The successful convening of the third Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation signals that the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), which was advocated and propelled by China, has entered a more mature and sustainable stage of development after 10 years of implementation in a turbulent international environment. 

In the past decade, the BRI has made impressive progress in countering the trend of “de-globalization”, forging a more open, fair and reasonable international order, promoting a global community of shared future, advancing the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, promoting Chinese-style modernization, pushing ahead China’s reform and opening-up strategy, expanding the country’s international political and economic space, and safeguarding national security. 

So far, China has signed more than 230 cooperation documents related to the BRI with over 150 countries and 30 international organizations; and the Health Silk Road, the Digital Silk Road, the Green Silk Road, the Energy Silk Road, and even the Polar Silk Road have proceeded smoothly, the Digital Silk Road in particular.

The BRI has also made great contributions to advancing Eurasian regional economic cooperation, helped speed up the development of countries and improve the well-being of the people along the route. It has also significantly promoted China’s own development, boosted its international status, and enabled it to garner wide recognition and support in the Global South. Be that as it may, since President Xi Jinping proposed the BRI 10 years ago, except for the first couple of years, the promotion of the BRI has encountered adverse reactions and countermeasures from the United States, the European Union, Japan, India and other countries, and some countries’ suspicion and misunderstanding, as well as many unfavorable factors such as the deterioration of the global political and economic situation and the onslaught of COVID-19. Nevertheless, all these challenges have not shaken China’s sincerity, determination and efforts to make the BRI a success. On Oct 22, 2022, the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) approved partial modifications to the Constitution of the CPC, adding “adhere to the principle of extensive consultation, joint contribution, and shared benefits, and promote the construction of the Belt and Road”. The BRI has become a crucial strategy and policy of the CPC and the unswerving long-term goal of the Chinese people. 

We must remain aware that no matter how the Belt and Road Initiative is adjusted and optimized to promote high-quality development, the US and its allies and partners are likely to continue to hinder and disrupt it. But since the BRI is fundamentally in line with the needs and interests of the Global South and the concept of a global community of shared future is in sync with the historical trend of human development, it will continue to forge ahead and achieve more success in constructing the global community of shared future

Of course, as a vital strategic plan, China will adjust, optimize, consolidate and refine the BRI from time to time in response to changes in domestic and international situations, and in reaction to hostile stance of the US and its allies. China will have to take effective measures to ensure that the BRI continues to develop in a high-quality and sustainable direction in the face of strong headwinds.

For a long time, to contain the rise of China, the US and its allies have worked assiduously to discredit the BRI. They falsely claim that China intends to use the BRI to become the “hegemon” of Eurasia and even the world, disrupt or even replace the international order dominated by the US, and craft an international order with China at the core embodying “tributary relations”, “authoritarianism” and excluding the US. Some American experts worry that if more European countries integrate themselves into Asia by participating in the BRI, the global strategic layout of the US will be undermined, accelerating the decline of US hegemony. The accusations made by American strategy expert Jonathan D.T. Ward are even more bizarre. He claimed that the BRI is an effort to tie the world’s major continents into economic integration and dependency on China and to realize China’s “wildest ambitions” of an encircled, strangled and destroyed America.

To curb the BRI, the US and its allies and partners have continuously smeared it, sowed discord between China and other countries, peddled the notion of “debt and political traps”, and urged countries not to take part in infrastructure and other projects initiated by China. At the same time, they have put forward “alternatives” to the BRI. Major “alternatives” include the Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment led by the G7 (Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the US); the G7-driven Build Back a Better World Initiative; the European Union’s Global Gateway; Japan’s Partnership for Quality Infrastructure and Quality Infrastructure Investment (in tandem with the World Bank); and the Blue Dot Network initiative of Australia, Japan and the US. 

At the G20 summit held in September, US President Joe Biden announced that India, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, together with Israel, France, Germany, Italy and the US, want to create an India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEEC), which is intended to link India, the Arabian Gulf and Europe. If successful, IMEEC would help knit together important regions and offer a powerful “alternative” to BRI. In addition, the Indo-Pacific strategy of the US, which features the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity, has explicit intentions of checking and balancing the BRI. 

