Xi Jinping invokes the Silk Road spirit
Belk and Road cooperation represents the advancing of our times
Speaking at the Opening Ceremony of the Third Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation on October 18, 2023, China’s President Xi Jinping appealed for support of the “Silk Road spirit” of cooperation, mutual learning, and mutual benefit. This was the way, he maintains, of the “pioneers of ancient silk routes . . . [who] . . .won their place in history not as conquerors with warships, guns, horses or swords . . . [but] . . . as friendly emissaries leading camel caravans and sailing ships loaded with goods.”
For Xi, cooperation is the key to the common development of all. “Cooperation seeks to deliver a good life not only to people of just one country, but to people in other countries as well. It promotes connectivity, mutual benefit, common development, cooperation and win-win outcomes.”
The Silk Road spirit contrasts with “ideological confrontation, geopolitical rivalry, and bloc politics,” which are not an option for China, Xi maintains. China stands against unilateral sanctions and coercion, which decouple economies and disrupt supply chains.
With these words, Xi gives voice to a worldview fundamentally different from that which provides the pillars for the Western-centered capitalist world-economy and the U.S.-dominated neocolonial world-system. Words that challenge not merely U.S. hegemony but, more deeply, the structures and norms that provide the foundation to the world-system. Words that are signs of an alternative world-system that China is constructing in cooperation with the countries in development of the Third World, which themselves are advancing to the historic completion of their mission for sovereignty and national liberation from Western colonialism and imperialism.
Xi pointed out that Belk and Road cooperation today extends from the Eurasian continent to Africa and Latin America. More than 150 countries have signed Belk and Road documents of cooperation, and more than twenty platforms of multilateral cooperation have been developed under the auspices of the Belk and Road Initiative (BRI). Xi maintains that a global network of connectivity has been developed, including railways, roads, airports, seaports, pipelines and power grids as well as the Internet, which have increased the flow of goods, capital, technologies, and human resources among countries. He described it as the millennia-old Silk Road, injected with a new vitality for a new era.
As a result, China has become a main trading partner of more than 140 countries. Chinese investment oversees has expanded, such that China has become a primary source of investment in many countries; and foreign investment in China has increased. This has strengthened friendship, confidence, and hope.
The expansion of Belt and Road cooperation has reinforced China’s belief that “win-win cooperation is the sure way to success,” beneficial to all. Xi declared:
“When countries embrace cooperation, . . . a place of underdevelopment can be transformed into a land of prosperity. Countries taking the lead in economic development should give a hand to their partners who are yet to catch up. We should all treat each other as friends and partners, respect and support each other, and help each other succeed. . . . Helping others is also helping oneself. Viewing others’ development as a threat or taking economic interdependence as a risk will not make one’s own life better or speed up one’s development.”
Xi maintains that the success in the development of the Belt and Road Initiative during the last ten years demonstrates that “Belt and Road cooperation is on the right side of history. It represents the advancing of our times.” We must remain clear on this point, and not permit developments in a volatile world to cause us to lose our focus on common development through cooperation. China, for its part, will continue to take steps in promoting increased connectivity and cooperation in the pursuit of ecological sustainable development and scientific and technological development. China, Xi declared, is endeavoring to bring Belt and Road cooperation to a new stage of higher-quality cooperation, thus promoting the modernization and development of all countries.
A Xinhua News Agency editorial stated that the third Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation, held on October 17-18, 2023, marked another milestone in the building of the Belt and Road. The Chinese news agency reported that the opening ceremony was attended by heads of state and senior officials from more than 140 countries as well as more than thirty international organizations. Similarly, Global Times declared that the forum was one of China’s most important diplomatic events of the year, which will be seen as significant for years to come.
During the Forum, which had over 10,000 participants, a total of 458 results of one form or another were attained, far more than in the second forum. The increase was stimulated by the stress on higher-quality development in the future, with a greater focus on digital technologies and green development. Agreements were concluded worth $US 97 billion. Prior to the meeting, over 3,000 BRI projects had been launched with nearly one trillion U.S. dollars of investment.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi called the Forum “a complete success,” and especially important was “the consensus reached at this forum to open a new stage of high-quality Belt and Road cooperation." The Foreign Minister also stated that "the forum shows that peaceful development and win-win cooperation are the general trend and the aspiration of the people. Cold war confrontation and decoupling are against the historical trend and have no way out."
