一帶一路 Belt and Road

About the Belt and Road Initiative

 

The Belt and Road (B&R) Initiative, officially known as the ‘Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road’, is a trans-national economic network proposed and spearheaded by China. The idea of building the inter-continental economic network was first promoted by President Xi in 2013. Inspired by the ancient Silk Road, the development strategy aims to establish a new platform for international cooperation and to facilitate global development.

The ancient Silk Road, which connected countries in Asia, Europe and Africa, started to take shape with Zhang Qian’s explorations of Central Asia in the Han dynasty. After centuries of development by the states along the trade route, Silk Road, in addition to the ‘Maritime Silk Road’, the maritime transport route which stretches from Quanzhou, Fujian to Italy and Egypt, not only played a significant role in cultural exchanges and trading among Asia, Europe and Africa, but also promoted interactions between the eastern and western civilisations.

After centuries of development by the states along the trade route, Silk Road promoted interactions between the eastern and western civilisations.


Inspiration

In his state visit to Kazakhstan in September 2013, President Xi delivered a speech in Nazarbayev University that encouraged worldwide cooperation on the development of Silk Road Economic Belt1. A month later, President Xi addressed the Indonesian Parliament, expressing China’s intention to build the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road with ASEAN countries2. In March 2015, the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the Ministry of Commerce jointly issued the ‘Vision and Actions on Jointly Building Silk Road Economic Belt and 21st Century Maritime Silk Road’ with the endorsement from the State Council, stating that the Belt and Road Initiative is one of the most important state development plans. Since then, 68 countries and international organisations have signed cooperation agreement, substantiating the credibility and acceptance of the initiative by the international community3.

 

Foresight with capacious aspirations

The Belt and Road scheme imposes no territorial restraints, and welcomes every country and regional organisation. 


The pursuit of universal prosperity is not only embedded in traditional Chinese culture, but is also one of the objectives of the Belt and Road initiative. As President Xi once mentioned, mutual benefit is no less important than self-interest4. Countries ought to strive for state and regional development, and to maintain mutual respect, non-interference and peaceful co-existence through dialogues to energise the new Silk Road framework through multilateral cooperation.

With an intention to build an open, resilient and mutually beneficial network that connects Asia, Europe and Africa by land and sea, the new Silk Road initiative intends to establish collaborative partnerships among the sovereign states along the economic corridor and, ultimately, create a trans-national community united by shared responsibilities, shared interests and shared values5.

The Belt and Road scheme imposes no territorial restraints, and, in compliance with the principles of openness and inclusiveness, welcomes every country and regional organisation. The proposed ‘five areas of connectivity’ – policy co-ordination, facilities connectivity, unimpeded trade, financial integration and people-to-people bond6 – are the essential features for establishing a mutually beneficial partnership and reciprocal collaboration between states. We would like to introduce the latest development of the Belt and Road initiative around the five areas of connectivity.

 


[1]Belt and Road Portal. "習近平發表重要演講 呼籲共建「絲綢之路經濟帶」" The State Information Center of China. 
[2]Belt and Road Portal. "習近平:中國願同東盟國家共建21世紀「海上絲綢之路」" The State Information Center of China.
[3]Tai Kung Pao. "68國及組織簽「一帶一路」協議 攜手應對挑戰" Tai Kung Pao. 
[4]Belt and Road Portal. "習近平:既要讓自己過得好 也要讓別人過得好" The State Information Center of China. 
[5]Belt and Road Portal. "推動共建絲綢之路經濟帶和21世紀海上絲綢之路的願景與行動" The State Information Center of China. 
[6]HKSAR Government. "A new platform for cross-region cooperation" HKSAR Government.