-CGTN: As the Belt and Road turns 10, it’s time for China and Europe to talk amid uncertainties
BEIJING, Oct. 17, 2023/PRNewswire/ — Serbia is one of the countries benefiting from the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), and the century-old steel mill in the northeastern city of Smederevo is a prime example. Founded in 1913, the Smederevo steelworks once contributed 40 percent of the city’s income at its peak and was known as the “pride of Serbia.”
Later, due to intensified competition in the market and poor operations, the steel mill began to lose money year after year and was on the verge of bankruptcy. The Government of Serbia initiated several rounds of international tenders, all of which failed. In 2016, more than 5,000 employees faced uncertainty. But then China’s Hebei Iron and Steel Group stepped in to establish HBIS Serbia Steel and introduced advanced management and technology, turning the steelmaker into a global company focused on customers and the supply chain. The company actively integrated into the “Belt and Road” and the process of economic globalization, quickly establishing itself as a highly competitive steel company in Europe and an excellent example of international industrial collaboration.
BRI cooperation between China and Europe
The revival of the century-old steel plant is an epitome of the benefits that the BRI has brought to Europe. Twenty-six European countries have signed BRI documents with China. Under its BRI cooperation, China’s imports from the EU increased by 63.7 percent between 2016 and 2021. Its imports from Central and Eastern European countries increased by 127.3 percent during the same period. The China Express Railway, which links several Eurasian cities located near the east coast of China with the coast of the Atlantic Ocean, is increasingly busy. Last year, 16,000 trains traveled the route between China and Europe, a stark contrast to just 80 when the CR Express opened more than a decade ago.
New challenges
Compared to the early years of the initiative, the situation between China and Europe is significantly different. Their bilateral relationship needs an adjustment to address uncertainties and challenges, as well as an improvement in mindset to replace the outdated zero-sum mentality. Senior Chinese diplomat Wang Yi, addressing the 12th China-EU High-Level Strategic Dialogue held in Beijing last week, said China and the EU are partners, not rivals, and have more common understandings than differences. European Commission Vice President Josep Borrell said that despite their different political and economic systems, the EU and China share a common interest in maintaining constructive and stable relations.
Meanwhile, the BRI is also entering a new phase. In the initial phase, both private and state contractors took the lead in building basic infrastructure. These projects helped foster political goodwill and energize local business partners. Thanks to them, private Chinese companies now feel more comfortable doing business in BRI partner countries. China is encouraging private companies to take a more active role and participate in projects labeled “small and beautiful,” which refers to smaller projects directly related to improving local livelihoods. New investment favorites include companies in sectors such as new energy, healthcare, mobile communications and e-commerce.
Need for more dialogue
Since the launch of the BRI, its global partners have been trying to find more theoretical frameworks and institutional arrangements to make the global cooperation program sustainable. Chinese President Xi Jinping proposed the Global Development Initiative, the Global Security Initiative and the Global Civilization Initiative. These global initiatives have been widely recognized by the international community and have made historic contributions to global human rights governance on specific issues related to security, development and cultural diversity.
In all these contexts, it is high time for China and Europe to conduct greater dialogue on key strategic issues and CGTN is organizing a television forum on the sidelines of this year’s Frankfurt Book Fair, with the theme China’s Global Initiatives and the BRI: opportunities or risks?
Guests on the panel include Danilo Türk, former president of Slovenia; Michael Schumann, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the German Federal Association for Economic Development and Foreign Trade; Rudolf Scharping, former German Defense Minister; Susanne Baumann, former director of the Dusseldorf Confucius Institute; and Zhong Hong, former senior vice president of Evonik Industries. The panelists will have an in-depth discussion on the ties between China and the EU under the discourse of the Belt and Road Initiative, which are related not only to the well-being of the two sides, but also to global stability and prosperity. .
https://news.cgtn.com/news/2023-10-17/As-the-Belt-and-Road-turns-10-high-time-for-China-and-Europe-to-talk-amid- uncertainties-1nXkFjKKduU/index.html
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