context: Since the Belt and Road Forum a year ago, China has been actively pushing through the deals signed there, but the international community has voiced concerns over the transparency, sustainability and underlying strategic goals of such projects.
A new international cooperation platform should be established for the Belt and Road Initative (BRI), suggests Wang Yaohui 王辉耀 Centre for China and Globalisation founder and president. Wang offers ten suggestions to build a new platform for international cooperation under BRI
- a legal framework for international governance
- establish an international council to coordinate relations between BRI countries
- draft a ‘Belt and Road’ Charter to develop fair and mutually beneficial security conditions
- establish an international law commission and an overarching dispute settlement centre to form a new order of regional governance
- strengthen cooperation with UN, World Bank, IMF, WTO and other international organisations
- BRI’s vision is consistent with the goals of UN’s 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development
- BRI requires support from professional talent in various fields and should cooperate with International Labor Organisation and International Organisation for Migration
- invite developed countries, such as the EU, Japan and South Korea to participate in the initiative
- deepen cooperation with key countries
- for example, the UK is more experienced than China in legal and financial services, and its participation as a third party could benefit market cooperation
- a permanent body for BRI
- a permanent secretariat should be set up to facilitate the advancement of projects
- countries can take turns to host an annual meeting for think tanks to exchange ideas
- an international enterprise alliance to attract the world's top 500 companies to participate in BRI
- businesses are encouraged to join the alliance, focusing on development, industry, border trade, science and technology, logistics, finance, tourism and cultural exchange
- the alliance can organise international forums, such as a manufacturing summit, a SME Summit, a MNC and SME cooperation forum, etc. to facilitate exchange of ideas
- a few countries and demonstration projects should be held up as role models for future endeavors
- development districts and industrial zones in Pakistan, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Mongolia can be potential choices
- continuously expand financing channels and innovate financing schemes
- focus on developing overseas economic and trade cooperation zones and parks
- as of end 2016, the number of cooperation zones under construction reached 56 in 20 BRI countries, accounting for 72.72 percent of all zones under construction by China
- these zones contributed US$1.07 bn in taxes to host countries and created 177,000 jobs for local people
- can help China’s competitive industries achieve agglomeration overseas and accelerate the industrialisation process for host countries
- give full play to the role of overseas Chinese in international cooperation
- overseas Chinese are encouraged to develop and operate overseas cooperation zones, build CBEC demonstration bases, conduct nongovernmental diplomacy and cultural exchanges, promote information exchange and resource sharing, and expand financing channels
- a ‘digital Silk Road’ should take advantage of China’s leading internet technology, big data technology and CBEC development