Over the past year or so, despite the severe global epidemic situation and the increasingly complex international environment, the joint construction of the Belt and Road Initiative has still achieved remarkable results.

A number of other countries have joined to build a "circle of friends". At present, China has signed more than 200 cooperation documents on the joint construction of the Belt and Road with 149 countries and 32 international organizations; in 2021, China-Europe freight trains will operate more than 15,000 trains, a year-on-year increase of 29%. As of January 29, 2022, China-Europe freight trains Accumulated access to 180 cities in 23 European countries; nearly 2,000 overseas warehouses for cross-border e-commerce, a substantial increase of more than 80%; a number of major construction projects such as the China-Laos Railway and the new port of Haifa in Israel were successfully completed; China's total import and export volume will be the first in 2021 It exceeded the US$6 trillion mark, an increase of 21.4% over the previous year, of which imports and exports to countries along the Belt and Road increased by 23.6%, 2.2 percentage points higher than the overall growth rate; in 2021, the amount of foreign non-financial direct investment increased by 3.2%, Among them, non-financial direct investment in countries along the Belt and Road increased by 14.1%. By the end of 2021, China has provided more than 2.1 billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines to more than 120 countries and international organizations, many of which have been provided to countries jointly building the Belt and Road Initiative, providing important support for their effective anti-epidemic efforts. In short, the construction undertakings of the Belt and Road continue to show a good momentum of upward and rapid development against the trend.

At present, the epidemic situation in China's neighboring countries and regions is further spreading. Coupled with the conflict between Russia and Ukraine and the complex geopolitical game behind it, the major changes unseen in a century are even more complicated and confusing. How to further improve the construction of the Belt and Road requires more mature thinking. Not long ago, when President Xi Jinping met with foreign heads of state who came to China to attend the opening ceremony of the Beijing Winter Olympics, he specifically mentioned the basic principles, direction of efforts, and key tasks for cooperation between China and these countries in the joint construction of the Belt and Road, providing us with basically follow. Under the new historical conditions, we must deeply understand and understand the importance and inevitability of the joint construction of the Belt and Road, further clarify the goals and missions of the joint construction of the Belt and Road, and fully and accurately understand the new development concept and its connection with the joint construction of the Belt and Road. , and steadily promote the high-quality development of the Belt and Road Initiative.

Promoting development: injecting new momentum into the development of the country

Although the current international environment is very complex, the love and pursuit of peace, development and cooperation by people all over the world have not changed. Since World War II, there has been no world war for more than two-thirds of the century, and the peaceful environment has ensured that the progress of international cooperation and global development is generally relatively good. Especially in terms of development, the current level of economic development as the basis for development is still low. In 2020, the global per capita GDP is only US$10,925. Only more than 80 countries in the world belong to high-income countries, and the remaining 130 countries belong to low- and middle-income countries. countries, so there is a general desire for further development. Data for 2021 shows that among the 149 countries jointly building the Belt and Road (including China), only 35 are high-income countries, accounting for 23.5%, and the remaining 76.5% belong to low- and middle-income countries. The per capita GDP of these 149 countries is only US$9,032, which is only 83% of the global average. Therefore, how to promote national economic development and improve people's income level is still an important issue of common concern in today's world.

China advocates the joint construction of the Belt and Road with other countries in the world, which is to support and help the joint construction countries to accelerate the construction of infrastructure such as roads, railways, ports, airports, power plants, and communication networks based on its own development experience, and on this basis, strengthen industrial parks, Manufacturing and other construction, quickly realize the transformation, upgrading and development of the national economic structure, and accelerate the process of national modernization. This stage of development requires a lot of financial support, and developing countries often face a shortage of funds. Therefore, under the framework of international cooperation in the joint construction of the Belt and Road, China not only provides financing with favorable conditions for the co-construction countries, but also opens the market to these countries, providing a powerful new driving force for the co-construction countries and creating economic development. new opportunities. According to rough estimates, since the joint construction of the Belt and Road Initiative was proposed in 2013, as of September 2021, China’s trade in goods with countries along the route has reached US$10.4 trillion, and non-financial direct investment in countries along the route has exceeded US$130 billion.

Through the joint construction of the Belt and Road, the level of connectivity between countries and regions will be higher, and the industrial links will be closer, thus forming a good partnership and promoting common development. The Belt and Road is being built into a "development belt" that benefits the world.

Benefiting people's livelihood: Seeking happiness for the people who build the country together

China actively advocates the joint construction of the Belt and Road. The most fundamental purpose is to seek well-being and happiness for the people of the relevant countries, so that the local people can benefit from the construction of the Belt and Road. In April 2021, President Xi Jinping emphasized in his video keynote speech at the opening ceremony of the Boao Forum for Asia Annual Conference 2021 that in the spirit of openness and inclusiveness, we will work together with all relevant parties who are willing to participate to build the Belt and Road into a "poverty reduction" strategy. "The Road" and "The Road of Growth", and make positive contributions to the common prosperity of mankind. Advocating to build the Belt and Road into a "poverty reduction road", on the one hand, it is inspired by China's elimination of absolute poverty, and it is hoped that more developing countries can also eliminate absolute poverty as soon as possible and live a better and happier life; on the other hand, it is because , the most important task of the United Nations' 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development is to achieve the global poverty reduction goal.

