Soft power key to B&R construction

The Belt and Road Initiative, as a new vehicle for China's integration into the world, has entered its implementation stage since Chinese President Xi Jinping proposed it in 2013.

Its spirit of "peace and cooperation, openness and inclusiveness, mutual learning and mutual benefit" has been deeply ingrained in the hearts of people around the world.

China needs to not only push forward infrastructure construction, but bring into full play its soft power to rally public support and reach consensus, which will lay a solid social foundation for future regional cooperation.

There have been some opinions voicing that China uses the initiative to export its overcapacity. Yet, the practice and facts over the past three years have effectively refuted these points of view.

It is through the initiative that a bigger community of common interests and destiny is taking shape. Meanwhile, the difficulty, complexity and pluralism in building the initiative determine that to realize the great vision entails not only hard power but soft power. Soft power helps promote heart-to-heart communication, mutual understanding, recognition and support, all of which are necessary for sustainable and long-term cooperation.

Building soft power should be an integral part of the Belt and Road construction, so as to tell stories about China well and spread China's voice well.

Primarily, people should always be put first. The building of the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, to a large extent, needs first of all connectivity of people and people-to-people exchanges. This is conducive to reaching consensus, which is key to transcending geographic borders.

Thus the construction of the Belt and Road should be based on the foundation of respecting human needs and dignity, as well as seeking for win-win cooperation and mutual learning. That's the prerequisite for deep-level cultural exchanges.

Cultural differences constitute the biggest discrepancies among countries along the routes. Cultural integration is the most urgent and important integration among others, and cultural exchanges and cooperation are a core element of the Belt and Road Initiative.  

Culture is a bridge to better deepen exchanges and cooperation among different countries and fields. A successful example is that China, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan succeeded in applying for the UNESCO World Cultural Heritage status for the Silk Roads: Routes Network of the Chang’an-Tianshan Corridor through joint efforts in 2014. 

Another important element of the Belt and Road construction is the alignment of soft environment, which includes alignment of policies and technical standards.

By June 2016, China had signed free trade agreements with 11 countries and bilateral investment treaties with 56 countries along the routes.

It is necessary for China to step up the soft environment alignment. Efforts should be made to align with relevant countries' development plans through negotiation and consultation, so that the regional economic cooperation framework and rules can be adaptive to each other. All relevant parties should reduce trade barriers, remove obstacles blocking the free flow of factors of production among difference economies, take measures to facilitate customs clearance and produce a better market environment.

The success of the Belt and Road Initiative, an important part of China's opening up under the "new normal," lies in integration of hard and soft power under the principle of win-win cooperation.

(Zhou Hanmin is a member of the Standing Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference National Committee, vice chairman of the Central Committee of China National Democratic Construction Association and vice chairman of Shanghai Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference. The article was translated by Jason Lee from an unabridged version published in Chinese.)