After more than five years of hard work, the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) has seen great progress in the “five connectivity” and brought relations closer between China and the participating countries in political, economic and other sectors.

By the end of 2018, China had signed 170 intergovernmental cooperation documents with 122 countries and 29 international organizations. Between 2013 and 2018, the total trade volume exceeds $6.5 trillion, and China’s outward direct investment stands at $80 billion. By the end of 2018, 93 nations have joined the Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB); 19 projects were endorsed by the Silk Road Fund; the RMB cross-border payment system was used by 165 banks in 40 countries. Construction of ports, railways, highways, aviation and telecommunications facilities also made vigorous progress. China-EU block railway is a highlight with more than 13,000 trains running in 2018, and the annual value of shipments reached $16 billion.

The significant progress in BRI was achieved against the backdrop of rising protectionism. In 2018, the US had trade friction with major trade partners including China. The US government defined China as a strategic competitor. Trump administration put forward a "free and open Indo-Pacific strategy", and Japanese government proposed a “democratic security diamond” linking the US, Japan, India and Australia. The Trump administration also approved the "Taiwan Travel Act", increased arms sales to Taiwan, and intensified its activities in the South China Sea under the guise of "freedom of navigation".

In response, the Chinese government upho lds its political principles and safeguards its own security and economic interests without changing its focus on deepening domestic reforms and expanding opening-up. Through the construction of BRI, it sticks to maintain multilateralism, promote international cooperation, optimize global governance, and build a human community of shared future. In particular, China remained unchanged in its policy regarding constructive relations with US in the spirit of strengthening communication, focusing on cooperation, and controlling differences.

Factually, the BRI aims to advocate the Silk Road spirit, namely, peace and cooperation, openness and inclusiveness, mutual learning and mutual benefit. This is not only the direction for China to promote international political and economic cooperation, but also meets the ideas of development and requirements of other countries. It is also conducive for cooperation among major countries as well.

First, the BRI entails peace and cooperation, mutual benefit and win-win ends. Economic development in modern history has been accompanied by too many bloody wars and conquests. The colonial wars of the 18th and 19th centuries, the two world wars of the 20th century all rose from strife for geopolitical space and economic interests.

In contrast, China's BRI aims to open up a path of peaceful development through cooperation, mutual benefit and win-win results for sustainable development. More than five years of experience has shown that this way is full of promise in spite of difficulties: China-Russia relations have entered their best period in history, with their strategic partnership penetrating all aspects including political, economic, security and culture; China’s relations with Western European countries also saw great progress as it worked together with Britain, Germany and France to promote multinationalism and economic cooperation in all fields, including artificial intelligence, new energy vehicles and nuclear energy; the 16+1 cooperation framework between China and Central and Eastern European countries has become the new engine of China-European relations.

At the same time, China has actively been facilitating the Korean Peninsular nuclear issue, promoting the relations with Japan, and re-opening the dialogue on China-Japan-Republic of Korea Free Trade Zone to promote the revitalization of the Northeast Asian Economic Cooperation. So, it can be said such peaceful cooperation has both contributed to China’s relationship with major BRI countries and made geopolitical and economic win-win a predictable vision.

Second, the BRI aims to dismantle ideological barriers and go beyond small circles, so as to realize the concerted development of different national and regional strategies. The global financial crisis in 2008 struck a heavy blow to the economic globalization, resulting in the prevalence of political isolationism and populism in the United States and Europe, which are embodied in "America First", Brexit and yellow vest movement. Rhetoric could be heard in the US that "socialism's thirst for power leads to expansion and oppression", which is meant to completely overturn the post-World War II international system, and change the WTO and other multilateral mechanisms in the name of "reforming" for the interests of a small bloc led by the United States.

For bringing down ideological barriers, the BRI focuses on a human community of shared future on the basis of multilateralism, with an open and inclusive attitude toward different ideologies. The BRI has actively tied with strategies of many countries and regions, including the EU's Junker Plan, Russia’s Eurasian economic union, Mongolia’s steppe road program, Kazakhstan’s Bright Road initiative, Vietnam’s two corridors and one economic circle, Poland’s Amber Road framework, and Saudi Arabia’s 2030 Vision. In the meantime, China is also actively exploring the feasibility of a development strategy of third-party cooperation with Europe and Japan. Over time, the international relations is likely to break ideological barriers.

Furthermore, the BRI’s fundamental purpose is to achieve common development in the new wave of industrial revolution based on innovative thinking for positive interaction of global governance. In fact, rather than redefining the paths of world economic development, the BRI is carried on interconnectivity in facilities, financing, policy and trade. The newly proposed digital BRI concept is devoted to individual, intelligent, platformed and standardized economic development which connects to the internet of things, artificial intelligence, big data, 5G technology and the like, with the ultimate goal as optimizing the international governance, getting rid of traditional geopolitical shackles, and promoting benign interaction of international relations.

Needless to say, constructive China-US relations have always been a top indicator in building the BRI. Both sides should face up to their structural contradictions and to the fact that China's rise may compete and even collide with the US in some areas. However, as long as they respect each other's core interests, promote cooperation and actively manage differences, they may well find the greatest common interests.

From the perspective of national development strategy, the spirit of Silk Road provides a broad space for developing relations between major powers, including China and the US. After all, the two countries’ development is interwoven in the environment of world economic growth. Both need to seek common interests, together with other countries, and seek cooperation and mutual understanding.

Ding Kuisong is senior researcher of the National Institute for Global Strategy, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.