The Tongji Advanced Lectures for Graduate Students No. 70 was held in Lecture Hall 101, Jiren Building, Jiading Campus, Tongji University on the evening of April 9, 2019. Researcher Li Xiangyang, Director of the National Institute of International Strategy, the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (NIIS CASS) and President of the Chinese Association of Asia-Pacific Studies was invited to give a speech on the topic of 'The Belt and Road Initiative: A Development-Oriented Regional Cooperation Mechanism'. Prof. Xia Liping from our school moderated this high-level lecture.

In his speech, Director Li discussed the following four parts: (1) Progress and problems in the first phase of the Belt and Road Initiative; (2) Basic attributes of the Belt and Road Initiative; (3) Goals of the Belt and Road Initiative; (4) Sustainability of the Belt and Road Initiative.

According to Director Li, in the first phase of the BRI, China has made progress in improving trade and investment liberalization and facilitation, which has helped promote a new pattern of opening up and expand cooperation with countries along the route on trade and investment; China has completed the overall plan, and set the next steps of focusing on the priorities and making further improvement, which is mainly manifested in the construction of six major economic corridors across Europe, Asia and Africa at the practical level. There are also some problems, for example, the international community is skeptical of the BRI, seeing it as 'China’s Marshall Plan', 'new colonialism', 'a tributary system in the new era ', 'credit imperialism or a debt trap', etc.; due to lack of a deep understanding of the top-level design of the central government, local governments regard the BRI as a pretext for soliciting preferential policies and investment projects from the central government; most researchers simply add a BRI label to their previous research results, but there is no substantive new output related to the BRI. And there is very little research on the nature and attributes of the BRI, making the response to the skepticism of the international community futile.  

Director Li pointed out that the BRI is a development-based mechanism, which is different from the rule-based one in the West. For the existing international cooperation mechanisms, multilateral or regional, detailed rules should be set in the very beginning, which is in line with the Western way of thinking. As to China’s BRI, it is linked by the ancient Silk Road and based on connectivity. Through the governance structure of diversified cooperation mechanisms, China follows the principle of upholding the greater good and pursuing shared interests, towards the goal of building a global community of shared future. This highly open strategy has been providing participating countries, especially underdeveloped ones, with opportunities to participate in international cooperation.

Director Li then elaborated on the goals of the BRI. The core goal is to seek converging interests between China and the countries along the route. China needs to make it clear that the BRI is neither China’s solo show nor an aid to other countries. It is an initiative that seeks converging points of common interests rather than merely meeting the needs of the participating countries. The BRI is built to be: (1) an important support for China's neighboring diplomacy in the new era; (2) a top-level design for economic diplomacy; (3) a major strategic platform for the new round of opening up on all fronts; (4) An important practice platform for building a global community of shared future. As a public product that China provides to the international community, the BRI will contribute to the world the Chinese philosophy of global development and become a springboard for global multilateralism.

Next, Director Li discussed that the right approach to justice and interests is essential to the sustainability of the BRI, because it not only legitimize the BRI, but also determines the sustainable development. Without justice, the BRI will lose its intended meaning; without interests, it will ultimately be unsustainable. In upholding this approach, China is required to cautiously deal with a number of challenges including speculative behaviors and moral hazard, blood transfusion and hematopoiesis, 'swap' of economic and non-economic benefits, and intertemporal risks; to coordinate intergovernmental relationship, create a mechanism for fulfilling corporate social responsibility, build a platform that facilitates the implementation of the right approach to justice and interests, and carefully select partners and industries for development.

The lecture was held in a lively atmosphere. Director Li's profound yet easy-to-understand analysis of the BRI benefited the audience a lot. Through the Q&A session, the audience gained a deeper understanding of the BRI.