Little guys can fight protectionism, too

The Belt and Road Initiative is a wonderful opportunity for smaller countries like Liberia to build prosperity on the world stage

Three years ago, I endured the horror of reporting on the world's worst ebola virus outbreak. As I trekked the countryside reporting, the disease claimed more than 5,000 lives and ravaged my country's fragile economy, which was recovering from two decades of civil war.

Now, the ignoble claws of protectionism frighten me and threaten 4.5 million people in my country. It scares me because I'm from Liberia, a West African nation with a pretty puny economy.

Small economies rely for their survival on the tenets of global trade initiated by stronger and more-influential economic powers.

"Small needs big and big needs small," my angry teacher told me, whisking some sense into my tiny skull two decades ago. Until that day, I had enjoyed crushing ants, crickets and butterflies.

President Xi Jinping's reinvigoration of the ancient Silk Road gives developing countries and small economies like mine a new ambition for globalization. I see it as an antidote to the villainous conservatism of protectionism.

"What we hope to create is a big family of harmonious co-existence," Xi said at the Belt and Road conference in May. "We have no interest to impose our will, and will avoid geopolitics maneuvering. China is willing to share its development experience with all countries. We will not interfere in other countries' internal affairs."

The initiative heralds the promise of people-to-people exchanges, the promotion of peace, protection of the environment and gender equality. For me, everything reflects Liberia and I'm again reminiscing about my teacher's concept of mutual coexistence for the common good.

On the eastern side of the African continent, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia and Djibouti are interconnected along the maritime Silk Road, ahead of West Africa. The $4.2 billion, 756.3 kilometer railway line from Djibouti to Addis Ababa and the $3.2 billion, 480-km Mombasa-Nairobi line add renewed impetus to trade and development. I very much hope that the west gets connected soon.

While West Africa waits with open arms, Nigeria, Ghana, and Cote d'Ivoire remain the strongest economies, with a bigger role to play should Belt and Road swing there.

I'm confident Beijing's solid bilateral ties with Monrovia can aid Liberia's ambitious move on the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road. A ministerial complex project worth $60 million and a $50 million loan to modernize the main airport outside the capital are the latest contributions from China.

But there's something we can bring to the table: maritime. It contributes immensely to Liberia's annual budget of under half a billion dollars. We have the second-largest ship registry in the world - 4,160 vessels fly our flag, representing 12 percent of the world's oceangoing fleets, with corporate registry offices in Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Japan, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States.

Some say Belt and Road is an ambitious globalization drive offering a level playing field for developing nations. I say it offers more than that - it gives economic independence through mutual cooperation and rigorously isolates protectionism.

The writer is a journalist with FrontPage Africa based in Liberia who is visiting China Daily as part of a 10-month China-Africa Press Centre scholarship.

The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.