The various measures and actions taken by the US and its allies and partners to weaken the BRI inevitably hurt it, but there is no need to exaggerate their adverse impact. After all, with the primary goal being the containment of the BRI, their sincerity and efforts in assisting the development of countries in the Global South are minimal and mostly perfunctory. The funds and resources they are willing and able to devote to those “alternatives” are manifestly insufficient. Moreover, they often have stringent political, economic and financial conditions for the recipient countries that are repugnant to those countries, making it difficult for those “alternatives” to compete with the BRI in wooing countries in the Global South. What is even more intractable for them is that the US and its allies and partners lack effective coordination in their objectives, plans and actions to contain the BRI, rendering their joint efforts less effective. 

The containment and suppression of the BRI by the US and its allies and partners is not the only challenge that it faces. There is a plethora of equally or more troublesome difficulties that need to be overcome. In this regard, the findings of a report written by a research team of the China Center for International Economic Exchanges, titled “New Vision: Jointly Building High-Quality Development of the Belt and Road (2023)”, are compelling. The challenges and risks faced by the BRI are very candidly recognized. In addition to containment and interference from the US and its allies and partners, the report also enumerated other challenges faced in some countries involved in the BRI, including poor business environment, investment insecurity, financial insecurity, indebtedness, operational difficulties, political instability, terrorism, armed conflicts, local wars, cultural differences, public health insecurity, and many other issues.

For China, in response to various challenges, to effectively respond to external doubts, and to continue to advance the BRI, it must continuously improve, optimize, adjust and consolidate the BRI to achieve high-quality and sustainable development. In October, the State Council Information Office issued a white paper titled “The Belt and Road Initiative: A Key Pillar of the Global Community of Shared Future”. The white paper provides clear guidelines for the future development of the BRI. The more relevant ones in this connection include:

First, as a promoter of globalization, the BRI “should develop in a more open, inclusive, universally beneficial, balanced and win-win direction”.

Second, China will increase its efforts to open up so that more countries can share more of the dividends of the country’s development. “The BRI aims to promote the common modernization of all countries and promote a more dynamic, inclusive and sustainable economic globalization process. The results will benefit people of all countries more and more equitably.”

Third, the BRI is the main carrier of a global community of shared future. “The joint construction of the BRI takes building a global community of shared future as its highest goal, and it has built a practical platform and provided a path to achieve this goal. … It is an important public good for improving global governance.”

Fourth, more emphasis will be placed on market principles and corporate participation. “Follow the laws of the market and realize the interest demands of all parties involved through market-oriented operations. Enterprises are the main body, and the government mainly plays the role of building platforms, creating mechanisms and providing policy guidance.”

Fifth, adhere to the principles of openness, transparency and integrity. “All parties work together to improve the construction of the anti-corruption legal system … promote international anti-corruption cooperation, and resolutely oppose all types of corruption and other international criminal activities.”

Sixth, conduct project construction with rigorous rules and high standards. “The joint construction of the BRI introduces rules and standards that are generally supported by all parties, promotes enterprises to implement generally accepted international rules and standards in project construction, operations, procurement, bidding … and promotes cooperation and project construction in various fields with high standards.”

Seventh, ensure financial security and avoid debt defaults. “Follow international practices and the principle of debt sustainability, continuously improve the long-term, stable, sustainable, and risk-controllable investment and financing system … ensure commercial and financial sustainability. No country has fallen into a debt crisis because of participating in the BRI.”

Eighth, act on economic principles rather than political principles. “China provides loans for project construction based on the needs and actual conditions of the country where the project is located. … Almost all BRI projects are sponsored by the host countries and follow the logic of economics, not geopolitics.”

Ninth, the BRI will not destroy or replace the existing international order but instead strengthen international cooperation, especially through the integration of the BRI with other regional economic cooperation systems, so that more countries can participate in the BRI cooperation. 

All these important principles have been incorporated into the eight action plans of China put forth by President Xi Jinping in his keynote speech to the third Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation.

However, we must remain aware that no matter how the BRI is adjusted and optimized to promote high-quality development, the US and its allies and partners are likely to continue to hinder and disrupt it. But since the BRI is fundamentally in line with the needs and interests of the Global South and the concept of a global community of shared future is in sync with the historical trend of human development, it will continue to forge ahead and achieve more success in constructing a global community of shared future.

The author is a professor emeritus of sociology, the Chinese University of Hong Kong, and a consultant of the Chinese Association of Hong Kong and Macao Studies.

The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.