By Long Guoqiang, DRC

2017-5-9

The Belt and Road Initiative is a proposal for regional cooperation and development put forward by President Xi Jinping, which is conducive to promoting the economic prosperity of and regional economic cooperation between the countries and regions along the Belt and Road routes.

Viewing from global perspective, this Initiative has three features, namely: it is a large-scale Initiative on regional cooperation and development; it advocates open-based regional development; it has a grand goal with various construction projects, the number of which has gone beyond almost all the free-trade setups in the past.

The Initiative will bring a great many of business opportunities to the countries and regions within and outside the Belt and Road routes. First, it will boost the infrastructure construction; second it will enhance the facilitation of customs clearance, so as to open up more chances for foreign trade; third, it will create investment opportunities, making the transfer of China’s industry overseas in a more orderly and secured manner.

The think tanks in China have a better understanding of domestic situation. Apart from their influence on China’s policies, they can provide options for government policy making. The think tanks are able to play their unique role in the Belt and Road construction. As a think tank, the Development Research Center of the State Council (DRC) has conducted researches focused on the infrastructure construction and inter-connectivity relating to the Belt and Road Initiative cooperation. Through making evaluations on investment demand and sharing research findings, it will continue to work through the Silk Road International Forum and the Belt and Road Network to realize communication, exchanges and cooperation between relevant think tanks.

The global governance needs Chinese wisdom. One of the major drawbacks is that the current globalization lacks inclusiveness, and that the rules of globalization are not entirely fair and rational. At present, the U.S. still boasts the superpower in the world. When some anti-globalization signs have loomed up in the U.S., many countries that support globalization hope that China would play a bigger and more substantial role in global governance. The author maintains that in the future the picture of one super power with a number of multi-great powers will no longer be there, whereas it may shift to a collective leadership structure. The international society should strength coordination and make joint efforts to safeguard economic globalization across the board.