China not only says that, but also does it. Based on its own poverty alleviation experience, starting from 2017, China has selected six villages in three countries, namely Laos, Cambodia and Myanmar, and implemented a three-year experiment of "whole village promotion" and "targeted poverty alleviation", focusing on four tasks: One is to achieve poverty alleviation through infrastructure projects along the Belt and Road, including the construction of railways, highways, ports, bridges, etc., to achieve "super connection" to poor areas; the second is to achieve industrial poverty alleviation through the Belt and Road industrial projects, mainly relying on local resources for development Characteristic industries such as traditional handicrafts, characteristic tourism, planting of Chinese herbal medicines, the development of local advantageous breeding industry and the development of garden economy, etc.; the third is to achieve poverty alleviation through the green development of the Belt and Road, mainly by employing some employees to engage in positions and occupations related to environmental protection; The fourth is to help the recipient areas and their people reduce poverty directly through aid. For example, the "Six 100" projects China has provided to developing countries in recent years is a typical case. As a result, the experimental results in 6 villages in 3 countries are very good, indicating that China's poverty alleviation experience is effective in these countries.

From the perspective of increasing employment, the joint construction of the Belt and Road has provided many local employment opportunities through investment, trade, international production capacity cooperation, and industrial park development. As of the end of 2021, the overseas economic and trade cooperation zones in 46 countries included in the statistics of the Ministry of Commerce of China have provided 392,000 jobs for local people and paid US$6.6 billion in taxes and fees to the host country.

When the author held a discussion in the office of State Grid Corporation of China in Brazil, the person in charge of the company told the author that the company provided 45,000 jobs for Brazil during the construction of the first and second phases of the Meishan UHV transmission project alone. He has paid 1.5 billion reais in taxes to the Brazilian government, and has also carried out many social welfare undertakings. During the on-site investigation of the China-Belarus Industrial Park, the author learned that the park provided more than 5,000 jobs for the local area in 2019. During my field research in Laos, the author found that in Boding, which is close to the Chinese border, Chinese entrepreneurs invested in the construction of a brand-new city, providing many jobs for the local people. State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi proposed at the press conference of the Fifth Session of the 13th National People's Congress not long ago that the Belt and Road should be built into a "happiness road" that benefits the people of all countries, which more truly reflects the reality.

High Quality: Successful Exploration of a New Stage of Development

In order to effectively deal with climate change, better implement the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and to achieve not only good economic results but also good social results in the Belt and Road construction, the joint construction of the Belt and Road must achieve high-quality development. In a nutshell, President Xi Jinping put forward the systematic idea of high-quality co-construction of the Belt and Road from three dimensions, namely, adhering to the principles of extensive consultation, co-construction, and sharing, adhering to the concepts of green, open, and clean, and achieving high standards, benefiting people's livelihood, and being sustainable. Sustained goals. These basic ideas are highly consistent with China's new development concept, and also play an important leading role in the practice of jointly building the Belt and Road Initiative.

The joint construction of the Belt and Road is a systematic project involving many countries, industries, industries and projects. It is necessary to rely on the three principles of joint consultation, joint construction and sharing to determine who to do with whom, what not to do with whom, and what to do first and what to do later. Good things are discussed and done together, and we can get benefits together. Of course, there are basic requirements for jointly building the Belt and Road. For example, we should take green as the background color, vigorously promote green infrastructure, green investment, and green finance; the joint construction of the Belt and Road is open to all countries and regions, and do not engage in closed and exclusive circles; all cooperation operates under the sun, Work together to fight corruption in any form with a zero-tolerance attitude and build a clean Belt and Road. In addition, China's new development concepts of innovation, coordination, green, openness and sharing have also been well reflected in the process of jointly building the Belt and Road. In conclusion, if the Belt and Road Initiative embodies these new development concepts and new development characteristics in the process of co-construction, promotes national development, and increases people's well-being, then high-quality development will be achieved.

Judging from the construction of the Green Belt and Road Initiative, by 2020, renewable energy projects will be the main energy projects in China's joint construction of the country. In September 2021, China made it clearer that it will vigorously support the green and low-carbon development of energy in developing countries, and will no longer build new overseas coal power projects. China has built many hydropower stations, wind power stations, and solar power stations in Pakistan, Laos, Argentina, Croatia and other countries. Even when building railways, it attaches great importance to environmental factors.

The high-quality joint construction of the Belt and Road is bound to be open. On the one hand, China welcomes more countries and international organizations to join the joint construction; on the other hand, after the construction of connectivity in recent years, the scope of China's land, sea and air freight has been rapidly expanded. At present, international road connections can reach 19 countries, international waterway transportation routes have reached more than 100 countries, international air freight services have reached 80 countries, and China-Europe trains have connected 180 cities in 23 countries. In the future, there will be more and more international railway lines like the China-Laos Railway, which will allow China to integrate more deeply into the world, and also allow landlocked countries like Laos to continuously integrate into the world industrial chain and value chain to achieve common development.

From the perspective of innovation and development, China's Beidou satellite navigation system has begun to be applied in countries along the Belt and Road, especially in African countries, playing an increasingly important role in the development of local smart agriculture, mining, and digital economy; Russia has actively cooperated in the "International Lunar Scientific Research Station" project; China and Egypt have cooperated in the research and development of intelligent irrigation technology to promote the development of Egypt's desert agriculture; China has used scientific methods to select and bred good seeds in African countries, increasing food production; China and Portugal jointly established Xinghai Belt and Road Joint Laboratory, etc.

In addition, China and relevant countries have vigorously promoted the development process of economic integration through the joint construction of the Belt and Road Initiative, which has directly played an important role in promoting RCEP, the Eurasian Economic Union, and the economic integration of Africa, which is conducive to the realization of regional economic integration. Balanced and coordinated development with the national economy and society.

After nearly nine years of joint efforts, the high-quality Belt and Road Initiative has long ceased to be a slogan, but a successful practice, from which relevant countries and regions have reaped huge dividends. Editor / Zhao E