Reuters-Chinas Xi warns against decoupling lauds Belt and Road at forum
October 18, 2023 4 min 818 words
中国国家主席习近平在北京召开的“一带一路”倡议论坛上发出了一些重要信息。他警告说，与中国脱钩可能会带来负面影响，并批评西方国家试图减少对中国经济的依赖。与此同时，他赞扬了“一带一路”倡议，将其描述为将亚洲、非洲和欧洲通过陆路和海路连接起来的全球基础设施和能源网络的伟大计划，强调这一愿景正在变为现实项目。 这一报道突显了中国对继续推动全球化和国际合作的承诺，尤其是在基础设施、绿色技术和人工智能领域。习近平明确反对“单边制裁、经济胁迫、脱钩和供应链中断”，这一立场与许多西方经济体试图减少对中国供应链依赖的努力形成对比。这也反映出中国愿意与全球南方国家合作，以推动多极世界秩序，减少对以美国及其盟友为主导的国际秩序的依赖。 然而，西方国家对“一带一路”倡议仍存在怀疑，担心其将扩大中国的全球影响力。习近平的讲话试图解释该倡议的目标已经从大规模项目如水坝逐渐转向数字金融和电子商务等高科技领域，同时强调其在气候变化和人工智能等问题上的关注。 中国的观点是，他们的发展和国际合作是出于善意，而不是意图遏制其他国家的崛起。习近平还邀请全球投资北极航道，以加深东西方贸易，这显示出中国在促进全球连接和合作方面的积极愿望。 这一报道反映了当前国际政治舞台上的重要动态，习近平的讲话强调了中国在全球事务中的地位和愿景，但也凸显了国际社会对中国的持续观察和审查。这个问题的发展将继续引起广泛的讨论和关注。
Chinese President Xi Jinping warned against decoupling from China as he opened the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) forum in Beijing on Wednesday, criticizing Western efforts to reduce dependence on the Chinese economy.
Xi also lauded his grand plan launched 10 years ago of building global infrastructure and energy networks connecting Asia with Africa and Europe through overland and maritime routes, saying that "blueprints turned into real projects".
Representatives of more than 130 countries, largely from the Global South, attended the forum including several heads of state, of whom the most prominent was Xi's "dear friend" Russian President Vladimir Putin.
"We stand against unilateral sanctions, economic coercion, decoupling and supply chain disruption," Xi told more than 1,000 delegates gathered in an ornate conference room in the Great Hall of the People west of Tiananmen Square.
Putin and other foreign leaders sat with key Chinese officials from the 25-member Politburo on the front row, as Xi delivered his opening remarks.
Xi pushed against Western efforts to reduce dependence on Chinese economy, saying that, "our lives will not be better and our development will not be faster if we view the development of others as a threat and economic interdependence as a risk."
Reducing their dependence on supply chains with China has become a top priority among Western economies as Beijing's threats to Taiwan heighten geopolitical risks in Asia. The trade disruptions of the pandemic years have also added urgency to the desire to limit their dependence on China.
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.
"China has more interest right now in developing Afghanistan at this moment, so we are more engaged with China. The Chinese have more interest in economic affairs, that's why we're here," Azizi told a gaggle of reporters at the ceremony.
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.
In an address that followed Xi's, Putin praised the BRI and invited global investment in the Northern Sea route which he said could deepen trade between east and west. Several European officials left the hall as Putin took to the stage.
Xi is making 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.
On Wednesday, Xi reinforced those trends, pledging to "deepen cooperation in green infrastructure, energy and transportation," and "put forward global initiative for artificial intelligence governance."
A European business representative, who did not want to be named for sensitivity reasons, said on the sidelines of the ceremony that BRI was, "creating impact for some of the countries involved" and that, "I think there is some truth to some of the speeches about improving livelihood and connectivity."