一帶一路(英文:the Belt and Road,縮寫B&R,國際民間代號1216),
"One Belt and One Road" refers to the "Silk Road Economic Belt" and the "21st Century Maritime Silk Road" )
Jointly Undertake the Great Initiatives With Confidence and Mutual Trust
Speech by H.E. Yang Jiechi
State Councilor of the People's Republic of China
At the Session of "Reviving the Silk Road: A Dialogue with Asian Leaders" at the Boao Forum for Asia Annual Conference 2014
Boao, Hainan, 10 April 2014
Distinguished Chinese and Foreign Guests,Friends from the Press,
Ladies and Gentlemen, It gives me great pleasure to attend the Boao Forum for Asia Annual Conference. Thanks to the concerted efforts of colleagues and people from various sectors in China and other countries, the Forum is becoming one of the most influential high-end fora in Asia and beyond. Its influence stems not just from its high-caliber participants and organizers but also its acute antenna for the current trend and frontier topics of discussion, including the discussion we are having today on the Silk Road. I would like to take this opportunity to express my thanks to you, leaders from various countries and friends from all sectors, for joining our discussions on the building of the Silk Road.
The two initiatives of building a Silk Road economic belt and a 21st-century maritime Silk Road, known for short as the Belt and the Road, were put forth by President Xi Jinping during his two separate visits to Central Asia and Southeast Asia last fall. The initiatives have received positive response from countries concerned and been followed with great interest by the international community. Premier Li Keqiang, in his speech this morning on China's policy toward Asian cooperation, made a special mentioning of the importance of building the Belt and the Road. Our discussion this afternoon is therefore highly relevant.
When I accompanied President Xi on his visit to Europe a few days ago, I found that people in different sectors across Europe have shown great interest and enthusiasm in the Belt and the Road. German leaders described the Silk Road economic belt as a significant initiative that will benefit Germany, and pledged Germany's full support and active participation. The Joint Statement released by China and the EU stated that the two sides will develop synergies between EU policies and China's "Silk Road Economic Belt" initiative and jointly explore common initiatives along these lines. During his visit to Germany, President Xi Jinping attended a grand welcoming ceremony in Duisburg for a train that arrived from Chongqing along the China-Europe railway. To everyone present there, the Silk Road, once a mere term in the history book, has become a novel story of modern logistics and of China-Europe cooperation delivering real benefits to people along the way.
Europe's enthusiasm for the Silk Road, both the ancient and the modern, is nothing accidental. It is one reflection of the world's renewed recognition of Asia's time-honored civilizations and its development potential today. It shows a new trend of communication and cooperation between the East and the West amid economic globalization and a move toward multi-polarity.
Europe was the end of the ancient Silk Road, yet silk originated from China, where the Silk Road started, and many important areas of the Silk Road ran through Asia. The Asian people opened the Silk Road, withstanding great hardships, and preserved it throughout the years. We therefore feel a natural affinity for the Silk Road, which had once witnessed the common history and glory of the Asian civilizations. For the Asian people, the Silk Road provides a source of historical and cultural pride, and stands as a flag of unity and cooperation among Asian countries.
The Silk Road has given the people of Asia confidence in their history and culture. As early as over 2,000 years ago, when the Silk Road first began to take shape, Asia already boasted matured civilizations and was leading the world in productivity, managerial expertise and the level of openness. Ample proof of this could be found in archeological discoveries and the study by western scholars. Asia was the cradle of Buddhism, Christianity and Islam. Silk, porcelain, lacquerware, ironware, saddle, the four great inventions of ancient China (papermaking, gunpowder, movable-type printing and compass) and the Arabic numerals of India were all, at one time, the proprietary rights of Asia. It was through the Silk Road that Asian countries embraced foreign merchants and students and shared with them, without reservation, Asia's most advanced commodities and technologies.
