(by Professor Zheng Changzhong on the way to Xi’an Airport on the afternoon of May 21, 2025)
This morning, I introduced the concept of a Community with a Shared Future for Mankind and its relationship with the Belt and Road Initiative. Just now, we attended the opening ceremony of the 9th Silk Road International Exposition. I believe you all have a certain understanding of the Belt and Road Initiative. So, what are the main content, general measures and achievements of the Belt and Road Initiative? Next, I will introduce them to you.
The Belt and Road Initiative is an important measure to implement the concept of building a Community with a Shared Future for Mankind. Among them, “the Belt” refers to the Silk Road Economic Belt, and “the Road” refers to the 21st-Century Maritime Silk Road. It borrows the historical and cultural symbols of the Silk Road that has existed in China for more than 2,000 years, and turns ancient ideas to modern use. It is an important starting point for China to promote the building of a Community with a Shared Future for Mankind and its own opening-up under the background of globalization. The initiative was proposed and promoted by President Xi Jinping in 2013, with the core emphasis on the “Five Connectivities”: policy connectivity, infrastructure connectivity, trade connectivity, financial connectivity and people-to-people connectivity.
President Xi Jinping said that countries along the Belt and Road are not China’s back garden, but a hundred-flower garden jointly built. It is a public product that meets China’s own development needs and enables China’s development to benefit the world. As of 2024, China has signed more than 200 cooperation agreements with over 150 countries and more than 30 international organizations to achieve policy connectivity. We also welcome the integration of economic plans of various countries and regions with the Belt and Road Initiative to become a new global development mechanism.
As a key support for the new global development mechanism, infrastructure connectivity takes transportation connectivity as the core in the physical space dimension, forming a three-dimensional network of coordinated development of land, sea and air. The land passage is typified by the China-Europe Railway Express. Since its operation in 2011, it has built an international logistics trunk line connecting 130+ cities in 12 Asian countries and 210+ cities in 26 European countries. As of 2024, the cumulative number of trips has exceeded 100,000. Through investment, construction and operational cooperation, the maritime network has achieved deep connectivity with more than 200 ports in over 60 countries and regions. Air connectivity focuses on high-efficiency transportation needs, with more than 900 regular passenger and cargo routes opened with over 200 airports in more than 80 countries, covering major economic centers in Southeast Asia, the Middle East, Africa and Europe. This multi-level transportation network not only lays a realistic foundation for the movement of goods and people, but also continuously enhances the resilience and sustainability of the global supply chain through intelligent upgrades (such as digital ports and autonomous driving freight technology) and green transformation (such as new energy ships and low-carbon aviation fuel), fully demonstrating the practical value of the Belt and Road Initiative as a new global development mechanism.
In the field of trade connectivity, the Belt and Road Initiative has promoted a leapfrog growth in the trade scale between China and countries along the route. From US$1.04 trillion in the early days of the initiative in 2013, it has grown to more than US$2 trillion in 2024, with a cumulative trade volume of over US$20 trillion. The trade structure has been continuously optimized, with mechanical and electrical products and green energy equipment accounting for more than 60%. New business forms such as cross-border e-commerce and market procurement have grown at an average annual rate of more than 20%, forming a development pattern of “parallel development of traditional trade and digital trade, and coordination of goods trade and service trade”.
In the field of financial integration, China and countries along the route have built a diversified financial support system. In terms of policy finance, the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) and the Silk Road Fund have approved more than 400 projects with a committed investment of over US$100 billion, covering transportation, energy, digital economy and other fields. In terms of currency cooperation, local currency swap agreements have been signed with more than 40 countries and regions, with a scale of more than 4 trillion yuan, which has greatly reduced the exchange rate risks of enterprises. In terms of capital market connectivity, many innovative mechanisms have been implemented to promote cross-border investment and financing facilitation. In 2024, the direct investment in China by countries along the route increased by 12% year-on-year.
In the field of people-to-people connectivity, on the basis of continuing education cooperation (cumulatively training more than 300,000 students from countries along the route) and cultural exchanges (holding activities such as the “Silk Road International Theater Alliance”), the initiative has innovatively launched “small but beautiful” livelihood projects. For example, the Luban Workshops have built 35 vocational education bases in 20 countries, cumulatively training more than 100,000 technical and skilled talents, providing local youth with practical skill training in electrician, mechanical processing, e-commerce and other fields, and is known as the “technical bridge” on the Belt and Road Initiative. Medical and health cooperation covers more than 60 countries, implementing public welfare projects such as the “Brightness Action” and “Love Action”, providing ophthalmic surgery, infectious disease prevention and control and other medical services for more than 20 million patients. The youth exchange mechanism has been continuously improved. Platforms such as the “Silk Road Young Scholars Forum” and the “China-ASEAN Youth Camp” attract an average of more than 5,000 young people to participate each year, promoting understanding and mutual trust among different civilizations.
As of the end of 2023, the Belt and Road Initiative has gone through a decade of brilliant history. In 2024, this cooperation platform carrying the vision of common development officially entered the “second golden decade”, focusing on cutting-edge directions such as smart-tech and greening, and promoting existing cooperation to leap to a broader field and a higher level. Ten years of practice have fully proved that the Belt and Road Initiative is not only a “first move” for China to expand opening-up, but also a “large platform” for China and the world to share development opportunities. By exporting technology, standards and management experience, China energizes countries along the route improve their infrastructure level and industrial competitiveness. The world provides a broad market space for China’s economic growth through trade and investment with China. This positive interaction of “China’s development benefits the world, and the world’s development drives China” is a vivid practice of the concept of a Community with a Shared Future for Mankind in global governance. It goes beyond the traditional logic of zero-sum games and shows the world a new path to achieve common development through win-win cooperation.
In the past two days in Xi’an, we have seen the construction of the land Silk Road, such as the comprehensive transportation hub like the China-Europe Railway Express (Xi’an) Gathering Center. Next, we will go to the airport and fly to Ningbo, which has Zhoushan Port, one of the largest ports in the world, where we can experience the development of the 21st-Century Maritime Silk Road.
*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.