We are at historic juncture

The changing global economy, along with rising unilateralism and trade protectionism in certain countries, has led to an unsettling wave of anti-globalization. In sharp contrast, China last year held a series of high-profile events, including a symposium marking the fifth anniversary of the Belt and Road Initiative, the Qingdao Summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, the Beijing Summit of the China-Africa Cooperation Forum and the first China International Import Expo, all demonstrating China's resolve to drive globalization.

Despite the downturn in the international situation, the BRI offers new opportunities to China and expands the country's opening-up efforts on all fronts. Meanwhile, the BRI is a proposal open to all. Since its launch more than five years ago, over 150 countries and international organizations have signed BRI cooperation agreements with China.

In August 2018, at the symposium marking the fifth anniversary of the BRI, President Xi Jinping stressed that the initiative has greatly improved China's trade liberalization and investment facilitation, and expanded market access to inland provinces.

Trade between China and the BRI countries exceeded $5 trillion; the Chinese outward direct investment in these countries amounted to $60 billion, creating over 200,000 local jobs. Many projects have yielded impressive results in boosting local economic development, attesting to the efficient policy coordination under the BRI framework.

The initiative has attracted not only developing countries; developed economies such as the EU, the UK and Japan, too, have expressed interest in engaging in third-party cooperation with China. This new form of collaboration definitely bodes well for all participators and will surely bring more opportunities to all.

Meanwhile, cooperative projects under the BRI will help all participators tap a super-massive world market. In fact, China itself is a big market, in terms of not only scale and size, but also in potential. With a whopping population of over 1.3 billion and staggering total bank saving deposits of some 176 trillion yuan ($26 trillion), China is home to the largest middle-income group in the world. The growing Chinese private sector will unleash the pent-up consumption power of the Chinese middle class and the more affluent millennials. The strength of the Chinese market is the engine for the country's sustainable development. In other words, a dynamic modern market is the icing on the cake for China,which is already thriving on its strengths in productivity, national defense, culture and social governance.

At the same time, the BRI cooperation is also rebalancing the world market. When the real economy falls behind the virtual economy and some developing countries lags behind the global average, the initiative will bridge such gaps and strike a new balance.

Five years into its construction, the BRI is now on a solid footing. In the next stage, it is expected to take off with higher quality.

The BRI has instilled great vitality to China's modernization and is bringing new hopes to globalization, which is currently suffering some major setbacks. These setbacks, however, do not spell the end or reversal of globalization, but heralds a tipping point that calls for renewed wisdom and determination to carry globalization into the new era.

The road ahead now diverges into two paths: one is to pursue protectionism through, inter alia, putting“my country first”and the other is to build a community of shared future for mankind that champions globalization through economic restructuring and international governance reforms.

The latter, clearly, is the one that will prevail and prevent the world from descending into poverty and backwardness.

The BRI is also in the interests of rich economies. Gone are the days when developing nations were no more than also-rans in globalization. Now those underdogs have become weighty players in globalization. The BRI came under fire nearly as soon as it was put forward, with naysayers referring to it as China's scheme to transfer overcapacity, a Chinese Marshall Plan, a form of neo-colonialism or an attempt by China to rival US and Europe. Such Cold-War mentality fails or simply refuses to see the pro-globalization nature of the BRI, which was put forward in the context where globalization has entered a new phase.

Currently, the international economic order is going through profound changes. Some countries are campaigning for rule changes in the WTO, an international organization China owes much of its leapfrog development to. This campaign is not without its merits. Established after World War II, the WTO does need some changes to stay relevant. That said, as the world's second-largest economy and a WTO member, China should never be sidelined when it comes to changing the rules of the organization. When given a say, China, like its big market, has a lot to offer for an updated WTO mechanism. 

Globalization and multi-polarization have become increasingly prominent. On the one hand, both the rich world and the developing world have a common yearning for peace and development, which is favorable for pushing ahead with the BRI. On the other, geopolitical conflicts, populism and hegemony will not vanish, and will challenge the initiative.

To embrace opportunities and avoid pitfalls, we need to broaden the appeal of the BRI, telling the world about the wider opening of the market and the community of common destiny that interprets intentional relations in a brand new way. Also, we need tenacity to fight an arduous and long battle when the odds are against us.