Written by: Senator Mushahid Hussain Sayed
Posted on: September 28, 2023 | 
| 中文
(L to R) President Xi Jinping launches historic Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) in Kazakhstan, September 2013 and BRI's Achievements
In March 2022, while on a visit to Moscow, President Xi Jinping told President Putin that ‘we are witnessing once in a century changes in the world, let us drive these changes together’.
The ‘changes’ President Xi referred to are a shift in the global center of gravity from the West to the East. Even the President of the International Olympic Committee, speaking at the Asiad in Hangzhou, China, forecast “a shift in the world towards Asia in sport’. Other Western leaders have also referred to this historic global transformation. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has talked of an ‘epochal tectonic change’, and the French President Macron has conceded that ‘300 years of Western hegemony is coming to an end’.
An expression of this shift actually began ten years ago, with President Xi Jinping’s famous speech at the Nazarbayev University in Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan, while launching the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), which has become the 21st Century’s most significant diplomatic and developmental initiative. The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) now includes over 150 countries and 32 international organisations, combining the Silk Road Economic Belt and the Maritime Silk Road, connecting countries, cultures and continents.
We in Pakistan, as the neighbour and strategic partner of China, are very fortunate that the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), a success story of BRI, has moved forward in building an enabling economic environment in Pakistan, with energy, economy and education among its key pillars. China has invested nearly $ 26 billion in direct foreign investment in Pakistan, generating 236,000 jobs, 8000 megawatts of electricity, 510 kilometers of highways and built 886 kilometers of the national transmission grid. 28,000 students from Pakistan study in China, while over 20,000 Pakistanis are learning Chinese.
CPEC Success Story
CPEC is not just about brick and mortar, it is about people-to-people connectivity, which is at the core of the strategic bond between the two ‘Iron Brothers’, Pakistan and China. CPEC was launched when Pakistan was a victim of terrorism with general instability and conflict in the region, because of America’s ‘war on terror’ in neighbouring Afghanistan. China, as Pakistan’s sincere friend, by launching CPEC, gave a vote of confidence to the people of Pakistan and its state, which provided much-needed faith in the future for Pakistanis. This was at a time when no other country, either in the West or the East, was willing to come forward with investments on such a large scale, scope and sustainability.
CPEC’s successful completion of Early Harvest Projects on schedule, with no job cuts in CPEC projects even during the Coronavirus pandemic, speaks volumes of the dedication and commitment of both sides to pursue the completion of these projects.
CPEC is part of the BRI, which itself has demonstrated resilience and continuity in the global context of a world that is facing transformation and turbulence. In the past ten years, BRI has seen an injection of $1 trillion in 3000 projects, 420,000 jobs generated and 40 million people lifted out of poverty.
As it celebrates its first 10 years, BRI faces a barrage of propaganda from its detractors in the West, who largely view it from a geopolitical lens, seeking to ‘contain the China threat’, by igniting a New Cold War, especially in Asia.
Western Copycat Projects of Belt and Road Initiative (BRI)
Ironically, as the English saying goes, imitation is the highest form of flattery, and as far as the BRI concerned, the West, especially the United States, has tried but failed to launch a succession of copycat projects, at least 5 by the latest count.
The United States Congress passed the BUILD Act in 2018 (Better Utilisation of Investments Leading to Development), with institutional support from the International Development Finance Corporation (IDFC), with a financial outlay of $60 billion for infrastructure projects. However, none of these projects materialised!
At the Edinburgh G7 Summit in 2021, President Biden announced the B3W (Build Back Better World), with much fanfare. A year later, B3W, was yet to launch any project and was rebranded as the Partnership for Global Infrastructure & Investment (PGII). Concurrently, the European Union also launched its copycat version to ‘compete’ with the BRI, named the Golden Gateway. None of these projects has shown any concrete outcomes.
Earlier this month, in New Delhi, the US, together with the EU, announced the launch of yet another ‘historic’ initiative to ‘counter’ the BRI: the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC).
What the critics of BRI fail to realise is that BRI is not just about building projects, but is a different worldview that is pushing for modernisation and promoting values that are in sync with the 21st Century ground realities, when the global center of gravity is shifting inexorably from the West to the East.
Earlier this year, in March 2023, President Xi Jinping announced the Global Civilisation Initiative, which is more about dialogue, harmony and respect for civilisations, as opposed to the mantra about ‘Clash of Civilisations’, first peddled by Harvard University Professor Samuel P. Huntington 30 years ago.
The author receiving '5 Principles of Peaceful Coexistence' award from President Xi Jinping in April 2015
BRI, together with the Global Development Initiative, Global Security Initiative and Global Civilisation Initiative, are helping to erect a more equitable global order based on equality, diversity and inclusivity, focusing on building bridges (the China-brokered Iran-Saudi rapprochement is a fine example of that), promoting modernisation and seeking connectivity. Conversely, born again Cold Warriors in the West are building barriers (sanctions, tariffs and protectionism), pushing for militarisation of international relations (QUAD, AUKUS, Asian NATO) and sparking confrontation and conflicts in the Asia-Pacific, in their tried, tested and failed formula to ‘contain’ China.
For instance, Huawei’s launch of its latest Mate60Pro smartphone shows the abject failure of the U.S. sanctions policy. China is not only succeeding in overcoming barriers and sanctions, but China is also focusing on modernisation, especially cutting-edge 21st Century technologies like 5G, Artificial Intelligence, robotics and cloud computing. According to a landmark study by Harvard University, ‘The Great Tech Rivalry - China versus United States’: ‘China is displacing the U.S. in hi-tech manufacturing’, evident in the recent launch of the Huawei Mate60Pro smartphone. As an illustration, China’s advanced technology is in evidence at the Asian Games in Hangchou, where robots are actually ‘running the show’! From driverless minibuses to robot guide ‘dogs’ to robotic receptionists, the Hangzhou Asian Games are an opportunity to showcase China’s phenomenal strides in science and sophisticated technology.
Senator Mushahid Hussain, first Pakistani to be invited at BRICS Conference
For us, in Pakistan, and the majority of the Global South, supporting BRI and wholeheartedly participating and benefiting from BRI, is because of its people-centric development and ‘win-win cooperation’. Moreover, the Global South, as the backbone of BRI, is on the right side of history, working together with China to build a better tomorrow, a more equitable world order, with no overlords and no underdogs.
China’s March to Modernisation is rooted in key components of China’s Strategic Culture. These include: the 2000-year-old Silk Road, which was the first instance of globalization, providing connectivity and cooperation amongst countries, cultures and civilisations. However, the Chinese culture has evolved over many centuries, which reflects China’s defensive and protective approach against outside intruders and aggressors, and the Great Wall is an expression of it. The Long March, an epic of the Chinese Revolution, which was a long and costly struggle for survival, demonstrated their patience, perseverance and persistence and a ‘Never Give Up’ spirit. The ‘Century of Humiliation’ from 1840-1949, has instilled in the Chinese nation a spirit of determination of ‘never again’ allowing the violation of China’s unity, sovereignty and territorial integrity. China is the only global power in history to rise peacefully without invading, conquering or colonizing any other country or people.
Pakistan's 262 member contingent received a warm welcome at the 19th Asian Games Opening Ceremony in Hangzhou, China
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