Belt and Road cooperation could pave new paths to common development and prosperity: China Daily editorial

That dignitaries and representatives from more than 140 countries and 30 international organizations are attending the ongoing third Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation in Beijing is a recognition of the initiative's role as a promoter of common development.

Since its launch a decade ago, the Belt and Road Initiative has made remarkable achievements, benefiting the countries involved. Thousands of landmark infrastructure projects have been completed across the globe, improving connectivity, making travel more convenient and creating more development opportunities for Belt and Road countries.

To be sure, the Belt and Road Initiative has ushered in a new development paradigm by overcoming severe challenges, inspiring many other countries to choose the development path that best suits their national conditions. By joining the initiative, whose goal is to improve infrastructure connectivity and provide public goods, more and more countries have realized the initiative's role as a facilitator of global peace and common prosperity.

China's external environment has not always been friendly enough to extend the pragmatic initiative across continents. Some narrow-minded, ideologically-driven Western countries' desperate efforts to spread lies and rumors about the initiative are a major factor obstructing the deepening of global cooperation under the Belt and Road framework.

Judging by the West's limited contributions to world peace and development in recent years and the growing appeal of the Belt and Road Initiative to developing and emerging market economies, the root cause behind the West's opposition to the initiative seems to be its outdated worldview.

While the Western powers pursue narrow, selfish goals by forming small cliques and fueling geopolitical tensions, the Belt and Road Initiative has garnered the support of the international community for its inclusive nature and spirit of multilateralism.

Today's is a far less peaceful world, with the Russia-Ukraine conflict dragging on for 18 months, thanks to the policies of the US-led West, and the eruption of a new conflict in the Middle East, and formidable challenges such as climate change and foundering economic recovery not being addressed. In the Belt and Road Initiative, however, the world has a practical tool to address these challenges.

As the Chinese leadership has said, no country should be left behind on the road to development. Over the past decade, the initiative has blazed new trails and found a path on which like-minded countries can cooperate to achieve common development. From 2013 to 2022, the cumulative value of trade between China and other Belt and Road countries was $19.1 trillion, with an average annual growth of 6.4 percent, which reflects the significance of the initiative to the global economy.

Since the initiative's core principles are "extensive consultation, joint contribution, and shared benefits", which have won global recognition, it is hoped cooperation among Belt and Road countries will pave new paths to achieve common development.