The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), China’s grand plan to expand economic cooperation through infrastructure development across continents connected by strategic land and maritime routes, has profoundly changed the world and continues to reshape it. 

Ten years is still too short a time to assess this global initiative, but long enough to have demonstrated the country’s effort to make the world a better place. 

First of all, China is bringing common prosperity to the world. According to the latest data, more than 150 countries and regions have taken part in various BRI agreements or arrangements; they account for about 75 percent of the world’s population and more than half of global GDP. That’s the world’s biggest “commonwealth” group.

In terms of investment, Chinese enterprises have invested an aggregated 400 billion yuan ($56 billion) in various projects in the participating countries, creating over 420,000 jobs, according to a research report by China’s Renmin University.  

Tradewise, the total trade volume between China and countries along the Belt and Road rose by 99 percent in the past decade, on top of which six major global economic corridors have been built up, creating synergy for regional economic development.

In a scattered world, such an initiative is especially valuable to mankind. We have to note that China is still only a developing country and not a dominant player in the international landscape. Making this much happen in just 10 years is a miracle. And this is the best demonstration of China’s commitment to promoting the world’s common prosperity.

During the process, the world also saw China’s evolution, setting examples and offering solutions to global partners in tackling development problems. One of the most iconic is the nation’s dedication to green development and continuously upgrading its green solutions.

It is high time for the city’s people, especially youth, to look at future opportunities provided by the BRI and more importantly, give it a try with courage and an open mind. As the world is undergoing big changes, Hong Kong must make the most of it

Yes, this could be the biggest change to China’s global image in the past 10 years. Some years back, China was labeled as a “country of smog”. Air pollution and related industrial, energy development strategies raised concerns at home. Overseas, the country was also funding a series of coalfired power plants in economic partnership projects, aiming to help other developing countries to improve electricity infrastructure. However, such a push encountered opposition abroad for its potential threat to the natural environment. 

China did not shirk its responsibilities. Rather, it chose to rise to the challenge. To show its commitment to environmental protection, the country largely cut its funding for global coalfired power projects and shifted to support hydropower plants, which are considered more environmentally friendly. By 2019, hydropower accounted for 70 percent of the non-fossil power generation capacity funded by China overseas, according to government data.  

However, the new strategy still drew skepticism. Some studies suggest that the raised water levels in rivers would flood out wetlands and forests, and hydropower facilities would prevent fish from coming to some areas while some villagers would be forced to relocate. Therefore, residents sometimes launched protests against hydropower projects, and even blamed China for funding or building them.

But China never stops improving its solutions. Now with the rapid development of photovoltaic technology, it has finally found the greenest way by far to help developing countries to improve power access. With a more environmentally friendly power solution push, China started to build floating solar farms for Belt and Road countries. With the new facilities, villagers, whether they live by the sea or a lake, will not only get stable and sustainable power supply, but also more fishing yields after insolation of the solar panels. That perfectly achieved two important ends with a single effort, and the results being 1+1>2.  

The new model created the best balance for infrastructure development and environmental protection. The world learnt throughout the BRI in the past decade that China is not just a “construction monster” but also an environment protector.

Although the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government has strongly encouraged local businesses and professionals to participate in the BRI, looking back at the past 10 years, the global development initiative has been mostly the central government’s project whereas Hong Kong has only played an auxiliary role leveraging mainly its strength in financial services. 

But Hong Kong has great potential to expand its role. In a radical move, Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu led a 30-strong government-business delegation to the Middle East in February, which resulted in a number of agreements on finance, innovation technology, construction engineering, transportation and energy development. And at this year’s Belt and Road Summit in Hong Kong in September, the city will host a Middle East forum for the first time, principally to elaborate on details of partnerships. 

This is a step in the right direction. Hong Kong has the potential to provide high-quality professional services, management and technology support in numerous fields to partners around the world. That could be the direction for Hong Kong’s next step in its own BRI push and the city’s role will no doubt be expanded in the process. 

But finding the direction is only a start. It is high time for the city’s people, especially youth, to look at future opportunities provided by the BRI and more importantly, give it a try with courage and an open mind. As the world is undergoing big changes, Hong Kong must make the most of it.

The author is a member of the Hunan Province Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference and vice-chairman of the Hong Kong Y. Elites Association. 

The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.