As the world today is undergoing profound changes unseen in a century, economic globalization is going through rapid adjustments and transformation. Deep-seated conflicts and challenges in global development are unfolding. As global development is standing at a crossroad, China proposed the Global Development Initiative (GDI) and underlined jointly advancing the high-quality development of the Belt and Road. This demonstrates China’s role as a responsible major country and China’s important practice to vigorously engage in and lead global development and governance and build a community with a shared future for mankind.

Global Development Deficit and Governance Crisis

Since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, the world economic growth has remained lackluster, the gap between the rich and the poor and the North and the South has widened and protectionism and unilateralism have been on the rise, thus bringing about more destabilizing and uncertain factors in world economic and social development and adding new deficits in global development. The main reasons are as follows: The first is generally inadequate global development. On the one hand, the majority of developed countries, as the “main driving force” of global development, have been suffering from the impact of the COVID-19, and their growth has slowed down or even ground to a halt, failing to contribute sufficiently to global growth. On the other hand, the majority of developing countries, except China and a few others, have been long suffering from sluggish growth and some even have been in a long-term downturn, and some even face economic recession. The second is an unbalanced development space that fails to widely share the development outcomes to the benefit of all. We see unbalanced development prevailing in the world with a yawning gap among regions and countries. The third is insufficient momentum for sustainable global development. The traditional development model has resulted in extensive and inefficient economic growth and the rising “knowledge hegemony” in recent years has been born on the investment in innovation and R&D, leading to stagnant global innovation and development. The world economic growth has decelerated to the slowest pace since the financial crisis. The fourth is the imperfect international development assistance system. The global development assistance spearheaded by the western countries is so ineffective that some countries even “become poorer with more assistance”. The fifth is the dissatisfactory global development environment. With the surging anti-globalization and populism as well as deteriorating global development environment, we have witnessed frequent economic warfare and tech warfare between countries and between countries and regional blocs. Certain countries even put domestic laws above international rules, which gravely undermines the international economic and trade order and causes serious harm to global development.

The deficit in global development is the result of the interplay of multiple factors. Globalization, while boosting global growth for the benefit of mankind, also negatively leads to development divide, inequitable distribution and ecological damage. When these negative effects are amplified against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic spreading across the world and sluggish economic growth, the perverse anti-globalization and the narrow nationalism are resurging, imposing extremely adverse impact on global development.

Such deficit in development, to some extent, poses challenges to state governance within countries and therefore accumulates to a global governance crisis. On the one hand, some developed countries have seen escalated social conflicts and tensions due to long-term economic downturns, but only with inadaptable governance systems, they fail to implement governance policies suitable for social development. Therefore, the consensus on globalization is broken and social consensus over global development and national cohesion is dampened. On the other hand, the western development model, when being replicated worldwide, is seriously inadaptable to local conditions. The model has failed to boost the modernization drive of the host countries and also resulted in economic stagnation and political turmoil in many developing countries. Moreover, such domestic problems as extreme poverty and terrorism in these developing countries have ridden the wave of globalization only to spill over to the rest of the world, further triggering the global governance crisis.

Embracing a New Prospect

In the face of struggling global economic recovery and insufficient momentum for sustainable global development, the international community is eagerly looking forward to the Chinese solution. With profound vision and strategic insight, Chinese President Xi Jinping proposed the GDI that stays committed to development as a priority, a people-centered approach, benefits for all, innovation-driven development, harmony between man and nature and results-oriented actions. Through the GDI, we strive to steer global development toward a new stage of balanced, coordinated and inclusive growth and pursue more robust, greener and more balanced global development. This GDI is a global public good offered by China and an important illustration of the vision of a community with a shared future for mankind. It has drawn up a grand blueprint for international peaceful development, cooperative development and common development, pointed the way forward for advancing sustainable global development and building a better world, and fully demonstrated the global vision, broad horizon and concerns for humanity of President Xi Jinping as the leader of a responsible major country.

The GDI is committed to prioritizing development and underlines the importance of strengthening the coordination of development and cooperation strategies through the United Nations and bilateral and multilateral channels. Efforts need to be made to foster greater synergy among countries, regions and institutions and promote pragmatic cooperation in such key areas as poverty alleviation, food security, development financing, climate change and green development, industrialization, digital economy and connectivity. International assistance should be further provided to bolster the pandemic response and economic and social recovery in developing countries to forge a more equitable and balanced global development partnership. The core concept of the GDI is to stay committed to a people-centered approach. We need to take betterment of people’s well-being, sharing of the development fruits with people and realization of all-round development of the people as the starting point and ultimate goal of our work. People’s aspiration for a happy life is taken as the fundamental pursuit. Efforts are made to address development challenges and create development opportunities to strive for more efficient, equitable, sustainable and secure development with higher quality. The GDI puts special emphasis on delivering benefits for all. The Initiative pays attention to the exceptional difficulties of developing countries and employs such means as debt suspension and development aid to help developing countries, particularly the least developed ones. Efforts are made to address unbalanced and inadequate development among and within countries.