Since modern times, however, Asian countries have been left behind, suffering from the invasion and colonization of foreign powers and the shock of strong cultures from the outside. Nevertheless, Asian countries cherish their own history and culture, and have sought to uphold the roots of their own values. Today, the people of Asia, neither conceited with past glory nor indulged in the memory of old sufferings, have chosen to draw strength from their tradition and culture, be innovative and strive to write a new chapter in Asia's history.
The Silk Road has given the people of Asia confidence in their development paths. Heterogeneity and diversity is the very feature and advantage of Asia. Every civilization, ethnic group and country along the Silk Road has its own social soil and development trajectory and everyone is equal and unique. The difference is never about which is superior and there is no need to force conformity. It is based on heterogeneity that businessmen have been able to trade, wise men communicate and the world be diverse and colorful. Instead of being just one single road, the ancient Silk Road actually provided a choice of several roads, which passed through broad areas and many countries in Asia and Europe. This is quite inspiring as we engage ourselves in discussion on our development paths today.
Since modern times, patriots and righteous people in Asia have explored tirelessly paths to a prosperous and strong nation. After experiencing many setbacks, they have come to the conclusion that to choose a proper development path, one must bear in mind the distinctive national conditions and that one may learn from but should never copy the experience of other countries. It is based on such an understanding that Asia, after the end of the Cold War, created miracles of economic development by working hard on its own and carrying out international cooperation. Asia has stood the test of the Asian financial crisis and the international financial crisis. According to the latest forecast of the Asian Development Bank, 45 developing economies in Asia will achieve a growth rate of 6.2% this year and 6.4% next year, more than twice the average for developed countries. Such result is not easily gained. It shows that Asian countries have done the right thing in sticking to their own paths which, despite thorns on the way, lead to bright prospects.
The Silk Road has given the people of Asia confidence to pursue inclusive cooperation. The Silk Road had enabled the East and the West to thoroughly interact with each other in peace and equality in all possible areas. The network for trade running over the Eurasian continent way back in the early days brought benefits to all sides. The ancient Chinese technologies of iron-smelting, farming and irrigation were brought to neighboring countries to the west and south of China and greatly increased those countries' productivity, while the medicine, calendar and sculpturing art from South Asia were applied and valued in China. The Chinese Harp and Polo, created by ancient nomads in Central Asia, featured proudly in the history of Chinese music and sports. The sandalwood from Timor-Leste, elephant from Thailand, wood sculpture from the Laos, leather and fur from Russia, colored glaze from Europe and west Asia, and gems from Pakistan, Myanmar and Sri Lanka were all highly popular with ancient Chinese.
Some religions or sections of religion, after being introduced into China via the land and maritime silk roads, integrated with home-grown religions in China and coexisted with them in harmony. For the numerous Chinese and foreign envoys, merchants and the wise questing for scriptures and knowledge, it was the Silk Road, and the people who kindly assisted them along the way, that had made their journeys possible.
Now that conditions for transport and infrastructure are much more improved, countries in Asia may well live up to the Silk Road spirit of peace, friendship, openness, inclusiveness and win-win cooperation, and endeavor to add to it a new dimension by bringing regional cooperation to a new stage.
An important part of this new dimension, as I see it, is mutual trust. The Chinese people believe that "one would achieve nothing without credibility". Alexandre Dumas, the celebrated French writer, noted that "confidence is a rare jewel". In fact, travelers on the ancient Silk Road could hardly make the journey alone. They had to travel in company and look after each other on the way. They even had to work with each other when they sailed in a same boat on the sea. Despite the leapfrog development in science and technology, cooperation in transport today still faces hidden difficulties, and some Asian countries still suffer from a "deficit of trust". I believe as we work to improve connectivity and promote the Belt and Road initiatives, more needs to be done to increase mutual trust.
What forms the basis of mutual trust is for countries to respect history and draw lessons from it, follow a path of peaceful development, act in the spirit of the UN Charter and the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence, respect each others' core interests and major concerns, treat each other with sincerity and learn from and help each other.