10 years of belt and road: a showcase of China’s peaceful rise
- While a fuller assessment of this ambitious initiative will only be possible with time, its benefits so far – to both China and the rest of the world – cannot be denied
- More importantly, the belt and road shows the rise of China has brought not colonial conquests or wars, but trade, tourism, infrastructure and economic growth
Journalists and scholars from around the world have been reflecting on the 10 years of the belt and road. Among those reflections, Western narratives that focus on certain individual cases or take a particular slant rate the belt and road poorly.
To take a wider perspective, the changes the belt and road has brought to the world are even more valuable than the changes it has brought to China.
In fact, while the belt and road promotes the rebalancing of China’s economic and trade structure, it is also promoting changes to the pattern of international relations and global perspectives.
In Africa, China has built more than 6,000km of railways, over 10,000km of roads and multiple major infrastructure projects such as ports, airports, power stations, schools and hospitals. In the past 10 years, China’s annual outward foreign investment has averaged about US$150 billion, with more of its capital flowing to BRI countries.
More importantly, China’s capacity for infrastructure production and successes in trade investment, accompanied by an operation framework that ranges from planning and design to financing and operation, has enabled developing countries that have been trapped by a lack of technology and capital to catch up.
Ten years of belt and road cooperation has encouraged developing countries to strive for a better future, thereby improving the balance and fairness of the international community in technology, trade and rules.
Objectively speaking, global governance led by the West has made historical contributions. But it has to be said that, in the nearly 80 years following the end of World War II, and especially since the end of the Cold War, the negative impact the West has had on the world far outweighs the positives.
Now that Western countries are making a greater effort to work more closely with developing countries, albeit in an attempt to compete with China, if these efforts actually bring benefits, then that is an unexpected surprise of the belt and road.
West’s attacks on China’s belt and road are futile
No matter how Western politicians, the media and think tanks vilify the initiative, they cannot cover up the basic fact that, when in a position of strength, China does not take the old path of aggression and expansion we see in the histories of Europe, the US, Japan and others.
The 10 years of the Belt and Road Initiative have proven that the rise of China has not brought colonial conquests, disasters and wars. Instead, it has brought the world trade, tourism, new infrastructure and economic growth. This is more than can be said for the Western countries’ rise to power.
Ten years is too soon to evaluate a grand strategy like the BRI. The belt and road has brought benefits thus far, but more time is needed for a more accurate assessment. We should wait 20, 30, 40 years or more – perhaps only then will the world appreciate the significance of the initiative, in the same way that we have come to admire the greatness of China’s reform and opening up.
Wang Wen is professor and executive dean at Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies, Renmin University of China