In the same vein, Sun Yanhong of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences stated that "unlike the US, China has adopted an inclusive approach, which is in line with the aspirations of the international community for peace, development and cooperation." Consistent with this view, Global Times reported that many participants in the conference drew a contrast between the Forum’s “message of peace, development, and cooperation” and U.S. support for war in Eastern Europe and the Middle East.
The Belt and Road Initiative has the support of UN Secretary-General António Guterres, one of the participants in the Forum. He declared, “Together, with the contributions of the Belt and Road Initiative, we can turn the infrastructure emergency into an infrastructure opportunity, supercharge the implementation of the sustainable development goals, and deliver hope and progress for billions of people and the planet we share.”
Wen Sheng, Editor of Global Times, writes that the Belt and Road Initiative is of historic importance. He notes that more than 150 countries comprising more than 70% of the world’s population have joined the BRI, which he described as a global network of connectivity including trade and transportation routes and an information highway that facilitate the flow of goods, capital, technologies, and human capital among the partnering nations. He further notes that Chinese companies have donated hundreds of billions of dollars in loans and grants for railways, roads, and other infrastructural projects around the world, from Laos to Kenya to Argentina.
Wen writes that the Belt and Road Initiative is the opposite of the U.S. effort to divide and separate the world in order to prolong its own dominance and to protect only its economic interests. He observes that so-called leaders in the USA make hollow promises in order to attain votes on election day, but “facing horrendous challenges like climate change, public health hazards, poverty and war, the US and its allies have chosen confrontation over cooperation.” In contrast, “like its ancestor Silk Road, the BRI embodies the distinctive spirit of peace and cooperation, openness and inclusiveness, mutual learning and mutual benefit. It transcends differences between civilizations, cultures, social systems, and stages of development.” The visionary leaders of Asia, Africa, Europe, and Latin America, he observes, understand the difference between the Chinese and American approaches, and they reject the zero-sum game and bullying of the USA.
One of the notable projects of Belt and Road Initiative is the China-Laos Railway, which began operation in December 2021. It has transformed the landlocked country of Laos into a land-linked transportation and commercial hub in Southeast Asia. Sida Phengphongsawanh, a 24-year-old Lao train inspector for the China-Laos Railway, stated that “the Laos-China Railway is just the starting point. It will connect more countries in the future, allowing us to go abroad more easily." She declared that "the Belt and Road is a great initiative." This was confirmed by Liu Nanxing, a member of the National Development and Reform Commission, who stated that the improved infrastructure connections “can reduce international trade costs and enable underdeveloped countries, especially those located inland, to participate in global trade and seek economic development.”
The appreciation of the BRI comes not only from the East. Robert Lawrence Kuhn, chairman of the U.S.-based Kuhn Foundation, stated the win-win cooperation model has delivered practical results over the past 10 years. He declared that "historians 1,000 years from now will look back and will circle the BRI as something of significance for our era today."
According to an editorial in Global Times, China will maintain its significant level of investment in BRI projects, but it is also entering a stage of attracting new investment funds from private capital inside and outside of China. International investors are very positive toward the BRI. China finances BRI initiatives through the China Development Bank, the Export-Import Bank of China, and the Silk Road Fund.
Shen Yi, an expert on international relations at Fudan University, stated that “although some Western political elites and media outlets are being hostile toward the BRI, we can barely hear criticism from Western companies. Why? Because they are also earning money from it. Many BRI projects are open for international participation with transparency and fairness.”
In the West, there are wars and rumors of wars. In the East, the ancient Silk Road spirit lives. We should be clear on which is better, and we ought to do the right thing. We in the West should not view it as a defeat, because the new stage of Chinese-led development and modernization is being built on the foundation of the advances in production and science and the philosophical concepts and proclaimed values of the Western-centered capitalist world-economy. We should view it as a new stage of collective human achievement, in which humanity is taking decisive steps toward the fulfillment of its destiny.
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