China's Belt and Road Initiative to reconnect countries along the ancient Silk Road through closer economic, trade and cultural ties could expect early harvest, with mutual interests serving as the key driver behind thriving cooperation amid global economic uncertainties.[Special coverage]
"The Belt and Road Initiative, though initiated by China, is not only about China," Chinese President Xi Jinping said late April at a group study on the history of the Silk Road and Maritime Silk Road.
"I hope people in all countries along the Belt and Road will actually feel the benefit brought by the initiative."
The Belt and Road Initiative, which comprises the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, was brought up by Xi in 2013, with the aim of building a trade and infrastructure network connecting Asia with Europe and Africa along the ancient Silk Road routes.
It aims to boost not only China's development but also that of other countries, Xi said.
"While taking care of our own interests, we will give more consideration and care to the interests of other countries," he said.
Hu Angang, professor of economics from Tsinghua University, said that China, as a major responsible player in the global community, is being very open and cooperative in its Belt and Road Initiative, so as to bind its own interests with those of other countries.
Professor Wang Yiwei with Renmin University echoed Hu's remarks, saying that the initiative is both Chinese and global, as it not only solves China's development problems but also those of other countries.
STIMULATING GROWTH
While global economic recovery remains fragile, China's Belt and Road Initiative offers a huge potential to inject vigor into the world economy, given that it covers about 4.4 billion people in more than 60 countries, or 63 percent of the global population.
The initiative serves as a timely cure for the post-crisis world economy by providing badly-needed public goods, according to Jin Qi, chair of the 40-billion-U.S. dollar Silk Road Fund established by the Chinese government in late 2014.
The fund, which has made three substantial investments in less than a year since its inception, is a visible example of China's action in engaging in global infrastructure investment and promoting sustainable development.
The win-win philosophy behind the Belt and Road Initiative is the starting point for China's positive interaction with the rest of the world, and serves as a platform for building consensus from home and abroad, said Hu.
A good example is the Piraeus port, the largest of its kind in Greece, which reaped abundant benefits from working with Chinese enterprises through the initiative, despite the lackluster, debt-ridden Greek economy.
On April 8, China's state-run shipping giant, China COSCO Shipping Corporation Limited, struck a deal with Greece's privatization fund HRADF to take over a 67-percent stake in the Piraeus port.
The results of the first six years of operation by a subsidiary of China COSCO Shipping at Piraeus are already impressive. Taxes and pay rolls attributed to the Greek government and employees have reached up to 500 million euros (567 million dollars).
