China Needs the World and the World Needs China

2025-01-16

by Maria Luisa Ribeiro De Castro Fernandes

Councellor at Brazilian Press Association (ABI), Brazil

I came to China thinking about trust and what some of my friends who have been here had told me, and I return to the values I saw in conversations with locals who could communicate in English or Spanish, as well as the messages passed in the museums, cultural centers and activities we experienced during these days before the 2024 Belt and Road Journalists Forum.

The Chinese see the horse as a symbol of fidelity, the bamboo and the pine tree means persistence for them and the orchid means humility, a lifestyle that doesn’t chase fame. This ancient way of life was combined with the dream of a nationalist, Deng Xiaoping. In 1976, Mao-Tse-Tung, who controlled the Chinese Communist Party and ruled it, passed away. In 1978, Deng Xiaoping bagan to reform.

What we saw in Chongqing, the Planning Exhibition Gallery, the International Logistics Hub Park, the Railway Container Terminal Station and much more showed the results of Xiaoping opening up China to the outside world and putting the country on the path to modernity.  According to Rongchang District’s mayor, Wang Rong, the challenges for the coming years are: “How do we turn culture into something that can create work and generate jobs?”, she said, recalling that the former leader used to say that “culture is the spirit of the nation”.

I’ve traveled to around 50 countries, having been to several of them many times, and I can say: my generation will never see anything as impressive as China in terms of planning for the future and innovation as the strengththis country is experiences today. One can’t die without making this trip and seeing that it is possible to make things happen with what is lacking in a lot of countries: planning, long-term vision, love for the nation, dream and perseverance. China has written a new chapter in world economic development, it has got companies and people settled in many countries, being the number one partner of several of them, including Brazil, and there are opportunities for all of them to surf together to “expand the path of opportunities to share a bright future”, as the event´s theme, as most of them lack the ability to speak other languages, even English, which is more universal, just as a large part of the world doesn’t know Mandarin. There aren’t even that many translators worldwide, which means opportunities 360 degrees.

The Belt and Road Initiative, also known as The New Silk Road, is part of this ambitious development project promoted by China. It brings together business areas between China, Central Asia, Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Central and South America, with journalists from Kazakhstan to Saudi Arabia, Mauritius to Brazil. China’s growth is accelerated and the world needs to build roads, railroads, ports and infrastructure to step forward to the next level. These are new markets for everyone, especially the less developed ones, which need investors to make them happen. The New Silk Road has the potential to create jobs and social inclusion, as well as transforming the world’s economy and geopolitics.

*The views and opinions expressed in the articles are solely those of the individual authors and do not reflect the position of the Secretariat of the Belt and Road Journalist Network.