Reuters-Chinas Xi lauds Belt and Road achievements maps out way forward
October 18, 2023 3 min 621 words
这篇报道涵盖了中国国家主席习近平在北京主持“一带一路”论坛的开幕式并就该倡议的未来方向发表讲话。习近平强调了“蓝图已变为现实项目”的成就，强调该倡议在过去十年中如何促进了全球基础设施和能源网络的建设。这一论坛吸引了来自130多个国家的代表，尤其是来自全球南方国家的代表，其中包括来自两打国家领导人，其中最重要的是习近平的“亲密朋友”俄罗斯总统普京。 报道指出，一些西方国家对“一带一路”计划持怀疑态度，担心中国会通过这一倡议扩大其全球影响力。习近平则强调，这一批评存在对中国的偏见，并忽视了中国的善意意图。 此外，习近平还提到，“一带一路”倡议已经开始更加注重气候变化和人工智能等问题，这表明中国试图通过这一倡议推广其治理理念，并在全球建立围绕中国规范和发展模式的共识。报道还提到中国计划将“一带一路”倡议变得更加环保和小型化，从大型基础设施项目转向数字金融和电子商务等高科技领域。 在这一报道中，我们看到中国试图为“一带一路”倡议赋予更多的全球影响力，并在国际事务中发挥更大的作用。然而，也需要密切关注中国的扩张和影响力增长是否会引发国际社会的担忧和反应。这一报道提供了一个深入了解中国在全球经济和政治中的角色演变的视窗。
Chinese President Xi Jinping opened the Belt and Road Forum in Beijing on Wednesday declaring that "blueprints turned into real projects" during the decade since he launch his initiative to build global infrastructure and energy networks.
Representatives of more than 130 countries, largely from the Global South, attended the forum including more than two dozen heads of state, or whom the most prominent was Xi's "dear friend" Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Addressing more than 1,000 Chinese and foreign delegates assembled in an ornate conference room in the Great Hall of the People west of Tiananmen Square, Xi said his flagship policy had
"boosted the flow of goods, capital, technology and human resources into the countries involved."
Putin and other foreign leaders sat with key Chinese officials from the 25-member Politburo on the front row, as Xi delivered his opening speech.
The forum centres on the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), a grand plan launched by Xi in 2013, that envisioned building global infrastructure and energy networks connecting Asia with Africa and Europe through overland and maritime routes.
Although BRI at first set out to connect China to Western Europe, senior EU figures were missing. The sole head of state present from the bloc was Hungary's populist President Viktor Orban. Other notable attendees included the Afghan Taliban administration's commerce minister Haji Nooruddin Azizi.
Western scepticism of Xi's grand plans stems from suspicions over the way it would extend China's global influence, analysts say.
China has at times bristled at criticism of the BRI, saying it carries anti-Chinese prejudice and a wish to contain its rise, while overlooking what it says are genuine good intentions.
The BRI's original scale and ambition have been impacted by shocks, including a trade war with the United States, economic slowdown in China, Russia's invasion of Ukraine, and the pandemic.
Xi is pushing to make the Belt and Road smaller and greener, moving away from big-ticket projects like dams to high-tech ones such as digital finance and e-commerce platforms.
The aim is to aid a broader push for a world order that is multi-polar and gives the Global South more agency, rather than one dominated by Washington and its allies, analysts say.
The BRI has also become more focused on issues such as climate change and artificial intelligence, as Xi seeks to use it to export Chinese ideas about governance and build consensus around Chinese norms and its development model, analysts say.