On 20 June, the the Belt and Road Institute in Sweden organised the webinar “China’s High-Quality Development and ‘Belt and Road Economics’: Economic Solutions for World Development”. Ambassador of China to Sweden Cui Aimin delivered remarks. The excerpts are as follows:

It gives me great pleasure to attend today’s webinar and join the discussion of how to promote global economic recovery and development through high-quality BRI cooperation. I’d like to take this opportunity to share some of my views with you.

First, I’d like to talk about the overall situation of China’s high-quality development. We always believe that development is both the basis for and the key to solving every problem we face. In recent years, China has been actively implementing the new development philosophy, striving to promote high-quality development, pushing forward to foster a new pattern of development, and has made remarkable achievements. China’s economic strength has been significantly increased. Fruitful gains have been made in scientific and technological innovation. People’s livelihood has been improved comprehensively. Ecological environment has been continuously improved. Steady progress has been made in opening-up.

For more than a decade, China’s GDP has increased from 54 trillion yuan to 126 trillion yuan, accounting for over 17% of the global GDP, averagely contributing over one third to world economic growth. According to global media forecast, China will be the top contributor to global economic growth over the next five years, with its contribution exceeding that of all G7 countries combined. Despite the complex situation of growing instability and uncertainty in the global economic development, the basic trend sustaining the long-term growth of China’s economy has not changed.

For more than a decade, China’s science and technology have advanced by leaps and bounds, striving to become a breeding ground for new scientific discoveries, new technological inventions, new industrial directions and new development ideas. In 2023, China’s nationwide R&D spending rose to 3.3 trillion RMB. China is home to the largest cohort of R&D personnel in the world. China’s comprehensive ranking of innovation capability rose to the 10th place in the world. The dynamics of new productive forces have further stimulated scientific and technological innovation. Substantial progress has been made in the research and development of high-end equipment such as aircraft engines, gas turbines, and 4th-generation nuclear power units. Innovations keep emerging in frontier areas such as artificial intelligence and quantum technology.

For more than a decade, we have won the largest, the toughest and most effective battle against poverty in human history, and built the largest education, social security, and health care systems in the world. In 2023, China’s per capita disposable income increased by 6.1% with the number of people in the middle-income bracket reaching over 400 million. The urban-rural income gap continues to narrow. The sense of fulfillment, happiness and security for the people has become more complete and lasting.

For more than a decade, the view that lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets has become widely shared across China, and major strategic success has been made in keeping our skies blue, our waters clear and our lands pollution-free. With efforts, China’s energy intensity decreased 26.4% in the past decade, making China one of the countries which have seen the fastest reduction in energy intensity, and it has exceeded its target of carbon emission intensity reduction pledged to the international community. Now China has built the biggest clean power generation system in the world. The environmental quality has continuously been improved, and green has become the defining feature of China’s development.

For more than a decade, the number of countries and regions taking China as a major trading partner has increased to more than 140. China’s FTA partners has reached 29, and the overall tariff level has dropped to 7.3%. In the past five years, the return rate of foreign direct investment in China is around 9%, which is at relatively high level in the world. Last October, China announced that it would completely remove restrictions on foreign investment in the manufacturing sector, and continue to open up the development opportunities of China’s manufacturing industry to global investors. The international influence and appeal of the BRI have become more evident, and an all-round high-level open economy has accelerated to take shape.

We often say that China can only do well when the world is doing well, and when China does well, the world will get even better. China’s high-quality development has brought new opportunities to the world, and the BRI is a gift to make the world a better place. For more than a decade, with joint efforts of all parties, the BRI has taken root and flourished. It has become the world’s broadest-based and largest platform for international cooperation, generating new impetus and creating new opportunities for global economic growth, and has become an economic buzzword attracting the attention of global economists. Generally speaking, there are three major reasons for the remarkable achievements of BRI cooperation in the past decade.

The first is relying on China’s high-quality development achievements, and providing abundant products, technologies, capital and market for BRI partner countries. As the world’s second largest economy, China has the world’s most complete industrial chain, advanced construction of infrastructure projects, leading technological innovation capability and huge foreign exchange reserves. The vitality and potential of China’s enormous market have been continuously unleashed, and China’s status as “the world’s factory” and “the world’s market” has become more stable. China has signed more than 200 BRI cooperation documents with more than 150 countries and over 30 international organizations. From 2013 to 2023, the total import and export volume between China and BRI partner countries has exceeded 21 trillion USD. The loans of the Export-Import Bank of China for BRI projects have driven over 400 billion USD of investment and over 2 trillion USD of trade.

The second is meeting the development needs of BRI partner countries, and helping these countries to promote economic development and realize industrialization and modernization. BRI partner countries have long been subject to problems such as lack of infrastructure, limited production capacity, inadequate technology and financing difficulties, and there is a huge demand for connectivity among these countries. China’s supply capacity in terms of capital, technology and management is highly compatible. With joint efforts of all parties, a general connectivity framework consisting of six corridors, six connectivity routes and multiple countries and ports has been put in place. A number of signature projects including the China-Laos Railway, Jakarta-Bandung High-Speed Railway and the Piraeus Port have been built and put into operation. The China-Europe Railway Express service has provided a new Eurasian land transport route, providing strong support for the economic and social development of BRI partner countries.

The third is following the concept of win-win cooperation and to promote common development of all countries while pursuing our own development. Guided by the vision of a community with a shared future for mankind, the BRI involves countries in different regions, at different development stages and with different cultures, transcends differences in ideologies and social systems, and enables all countries to share opportunities, pursue common development and achieve common prosperity. Under the framework of BRI cooperation, Chinese and foreign partners have launched more than 20 multilateral dialogue and cooperation mechanisms in energy, environmental protection, think tanks, media and other fields. More than 60 cities from BRI partner countries have established more than 1,000 sister city pairs with many Chinese cities. China has also successfully held three Belt and Road Forums for International Cooperation, providing an important platform for participating countries and international organizations to deepen exchanges, enhance mutual trust and strengthen exchanges.

It is under the guidance of the vision of a community with a shared future for mankind that the BRI has been transformed from an idea into action and from a vision into reality, achieving solid and significant results and providing a clear answer to the new model of global governance and world economic development. As a responsible major developing country, China will continue to take the BRI as the top-level design of the path of opening-up and win-win cooperation between China and the rest of the world. We will open up in a wider scope, in more areas and at a higher level, increase resources input in global development cooperation, and make positive contributions to the common development of all countries in the world.

A great cause calls for wide support and participation. In the pursuit of high-quality BRI cooperation, all countries, including European countries, are equal participants, contributors and beneficiaries. In fact, China has signed various forms of cooperation documents with nearly 30 European countries, and a large number of cooperation projects in infrastructure, logistics, ports, e-commerce and finance are moving forward smoothly. We sincerely welcome more countries and international organizations, including Sweden, to join the big family of the BRI and jointly promote world connectivity and global sustainable development. China is ready to work with all parties in the spirit of partnership to seek win-win results through greater openness and cooperation, avoid fragmentation, refrain from setting inhibitive thresholds for cooperation or pursuing exclusive arrangements, and reject protectionism. We will jointly create new opportunities for development, seek new drivers for development, expand new space for development and share new fruits of development, so as to inject new and strong impetus into the building of a community with a shared future for mankind.