Media games won’t hurt Belt and Road planned projects

Last week, a sensational headline, “EU ambassadors band together against Silk Road”, appeared on Handelsblatt Global, the digital edition of the German business newspaper Handelsblatt, saying 27 of the 28 ambassadors of European Union member states to Beijing have sharply criticized China’s “Silk Road” projects. The ambassador from Hungary was reportedly an exception.

Such misleading media tactics are appalling, to say the least.

If the ambassadors truly “band together against” the Belt and Road Initiative, they would risk not fulfilling their responsibilities entrusted by their state leaders. French President Emmanuel Macron, British Prime Minister Theresa May, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte and Austrian President Alexander Van der Bellen have all pledged to deepen cooperation on the Belt and Road Initiative during their visits to China in the recent past.

In fact, President Xi Jinping and May reiterated their commitment to the Belt and Road projects, among other consensuses, during their conversation on the phone on Thursday. The EU countries have gradually accepted the initiative since Xi proposed it in 2013.

That is exactly what China and the EU should do: nurture trust and promote cooperation to boost regional integration and multilateralism.