What challenges may China and Romania face in pushing forward the Belt and Road Initiative together?

The Belt and Road Initiative has received undivided attention all over the world, as it is considered to be not only ambitious and farreaching, but also exposed to challenges and risks that could thwart it.

One of these challenges may be found in the very diversity of the countries that would presumably be along the Belt and Road. Close to the western Chinese borders there are hard security threats, while elsewhere history has left unsolved issues that need to be addressed with wisdom and patience. Differences among these countries are within themselves, in development gaps both horizontally, that is among regions and territories, and vertically, among social strata and segments of the respective populations.

At the same time, a bird’s eye view of the landscape these countries represent reveals an amazing variety of peoples, ethnic groups, traditions and customs that would stand for both a fabulously rich heritage and a never-ending source of inspiration, creation and innovation. All in all, some 4 billion people would get involved in and hopefully, benefit from the success of this initiative once implemented.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi once compared the Belt and Road to a symphony where all countries that are interested in this project are players. This very appropriate metaphor is indicative of what the respective “players” need to do so that the result is a harmonious “piece of music.”

We are confident that the Belt and Road forum on May 14-15 will be a welcome opportunity to have candid consultations among various participants in order to bring more clarity to the targets and the ways of reaching them. In addition it can become an intensive mutually learning process regarding the interests and needs of partners for better identifying the existing assets. At the same time, full transparency, alongside with equal-chances participation in using the resources, is also a must.