As the largest developing country and the promoter and contributor of global development, China not only proposed the GDI but also acted on this major initiative. With the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), China has called on the international community to reach a consensus on global development through extensive consultation, joint contribution and shared benefits, innovate global development philosophy, share experiences in global development, carry out global development cooperation and jointly address deficits in global development.

BRI to Promote Balanced Global Development

Faced with the complicated and tense global development situation, since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC), China has vigorously pushed forward the building of a community with a shared future for mankind, advanced the BRI and contributed significantly to addressing deficits in global development and promoting balanced global development. The high-quality development of the BRI aims to achieve high-standard, sustainable and people-centered development. The BRI strives to cement the foundation for connectivity cooperation, expand new space for international cooperation, uplift cooperation level, and improve input efficiency, supply quality and development resilience. It has become the largest platform for international cooperation and a popular international public good that makes an enormous contribution to balanced global development.

First, the BRI has effectively boosted world economic recovery. As of mid-January, 2022, China had signed over 200 BRI cooperation documents with 147 countries and 32 international organizations and carried out a large number of pragmatic cooperation projects that deliver benefits for all. From 2013 to September 2021, the volume of trade in goods between China and the countries along the Belt and Road totaled over 10.4 trillion U.S. dollars, and the Chinese enterprises’ non-financial direct investment in these countries amounted to more than 130 billion U.S. dollars. The BRI serves as a powerful engine that drives global foreign direct investment and economic growth. Countries along the Belt and Road have taken a ride with China and shared the dividend of China’s sustained growth, thus making a substantial contribution to world economic recovery and addressing deficits in development. Despite the backlashes of the COVID-19 pandemic, anti-globalization, protectionism and unilateralism, the BRI is still steadily advancing. Taking the China-Europe freight trains as an example, as of the end of October 2021, China-Europe freight trains had opened 73 operating routes and had made a total of 46,000 trips reaching 175 cities in 23 European countries. The freight trains have become the artery of international trade running through Eurasia. In addition, China has launched the Belt and Road Vaccine Partnership Initiative and made the utmost efforts to provide anti-epidemic supplies and jointly build a global firewall against the virus. Facts have proved that, no matter how the international environment changes, the BRI has opened up new space for world economic growth, set up a new platform for international trade and investment, offered new illustrations of improving global economic governance and made new contributions to improving people’s livelihood and wellbeing in countries around the world.

Second, the BRI has effectively promoted global opening-up and cooperation. The BRI never sets an access threshold, draws lines between ideologies and political systems, attaches any political strings, forms discriminatory or exclusive standards, rules and systems, sets barriers that impede trade, investment and technology, and imposes wills on others from the so-called position of strength or poses threats to any countries. It is a broad avenue for shared progress. The BRI adheres to the coordination of development strategies and policies as a focal point. Countries, big or small and whatever social system they adopt, can reach a suitable development agenda through open consultation. The BRI firmly upholds the free trade regime, vigorously promotes trade and investment facilitation, enables BRI participant countries to complement their advantages through connectivity, enhances the endogenous driving force for growth and pushes forward regional economic development. The BRI also strives for progress through innovation and takes innovation as the foundation for high-quality development. Through such initiatives as the Health Silk Road, Green Silk Road, Digital Silk Road and Poverty Reduction Silk Road, the sectors for international cooperation keep expanding. On the BRI platform, countries offer mutual support and mutual assistance and enhance mutual understanding, respect and trust. Facts show that the BRI is a real platform for multilateral cooperation that promotes the mutually-beneficial and win-win cooperation among countries.

Third, the BRI creates new opportunities for global development. In the new era, China unswervingly opens wider to the world and seeks common development with the rest of the world. In terms of market, China has the world’s fastest-growing and largest consumer market with the greatest potential and the largest, most diversified and best-equipped modern manufacturing system. The high-quality development of BRI will connect the domestic and international markets to provide more effective supplies and stimulate new demands. A huge Belt and Road market with international competitiveness will be built to provide a huge and stable consumer market for countries along the Belt and Road. In terms of investment, as China scales up its foreign investment, a diversified foreign investment structure has been created. In addition, China has also initiated the establishment of Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, Silk Road Fund and other financing channels for the BRI cooperation projects. A diversified financing platform has been built to provide investment and financial support for low-income participating countries.

In short, it is the shared responsibility of all countries in the world to effectively tackle the global development deficit and achieve common development. Therefore, the international community must join hands to address the development deficits in unity. China sincerely welcomes people from all over the world to take a ride on the express train of China’s development, jointly solving the predicament of global development through the GDI and the BRI, enhance the efficiency of global development and contribute wisdom and strength to global development.

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Wu Zhicheng is Deputy Director and Professor of the Institute for International Strategic Studies of Party School of the Central Committee of CPC (National Academy of Governance)