by Wang Yamei
BEIJING, Aug.31 (Xinhuanet) -- The Belt and Road Initiative promotes China's all-round opening up, featured by new ideals and new approaches, an expert said.
"When we talk about opening up today, it is to improve the inclusiveness of the globalization, to develop national economy towards openness, inclusiveness, balance and win-win cooperation," said Wang Yiwei, professor of the School of International Studies at Renmin University, in a recent interview with Xinhuanet.
Wang said that the Belt and Road Initiative represents the all-round opening up, featured by broader opening areas from coastal areas to inland and border areas, and with partners around the world. More importantly, the development of countries along the Belt and Road is high on the list of priorities.
The mission and goals of opening up have changed as well, said Wang. We aimed to get integrated into the international community through opening up, but now, we are pushing the opening up of the world and the inclusiveness of the globalization in return.
The Belt and Road Initiative has offered a platform for all participants to "make the pie bigger" to benefit more people.
For instance, investment on infrastructures has strengthened the inter-connectivity, providing more opportunities for their development, he added.
Around 90 countries have signed intergovernmental memorandum with China on building the Belt and Road, as they are eager to learn from China's experience and forge a development path suitable for their national conditions, he explained.
As for the groundless allegations from the West that the initiative is neocolonialism, Wang responded that "colonialism won't cooperate with other countries through equal dialogue and consultation, investing in the infrastructure and developing industrialization."
In African countries that suffered from western colonialism before, the Belt and Road initiative is devoted to helping them get released from poverty by investment and cooperation, added Wang.
To join the initiative is to build a more inclusive global system, and this is a long process, during which measures more acceptable to all should be taken, he pointed out.
Wang stressed that the Belt and Road Initiative is to promote industrialization, to reshape the global value chain and to strengthen inter-connectivity.
As Wang said, "Time tells the truth, and practice is the best proof."
