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China Issues White Paper on the Eve of the Belt and Road Forum
17 October 2023
EIRNS—On the eve of the Oct. 17-18 Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation, the Chinese government has issued a White Paper entitled “Belt and Road Initiative: A Key Pillar of the Global Community of Shared Future.” The White Paper, published in full in several government outlets, was reviewed by Global Times. It is a long paper which we suggest to read in full. Longer excerpts can be found in the Documentation section. The paper “expounded on the background against which BRI was launched, which it said is in response ‘to a changing global situation and the expectations of the international community.’” the Global Times reported. "The white paper offers a detailed glimpse into the decade achievement of BRI. One among which is the promotion of all-rounded connectivity in multiple fields including policy coordination, infrastructure connectivity, unimpeded trade, financial integration, and closer people-to-people ties. “From 2013 to 2022, China’s trade with BRI participating countries reached $19.1 trillion, with an average annual growth rate of 6.4 percent. The cumulative two-way investment between China and partner countries reached $380 billion, including $240 billion from China, the white paper showed. “During the press conference on [Oct. 10] Tuesday, Vice Commerce Minister Guo Tingting also took note of a number of flagship BRI projects, including China-Laos Railway, Jakarta-Bandung High-speed Railway as well as Mombasa-Nairobi Standard Gauge Railway. “Those projects are part of a grand overarching transport network being built up under BRI which some foreign observers hailed as a ‘game changer’ for different continents. “‘For the first time in history, an unprecedented plan for the formation and development of an interconnected transportation infrastructure across the entire Eurasian continent was presented. Its implementation truly opened up broad prospects for the creation of a fundamentally new transport configuration across the vast expanse of our planet,’ Saidmukhtar Saidkasimov, former Uzbek deputy prime minister and former minister of Foreign Affairs of Uzbekistan, told the Global Times…. “‘The BRI connects the past, the present and the future. This initiative was launched by China, but it belongs to the world and benefits the whole of humanity,’ reads the white paper.” [ccc] Oct. 17-18 Belt and Road Forum Website Building an Open, Inclusive and Interconnected World for Common Development |
