By Cheng Guoqiang

Research Report Vol.19 No.5, 2017

I. Great Significance of Boosting the Theoretical Study on the Belt and Road Initiative

Over the four years since the Belt and Road Initiative was proposed, the extensive global consensus and cooperation results have far exceeded what were expected. This initiative has become a great practice and important cause for promoting world economic growth, deepening regional cooperation and enhancing the well-being of all peoples in the world. However, compared with the increasingly close attention to and high expectations on the Belt and Road Initiative worldwide, and the new requirements raised by the new period of promoting the Belt and Road Initiative, the theoretical support for this initiative is very weak and lags behind. In particular, against the backdrop of profound changes in the global economic and political landscape, affected by various complicated factors such as international competition in strategies, national interest conflicts and discrepancy in ideology, there will still be a tremendous task for promoting the Belt and Road Initiative, constantly boosting confidence building of various parties and expanding consensus in the current period and a long period to come.

To boost the theoretical study on promoting the Belt and Road Initiative and construct a theoretical system of the Belt and Road Initiative is not only an imperative from further promoting and developing international consensus and creating a good atmosphere, but also a fundamental project for effectively promoting the Belt and Road Initiative in the future, with major theoretical significance and practical value. First, it will be conducive to promoting the correct understanding and extensive recognition of the Belt and Road in the international community, correcting the bias of some people, and laying a foundation for establishing a fair and reasonable discourse system. Second, it is conducive to shaping the image of the Belt and Road as a global public good, and facilitating the establishment of global partnership for promoting the initiative. Third, it is conducive to clarifying the significance of the Belt and Road and the how to build them together with other countries and promoting policy communication and development strategy coordination among different countries. Fourth, it is conducive to providing practical guidance and theoretical support for the systematic design and standard operation of the Belt and Road Initiative.

II. Key Points in the Theoretical Study on the Belt and Road Initiative

First, we must have a profound understanding of the basic role of the Belt and Road Initiative. The Belt and Road Initiative, a major strategic measure in China’s effort to open up wider and a top-level design of its economic diplomacy, will be an overarching plan for China’s opening-up and foreign cooperation in quite a long period to come. Therefore, this basic role shall be highlighted in the guidelines, conceptual framework and knowledge system of theoretical studies to establish the fundamental and guidelines for the theoretical study on the Belt and Road Initiative.

Second, we must correctly understand the kernel of the Belt and Road Initiative. The kernel of the Belt and Road Initiative can be generalized as: “one core idea” (peace, cooperation, development and mutual benefit); “one cooperative spirit” (peace and cooperation, openness and inclusiveness, mutual learning and mutual benefit); “three basic principles (discussion, collaboration and shared growth); “five cooperation pivots” (policy coordination, facilities connectivity, unimpeded trade, financial integration and people-to-people bonds); “three cooperation goals” (a community of shared interests, responsibility and future). In his opening address at the Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation on May 14, 2017, President Xi Jinping further explained the profound meaning of the Belt and Road Initiative a road for peace, a road of prosperity, opening up, and innovation and a road connecting different civilizations. We must start from these core ideas to comprehensively, systematically and scientifically build the conceptual framework, theoretical logic and ideological system of the Belt and Road Initiative, with focus on practice-based exploration and summary of development patterns, basic experience and universal applicability.

Third, we must comprehensively grasp the theoretical characteristics of the Belt and Road Initiative. The role and core ideas of the Belt and Road Initiative determine that four characteristics must be grasped for its theoretical construction, that is, practicalness, systematicness, innovativeness and Chinese wisdom. Practicalness means that compared with other modes and mechanisms of international cooperation now, practices go before theory in the Belt and Road Initiative. There is no pattern to follow, but different ways of cooperation are explored according to specific conditions by promoting the complementarity between China's development plan and those of the countries along the Belt and Road, coordination between goals, and communication of policies, to implement cooperation projects and path measures, thus achieving results and benefiting peoples. Meanwhile, we keep summarizing experience in practices and making our explorations more forward-looking, regular, systematic and effective and gradually develop mature cooperation modes, governance mechanism and theoretical framework.

Systematicness means that the Belt and Road Initiative is a systematic work, for which we should not only strengthen the complementarity of developmental strategies, promote the connectivity of the countries along the Belt and Road, improve the level of trade and investment cooperation, and deepen international production capacity cooperation to build a new framework of regional economic cooperation that is open, inclusive, balanced and beneficial to all, but also consider the interests and concerns of all parties, identify areas where interests converge and the greatest common divisor of cooperation, and build a community of shared interests, future and responsibility with political mutual trust, economic integration and cultural inclusiveness; meanwhile, we should build the Belt and Road Initiative into an inclusive development platform so as to let countries long the Belt and Road take the express train of development in China, promote joint development and realize common prosperity. Therefore, the theoretical system for the Belt and Road Initiative must cover multiple disciplines, areas and dimensions such as international economy, international relations and international development, highlighting the systematic, holistic and coordinative nature of theoretical logic.

Innovativeness refers to the fact that the Belt and Road Initiative differs significantly from other mechanisms such as TPP in terms of ideas, paths and goals, in that it is not exclusive, but open and inclusive; not to replace any current regional cooperation mechanism or initiative but to promote mutual complementarity of development strategies and advantages of countries along the Belt and Road. In particular, the Belt and Road Initiative focuses on exploring new modes and practices such as South-South Cooperation, South-North Cooperation, and trilateral cooperation, and is an important supplement to traditional international development cooperation. In this vein, the Belt and Road Initiative is an active exploration of new international cooperation and innovation of the global governance mechanism, a concrete practice of new international relations centering on win-win cooperation, a global public good promoting joint development of all countries, and also a major theoretical innovation.

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