Belt and Road Initiative marks paradigm shift of rule-making

Zheng Yongnian, head of East Asian Institute of the National University of Singapore. [Photo: Jiefang Daily]

The Belt and Road Initiative is different from the Marshal Plan, because it is development-oriented while the latter was rule-oriented, Zheng Yongnian, head of East Asian Institute of the National University of Singapore, said in an interview with Jiefang Daily.

China stresses the Belt and Road is an initiative, not a plan or strategy, as the initiative is open so that China does not make the rules that other countries must follow. The problem of the world is not lack of rules, but a redundancy of them, Zheng said.

The Belt and Road Initiative calls for joint participation, collective consultation and shared benefits. That is to say that China, as a big country, changes the rule-making methods and procedure, and this is an open, inclusive and participative process, Zheng said.

Zheng added that the Belt and Road Initiative is globalization project, not limited to certain routes. It is outdated to draw a line on the map according to the ancient Silk Road and maritime Silk Road. The Belt and Road is a symbol of peace, which should be perceived at the level of philosophy, rather than repeating the past by rote.

Zheng said that because of globalization, the human community has never been so close to a state of a community of shared destiny. China is not creating such a shared-destiny community out of nothing. Our fates have already been closely bound up.