(Photo/Xinhua)
Today, when someone in Europe talks about the “Belt and Road Initiative”, the first association they make is the construction of transport and energy infrastructure and the growth of trade. But what exactly does the Belt and Road Initiative want to achieve beyond these easily visible trade goals, and how does China want to use this initiative to influence the world?
In global integration policy, the Belt and Road constitutes a giant because of its transcendental goals, aimed at making the world better connected and development more balanced within countries and between regions. The Belt and Road Initiative’s core value of “shared development” has won widespread praise from the international community, and the initiative has shown that fairer economic interdependence among regions and countries is possible.
The Belt and Road Initiative has placed China at the center of global governance and its results are substantial in Asia, Africa and Europe, where China’s economic influence is growing.
The Belt and Road Initiative may be only 10 years old, but its DNA dates back to ancient times. Croatia and the rest of Europe are linked in many ways to the ancient and modern Silk Road. Relations between Croatia and China have progressed since 2017, when Croatia joined the Belt and Road Initiative by signing a memorandum of understanding with China. Like other European Union member states, Croatia appreciates that the Belt and Road Initiative respects EU standards and maintains transparent relations with the European bloc.
In Croatia, there was a time of Belt and Road madness, where even the transfers of football players were explained in terms of “Belt and Road diplomacy”. Today, the initiative’s approach is more complex, reflecting a deeper understanding of the initiative’s broader economic benefits brought by regional and global interconnectivity and the awareness that Belt and Road projects and Road are the responsibility of all the countries concerned, and not of China alone.
In 2018, the tender for the largest infrastructure project in recent years in Croatia was won by the China Road and Bridge Corporation. CRBC proposed the lowest offer among the three bidders for the construction of the Peljesac Bridge. In the same year, the Croatian port of Zadar officially became part of 21st century Maritime Silk Road cruise tourism.
The Belt and Road Initiative brought the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank closer to Croatia and Southeast Europe. Croatia joined the AIIB as a potential non-regional member in late 2019. Loans for the construction of Belt and Road projects in the region and financing by Chinese companies of projects in third markets are in progress. renminbi, which positively influences the global financial market. system and makes it more global.
Croatia expected the spin-offs from the initiative to benefit its tourism industry, but the three-year COVID-19 pandemic delayed that goal. Furthermore, problems affecting global supply chains due to the pandemic and the Russian-Ukrainian conflict have contributed to a global economic crisis that has created difficulties for all Belt and Road economies. Italy-China Belt and Road cooperation has also been affected by these factors.
The growing rapprochement between Croatia and China and cooperation between China and Central and Eastern European countries – putting aside geopolitical issues and focusing on the digital economy and green development – would not have been possible without this initiative.
Major Belt and Road projects in Southeast Europe are expected to be completed by 2025. These projects include the Belgrade-Budapest high-speed railway, which would connect Serbia to the Maritime Silk Road of 21st century via North Macedonia and the Greek port of Piraeus which plays a central role in the Balkan Silk Road corridors.
As for Hungary, China was the biggest investor in the country last year. Indeed, Hungary has benefited greatly from China-CEEC cooperation and Budapest has become a globally influential academic center for studies on Sino-European relations.
However, China and its proposed initiative have been harshly attacked by some Western powers, notably the United States, which openly call on its allies to sabotage the Belt and Road Initiative.
However, Chinese investments in Europe fell by 22% year-on-year in 2022, not only because of the pandemic and certain economic factors, but also because of the EU’s tendency to adapt its relations with China to American framework. This approach tarnishes the image of Europe as a reasonable, fair and anti-geopolitical power.
Whether the lies about the Belt and Road Initiative stop or not, it will continue to advance because of its focus on collaboration rather than confrontation, and its competitive advantage over other world powers that seek confrontation and division.
It is ironic that the world’s only superpower is persistently attacking the Belt and Road Initiative, as was the case with the launch of the “India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor” at the summit of the G20 in New Delhi last month. The fact that the Belt and Road Initiative has done, and is doing perfectly, on land and sea, over the past ten years, what IMEEEC intends to do in the future makes no difference. difference for some Western countries.
Yet, it is clear that some Western countries were impressed and inspired by the Belt and Road Initiative to launch the IMEEEC. This is why it is unclear why they are not talking about integrating the two initiatives for the sake of more people.
The author is president of the Croatian Geoeconomic Forum.
The opinions do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.
