques, a senior fellow at Cambridge in the United Kingdom, pointed out that we should see the Belt and Road Initiative as an active mechanism that continues to evolve and change as the world changes. No matter which country promotes connectivity, it is a good thing to improve economic connectivity, but do not polarize, politicize, or weaponize it, in fact, in the end, the world will be connected, and eventually a new type of economic globalization will definitely be connected again.

Therefore, China has a strong connection to the world, Chinese civilization and world civilization, and inclusiveness and openness have been the core essence of Chinese civilization on the mainland since ancient times.

In 2022, the trade in goods between Chinese mainland and other countries in the world reached 6.31 trillion US dollars, forming an open trade pattern with the joint construction of the "Belt and Road" as the main body. China's economic development has shifted from a high-speed growth stage to a high-quality development stage, and now on the basis of China, not only China wants to develop, but also to drive the development of neighboring countries, but also to drive the development of developing countries and poor countries around the world. One of the fundamental reasons why the goal of two parallel systems cannot be achieved is that the joint construction of the Belt and Road Initiative and China's economic and social development have made people see China's path, China's ideas, China's strength, and China's credit.

Of course, China itself still has many problems to solve, such as the World Bank's standard for measuring the minimum living standard for low-income countries is $3.2 per capita per day, and according to such a standard, the next step for the mainland to get rid of absolute poverty and not leave a single person behind, is to solve relative poverty, so that the per capita level can reach $3.2, and how far is there to reach $3.2? There are still 273 million people.

Therefore, on the one hand, China must continue to resolve many deep-seated contradictions and problems in its own development, and on the other hand, it must unite all the forces that can be united in the world, stand on the right side of history, stand on the side of peaceful development, and stand on the side of the vast majority of developing countries and poor countries, and be a builder, promoter and contributor to world peace, prosperity, development and stability.

(The author is the chief economist of the China Center for International Economic Exchanges, and this article is compiled and edited according to the lectures of the Chongyang Research Institute of the National People's Congress; source: Kunlun Ce Network [author's authorization], reproduced from "Xuanjia Network", revised and published; the picture comes from the Internet, invaded and deleted)