China’s “Belt and Road” plan “a great and historic endeavor”

block
Xinhua, Washington :
The action plan of the Belt and Road Initiative recently released by China was “a great and historic endeavor,” said U.S. scholars here.
“I was highly impressed with President Xi’s Speech at Boao ( Forum for Asia). The plan he described is historic and will have dramatic implications for the entire Asian Region and many other parts of the world as well,” Robert Hormats, former Under Secretary of State for Economic Growth, Energy and the Environment, told Xinhua Friday.
“These initiatives combined represent a historically important set of international economic initiatives led by China; there has been nothing of this scale and historical significance since the 1940s and 1950s,” said Hormats, adding “this is truly a great and historic endeavor.”
Pieter Bottelier, a senior adjunct professor of China studies at the School of Advanced International Studies of the Johns Hopkins University, echoed, saying “I am very impressed by the action plan announced by the (Chinese) government. It opens significant new perspectives on development in central and western Asia.”
China published an action plan on March 28 for its Belt and Road Initiative proposed last year covering an area from China to Europe. The plan has been established on four principles-openness and cooperation; harmony and inclusiveness; market operation; and mutual benefits, emphasizing policy coordination, connectivity, unimpeded trade, financial integration and people-to- people bonds.
The U.S. experts hailed the essence of cooperation in the plan and believed it was one of the key elements for the plan to succeed in future.
“I think the Belt and Road initiatives can make a major contribution to the region if regional neighbors are actively involved in all phases of design and implementation which seems to be a key feature of the plan,” said Hormats.
Bottelier said China has the capability and financial resources to provide those public goods globally, which makes the plan look “very interesting and promising.” The success of the plan “depends really on the quality of the projects and on the degree of the cooperation between China and neighboring countries,” Bottelier added.
block