Wang Wen

Opinion | 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

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Wang Wen

Published: 9:30am, 3 Oct 2023Updated: 12:42pm, 3 Oct 2023

It’s been 10 years since the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) was launched, and later this month, China will host the third Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation in Beijing.

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.

The initiative is arguably the first concept for global cooperation in the history of China’s 5,000-year-old civilisation that has both global strategic significance and a clear path for implementation. Over the past 10 years, the belt and road has revamped China’s international trade structure, which had previously been overly reliant on the West, and gradually promoted the rebalancing of China’s economic focus. It has also reshaped the world view of the Chinese and fostered a global perspective of openness.

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 terms of real development, the project has significantly improved people’s well-being overall, especially those in the non-Western world, while boosting their interconnectedness with China. As of now, more than 150 countries have signed BRI cooperation agreements with China.