China’s worldwide infrastructure investment promotes globalization 2.0
By ZHUAN TI zhuanti@chinadaily.com.cn
The annual China Story forum reconvened on April 11 at the United Nations headquarters in New York. This year’s event was organized by the China Energy Fund Committee and had the theme of Infrastructure for Sustainable Development. Focusing on the Belt and Road Initiative, the proceedings discussed the prospects of the B&R in terms of global infrastructure and sustainable development.
At the forum, Patrick Ho Chi Ping, vice-chairman and secretary-general of CEFC, gave a lecture titled Belt and Road Initiative: Globalization 2.0 — a New Global Sustainable Development Model. He said that as globalization leads to increased social inequality and the collapse of social cohesion, the world has become increasingly aware that globalization 1.0 is not a perfect development model. At present, the world is urgently looking for a new development model that can bring globalization 1.0 into phase 2.0. He said the new model needs to be inclusive, farsighted and comprehensive so that it can respond to the challenges of the 21st century.
Ho said that the B&R is the answer we need. The B&R is an inclusive strategic concept. It helps communities create demand and job opportunities through the development of national infrastructure, helping nations to maintain social equality, advocate environmental responsibility and promote economic growth and prosperity. This initiative embodies a new model of global sustainable development, that is, globalization 2.0.
Nie Lei, dean of the school of traffic and transportation at Beijing Jiaotong University, explained China’s experience in infrastructure development over the past 30 years, especially from the perspective of the development of transportation systems.
Liu Qiang, secretarygeneral of the Global Think Tank Forum on Energy Security hosted by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, detailed the financing behind China’s infrastructure construction and suggested countries lacking funds should adopt “China’s Proposal” system.
At the high-level panel discussion, Wu Hongbo, under- secretary-general of the United Nations, said that the B&R covers 60 percent of the global population, as well as one-third of the world’s GDP and trade. He said it has great potential to further advance the UN’s 2030 sustainable development agenda.
Wu said that the initiative will provide strong support for the UN’s sustainable development goals through the promotion of economic activity, trade, employment, income and infrastructure construction, so as to address issues such as poverty, energy and water use, industrialization, new urban construction, and even global peace, security and cooperation.
China’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations Liu Jieyi said that when the B&R was proposed in 2013, Chinese President Xi Jinping said that China’s development would be carried out under the framework of an international community and stressed China’s determination to provide more public goods to the rest of the world. The idea behind the B&R is to share China’s development opportunities with the world to achieve common prosperity. At the same time, the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development sets an overall framework for global economic development and cooperation. Both are aimed at strengthening global cooperation and promoting common development.
Frederick Musiiwa Makamure Shava, president of the UN’s Economic and Social Council, said he believed that the B&R had established a new paradigm of development by creating a new regional and even global economic platform. He said the council was pleased to see the ancient Silk Road develop into a modern economic zone, from East Asia through Central Asia to West Asia and Europe and then to Africa to bring cooperation and prosperity across the globe.