Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin meet at Belt and Road Initiative Summit
Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin shake hands. | Source: Wikimedia Commons
Chinese President Xi Jinping met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Beijing, along with over 130 representatives mostly from developing countries, for the Third Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation on October 18, 2023.
The forum marked the tenth anniversary of China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), an effort Xi launched with the goal of expanding China’s worldwide influence through infrastructural and economic development. Since its formation, over 150 countries have expressed interest in participating in BRI projects for the creation of new railways, energy pipelines, and even Chinese-funded economic zones designed to fuel industrial development and job growth. China has spent over $1 trillion of a predicted $8 trillion needed to achieve BRI goals.
In his keynote speech at the forum’s opening ceremony, Xi emphasized that in addition to expanding beyond the Eurasian continent to Africa and Latin America, BRI cooperation has progressed significantly, moving from “physical connectivity to institutional connectivity” on the path of achieving global infrastructure and economic development.
Xi also announced new initiatives to promote green development and artificial intelligence innovation. With the rise of globalization trends such as environmental and AI progress, Xi hopes the BRI will progress from infrastructure projects to those that bring forth deeper connectivity across various countries.
According to Xi, the BRI aims to bolster support for its Green Development Coalition—which works to implement policy to achieve environmentally conscious development—via the establishment of dialogue with the solar industry and experts in low-carbon development. “China will implement the Green Investment Principles for the Belt and Road, and provide 100,000 training opportunities for partner countries by 2030,” he remarked. The Green Investment Principles are a set of seven principles addressing strategy, operations, and innovation for sourcing greater investment for sustainability projects through communication with stakeholders.
Xi hopes to host scientists from other countries to conduct research through short-term programs in China, with the goal of advancing “the sound, orderly and secure AI development in the world.” These AI research programs would be implemented under China’s new Global Initiative for Artificial Intelligence Governance, which focuses on non-discriminatory, joint AI development in various countries, in stark contrast to U.S. use of unilateral restrictions to protect national interests in AI development. On October 17, the United States tightened export restrictions on AI-related chips to China.
Asserting China’s priority to embrace a spirit of peace and cooperation, Xi alluded that China hopes to build mutual support with BRI partners, in contrast to its competitive relationship with the. “Ideological confrontation, geopolitical rivalry, and bloc politics are not a choice for us. What we stand against are unilateral sanctions, economic coercion and decoupling, and supply chain disruption,” Xi commented. He is presumably referring to the ever-spreading Western calls to “decouple” from China by reducing reliance on the largest perceived economic threat to the West.
As the guest of honor, Putin reinforced the BRI’s “multilateral efforts to strengthen creative and constructive interaction throughout the global community,” noting Russia and China’s shared desire to achieve long-term economic progress and optimize social well-being. Among several other infrastructure projects, Putin introduced plans to ensure seamless railway communication between northern Russia and the Persian Gulf through the creation of an international North-South corridor. He also mentioned the Russian initiative to establish a permanent commission on transport logistics within the framework of BRICS, an association that notably does not include the United States. While current BRICS strategies emphasize transport logistics, Putin hopes to make transportation seamless across the Eurasian continent.
“Russia is the largest country in the world in terms of territory and the connectivity of all partners through our territory is of serious importance for all our partners and friends,” Putin declared. He presented the BRI in a light that highlighted Russia and China’s “parallel and coordinated” efforts rather than as a predominantly Chinese initiative.
Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Mao Ning echoed the sentiments of Xi and Putin in regards to the trailblazing nature of the BRI. “Amid great transformations unseen in a century, Belt and Road cooperation will always bring stability and positive energy to the world,” she stated in her press conference on October 19.