To obtain wealth, we must first construct roads. The construction of the "Belt and Road" will be the fulcrum of global economic development, provide a stronger impetus to globalization, and promote the reform of traditional globalization to make it open, inclusive, and mutually beneficial. Westerners frequently ask, "Will China become more like the West or more like itself?" "Is 'Belt and Road' China's attempt to establish its own global order?"
The U.S. has shown increasing anxiety about the rise of China. However, no matter how the world changes, Americans are the first to make money. Remember Calvin Coolidge, the 30th President of the U.S., famously said: American business is business. How can the U.S. miss out on the world's biggest business, "Belt and Road"?
Who is the 'Lonely Superpower'?
Future generations will benefit from gaining knowledge from the experience of the past. Mr. Zheng Yanxiong, Director of the Liaison Office of the Central People's Government in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, stated today at the 8th "Belt and Road Summit" that the U.S., which is currently very upset about the "Belt and Road" initiative, has historically participated in and benefited from the Silk Road in the maritime sector. The U.S. sent the "Empress of China" to do business with China as early as 1784, when the country was still in the throes of its troubles. To commemorate the occasion, the ship set sail on President Washington's birthday, February 22nd, and eventually arrived at the port of Whampoa in Guangzhou. At the time, a Philadelphia magazine visioned, "The United States will one day be as populous and economically prosperous as China," which demonstrates the U.S.'s dependence on the Maritime Silk Road. China has signed more than 200 cooperation documents with more than 180 countries and international organizations to establish the "Belt and Road," creating a vast network of friends, while the U.S. has become a "lonely superpower." It would have been conceivable for Americans to participate in the construction of the "21st Century Maritime Silk Road" if they had adhered to the philosophies of their forefathers. The "Belt and Road" initiative into the Midwest region of the United States, through Sino-U.S. provincial and state cooperation, can not only draw U.S. involvement, but also bring U.S. exports and job prospects.
China asserts that development is the solution to all issues. People frequently confuse "Belt and Road" for a response to the U.S. Indo-Pacific Strategy, which is actually the result of Cold War thinking. The "Belt and Road" program emphasizes shared development and cooperation, and it is not limited to the countries along the route, but also includes countries that are related. In other words, the projects may be in the countries along the route, but U.S. companies and the U.S. dollar are already heavily involved in the construction of the "Belt and Road", so the U.S. is also a de facto participant in the "Belt and Road". So why does the U.S. say, "The 'Belt and Road' is a Chinese government project?"
Everything about you is my style
"Belt and Road" is the way of the future, and only by participating can we influence its future. The U.S. should not miss out on the future. "In many respects, the U.S. has surpassed China, but it is still a beneficiary of the 'Belt and Road' Initiative. Its industrial and supply channels are more secure because of China, and China provides popular, affordable consumer goods and satisfies difficult-to-serve market niches. In light of the past, the U.S. should embrace the opportunities presented by the 'Belt and Road' for the development of the entire world, rather than obstructing it with all manner of fault-finding, and any practice that is unfavorable to the 'Belt and Road' is unpopular and harmful to others rather than oneself." said Zheng Yanxiong. The cooperation between China and the U.S. in establishing the "Belt and Road" is related to the overall circumstance of constructing an inclusive international system and inclusive globalization. The original international system, in which the U.S. provides security and financial public goods, is no longer suitable for the shifting international political and economic landscape. Cooperation with China in building the "Belt and Road" will transform the capital-oriented globalization driven by neo-liberalism into a development-oriented globalization, and allow investment to return to the real economy rather than creating more and more financial bubbles, which is the hope for realizing open, inclusive, beneficent, balanced, and win-win globalization in response to the threat of populism.
At the G20 Summit in New Delhi, U.S. President Joe Biden brought with him a powerful program: a transcontinental infrastructure project linking Europe, the Middle East and India. The project will lead to investment in infrastructure from Europe to India, including railways, highway construction and shipping, and will bring the countries and regions along the route to the West. This "U.S. version of the 'Belt and Road'" route is different from China's, but essentially the same, to put it bluntly, is copying China's "Belt and Road". Over the past five to six years, the U.S. has continued to discredit and attack "Belt and Road", repeating that the original intention of this program is not pure, but we now understand that the US discredits "Belt and Road" for its own sake. After so many years of criticism, the U.S. has finally decided to copy this model.
In the end, "copying" is out of fear. It is precise because of the rapid and far-reaching impact of China's "Belt and Road" on paving the way for influence that the U.S. has decided to engage in a "U.S. version of the 'Belt and Road'" as a means of countering China's "Belt and Road" on Asia, the Middle East, Europe and other regions.
Conclusion
Zheng Yanxiong emphasized that the "Belt and Road" initiative has been positively evaluated and ardently embraced by the majority of nations around the globe, as well as by the General Assembly of the United Nations. At the 71st United Nations General Assembly, the "Belt and Road" initiative was incorporated into a United Nations resolution with the unanimous support of 193 member states and their joint affidavits, and an international consensus was attained.
"Belt and Road" is the future, and we can only influence its future by participating. The U.S. should not miss out on the future, and the world should not miss out on hope.
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