On 20 June, the "New Silk Road: Expanding Horizons" seminar was held at the European headquarters of Bloomberg in London. H.E. Ambassador Zheng Zeguang attended the seminar at invitation and delivered a keynote address titled Tenth Anniversary: a New Start and New Opportunity for China-UK Cooperation. Around 150 guests from major British financial institutions and other sectors joined the event. The seminar was streamed live on the Bloomberg Terminal, reaching its over 300,000 customers.
Ambassador Zheng noted that this year marks the tenth anniversary of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) proposed by President Xi Jinping. Over the past decade, in line with the trend of our time, the BRI has followed the principle of extensive consultation, joint contribution and shared benefit, the ideal of open, green and clean cooperation, and a high-standard, people-centered and sustainable approach.
It has made major progress on policy, infrastructure, trade, financial and people-to-people connectivity and become a high-quality public good initiated by China, built by the partners involved, and shared by the world, injecting strong impetus into the common development of countries around the world.
First, smooth progress has been made in institutional building.
China has signed more than 200 BRI cooperation documents with 151 countries and 32 international organizations. The Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation was held twice, and a series of important consensus were reached at the forum. Partners have built collaboration platforms in more than 20 areas such as energy, port, railway, green development, and the digital economy.
China and relevant parties have jointly established the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, the New Development Bank and the Silk Road Fund, and issued the guiding principles on investment and financing support for Belt and Road cooperation. China has established bilateral local currency swap arrangements with more than 20 partner countries, and RMB clearing arrangements with more than 10 countries. All these have provided strong policy and institutional support for Belt and Road cooperation.
Second, fruitful results have been achieved in practical cooperation.
Belt and Road cooperation has galvanised nearly 1 trillion US dollars of investment globally and created more than 3,000 cooperation projects and 420,000 jobs for partner countries.
The China-Laos Railway has demonstrated a strong momentum in both passenger and freight services since its launch 18 months ago. The first expressway in Cambodia is now up and running. The Jakarta-Bandung High-speed Railway in Indonesia will soon be completed and open to traffic. The Budapest-Belgrade Railway and the Pelješac Bridge in Croatia have started operation. The China-Europe Railway Express has completed 65,000 freight services, reaching 180 cities in 23 European countries.
These projects have made the life of local people more convenient, enabled a better business environment, and created more development opportunities. According to World Bank studies, the BRI can help lift nearly 40 million people out of poverty around the world in the mid- to long-term.
Third, broad space has been created for common development.
From 2013 to 2021, the total value of imports and exports between China and partner countries nearly doubled, with an average annual growth rate of 7.5%. China’s direct investment in partner countries totaled 161 billion US dollars, growing annually by 5.4%, and partner countries have set up 32,000 enterprises in China, with the paid-in cumulative investment standing at over 71 billion US dollars.
It is worth noting that China and 31 parties have jointly launched the Belt and Road partnership on green development. China has signed MOUs on digital silk road cooperation with 16 countries and established Silk Road e-commerce cooperation mechanisms with 24 countries. Such cooperation has given a strong boost to partner countries’ green, low-carbon and digital transformation and will foster new drivers of growth with higher quality and broader space.
Ambassador Zheng pointed out that facts have fully proven that the BRI is initiated by China but benefits the world. It is not China’s solo performance, but a symphony played by partner countries together. All pessimistic rhetoric and fabrications such as the "debt trap", "economic coercion" made by certain countries against the BRI are unpopular and cannot hold water.
First, World Bank statistics show that multilateral financial institutions and commercial creditors account for more than 80% of the sovereign debt of developing countries. China never forces others to borrow from us and we never attach any political strings.
China has always done its utmost to help developing countries ease their debt burden. President Xi Jinping announced that China will re-channel 10 billion US dollars of its SDR under the IMF to Africa, and work is underway to deliver this pledge.
China has fully implemented the G20 Debt Service Suspension Initiative, ranking the first among all G20 members in terms of deferral amount. None of the BRI partner countries has fallen into debt crisis due to their participation in Belt and Road cooperation.
Second, China has always upheld that all countries, big or small, are equal. We never engage in economic coercion, and we oppose bullying and coercion by others. It’s only when China's core interests are undermined by certain countries that we take legitimate and reasonable countermeasures.
In contrast, by fiscal year 2021, the US had launched more than 9,400 unilateral sanctions targeting various places across the globe. There is no reason whatsoever that the label of so-called "economic coercion" can be pinned onto China.
Third, we understand that all parties have their own security concerns, but what matters is how to reasonably define and prevent risks. The real risks come from lack of economic and social development, high inflation and cost of living. And those who wantonly engage in unilateral sanctions and long-arm jurisdiction, and create division and confrontation are real risk creators. According to the World Bank and the IMF, between 2013 and 2021, China’s economic growth contributed more than 38.6% to world economic growth annually and will contribute a third of global growth this year. What China brings to the world are not risks, but opportunities.
Lately, some countries are clamouring for "de-risking" from China. This is in essence no different from “decoupling”. It runs counter to WTO rules and the trend of our time, disrupts global industrial and supply chains, hinders global technological and economic cooperation, and may lead to a split world. It is important that all parties see through the serious danger of the so-called "de-risking", and stick to dialogue and cooperation. We must not let the global industrial and supply chains be disrupted.
Ambassador Zheng stressed that the Chinese people are acting upon the goals set forth at the 20th CPC National Congress and working hard to achieve the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation through a Chinese path to modernisation. We are also taking concrete steps to promote high-quality development. Many British friends who have recently visited China are amazed by the prominent progress China has made over the past few years in green and low-carbon development and the digital economy. And they are all full of confidence for China’s economic prospects.
This year marks the 45th anniversary of China’s launch of reform and opening up and we are taking concrete actions to open up in more areas and at greater depth. China is a member of the RCEP. We will continue to expand market access, further open up the modern services sector, and work to make sure that national treatment is applied to foreign-funded enterprises properly.
On 1 January this year, the 2022 expanded edition of Catalogue of Industries Encouraged for Foreign Investment came into force. Provisional import tax rates, which are even lower than the most-favored-nation tariff rates, are now applied to 1,020 commodities. Starting from 1 July this year, China’s overall tariff level will be reduced to 7.3%, much lower than 9.8% we promised when acceding to the WTO. In the next ten years, commodity import into China is expected to surpass 22 trillion US dollars.
In terms of financial opening up, since 2018, we have introduced more than 50 measures, 34 of which involve the banking and insurance industries. The revision of regulations related to the 34 measures has been completed, and opening-up polices have been delivered in many aspects.
China will further expand high-level opening up in the financial sector. We will streamline the cross-border financing system and increase the liquidity of RMB assets in support of Belt and Road cooperation and advance all-round institutional opening up of the financial market.
In the second half of this year, China will host the third Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation, and a series of new measures will be rolled out.
We will focus on deepening the "hard connectivity" of infrastructure and the "soft connectivity" of technologies, standards, and rules, and promote the building of an open world economy. We will focus on the Green Silk Road to help partner countries achieve green transformation and prioritise the digital economy to help create new drivers of growth.
Ambassador Zheng noted that the British business community is an important partner for Belt and Road cooperation. Chinese and UK companies have conducted productive cooperation in green finance, financial technology and other areas. We hope that the British business community will seize the opportunity, fully harness their advantages, and actively take part in cooperation under the BRI.
Chinese and UK businesses may do well to expand financing channels and reduce financing costs for partner countries; expand cooperation in new energy, electric vehicles, battery energy storage, the digital economy and other fields; and explore tripartite cooperation in partner countries. This will bring more benefits to the businesses of the two countries and the people of partner countries.
