originally, as a continental country, china used to communicate with other cultures through its western part. to the west, it affected countries and regions as far as the islamic world. to the east, it influ-enced countries in the east china sea and the south china sea, with the immigrants who were left there.
the fate of globalization was closely related to the rise and fall of the silk road. the silk road once enjoyed a glorious history. in 1453, the ottoman empire rose rapidly and obstructed the route for commercial and cultural exchanges between the east and the west (historically called the “ottoman wall”). consequently, europeans were forced to face the ocean and colonize the world. columbus discovered the american conti-nent in 1492 and vasco da gama passed the cape of good hope in af-rica and entered the indian ocean and the pacific ocean in 1498, which signaled the coming of a new era in world history. the world structure has completely changed. the west lay in the global center and ocean dominated land. and maritime globalization formed.
the most prominent feature of the new era was that the chinese centralism was gradually broken. as a “central country”, china located in the center of the tribute trade system in east asia, and played an im-portant part in the world. in the 19th century, especially after the opium war in the 1840s, the east declined and the west temporarily rose to be dominant.
in the 21st century, the belt and road initiative aims not only to re-build the historically blocked silk road, but also to lead the great pi-oneering work in an innovative globalization, taking the silk road as the historical background.
ⅰ. the history of international trade, mercantilism, etc.
in the slave society, limited by low productivity and inconvenient transportation, commodities were circulated in small areas and interna-tional trade was rarely seen. commodities for trade were mainly slaves and luxury goods for slave owners. in the feudal society, with the devel-opment of society and economy, international trade developed. at that time, china and other asian and european countries conducted interna-tional trade through the silk road, and trade happened among countries in the mediterranean sea, the baltic sea, the north sea and the black sea. in the late 15th and early 16th century, the great discovery promoted the development of international trade. the commodities involved were mainly common consumer goods and luxury goods for feudal lords.
in the age of capitalist production, especially the industrial revolu-tion, productivity increased rapidly, production capacity continued to ex-pand, and international trade developed quickly and spread worldwide. in the 17th -19th century, the amount of foreign trade in capitalist countries rose continuously, with the uk monopolizing the international trade. commodities traded were mainly common consumer goods, industrial raw materials and machinery equipment. in the late 19th century, an age of imperialism, a united and all-inclusive global economic system and market formed.
mercantilism emerged in the mid-16th century and prevailed in the 17th -18th centuries. it profoundly affected the international trade when western european countries accumulated their primitive capital. mercan-tilism believed that precious metals (currency) were the only measure of wealth. during the early stages, mercantilism advocated to use adminis-trative means to accumulate monetary wealth and to prohibit currency outflow. later, it admitted currency outflow, but stressed a surplus in foreign trade, i.e., exports exceeded imports. mercantilism rose with the accumulation of primitive capital and in essence saw international trade as a zero-sum . it was an unwise misconception. however, mercan-tilism is still lingering today, and finds a new form in trade protectionism.
in contrast, adam smith, a famous british economist, upheld that international trade was a positive-sum . he proposed the theory of“absolute advantage” to explain the groundwork of international trade;based upon that, david ricardo, another british economist, later raised the theory of “comparative advantage”. according to ricardo, it was the relative labor cost of production that determined the trade ground-work between two countries, not the absolute labor costs. in a country, even if the labor cost of production was higher than that in others, the country could benefit from trade with them on the condition that their labor input differed.
the impact of world war i and the great depression (1929-1933) inflicted heavy losses on the world economy, and the value of foreign trade plummeted and stagnated. after world war ii, international trade expanded, and the united states boasted the strongest economic power in international trade. since the 1950s, production had been socialized and internationalized. particularly, productivity advanced rapidly thanks to the technological revolution. international trade displayed new vitality and features. finished products exceeded raw products and dominated. new products emerged constantly, and the trading way was increasingly flexible and diverse.
developed countries dominate contemporary international trade. the united states keeps its leading role in international trade. germany, japan and other countries achieve remarkable development in foreign trade. developing countries share relatively less, but increase greatly and form an important force. international trade plays a decisive role in con-temporary global affairs and economic development of each country.
ⅱ. the new silk road
as the global demand for oil soared, all oil-producing countries expressed their dissatiaction with old oil concession rights. with new rules negotiated, the middle eastern countries obtained a sharp increase in the income of oil. oil was circulated globally, rather than tea, silk, sps, slaves and silver. now, the silk road is becoming a road for ener-gy circulation. the underground energy is constantly being discovered, which is helping the revival of the central asian countries and hoisting their economic growth. the road used to sell silk, horses and sps has turned into a channel for delivering energy. transport hubs and trunks have also developed enormously.
as the largest developing country and a responsible power, chi-na proposes the belt and road initiative. it is a strategy that embodies strong historical background. according to the profound changes in international and regional situations, and a new environment and task china faces, the chinese government is committed to promoting a new round of globalization, safeguarding the global free trade system and open economy system, and enhancing cooperation with other countries along the belt and road based on the ideal of cooperation and develop-ment.
ⅲ. the belt and road initiative and economic globaliza-tion
looking back, we find that the global financial crisis in 2008 caused fatal damage to globalization. after the crisis, developed countries suf-fered hopeless economic recovery and downturn in international trade and investment. in some developed countries, trade protectionism was applied again, trade and investment barriers were heightened, and exclu-sive regional economy was widely adopted. this frustrated economic glo-balization and regional economic integration. some developed countries abandoned the concepts of multilateralism and regionalism, and turned to bilateralism or unilateralism. even worse, populism, isolationism and protectionism appeared frequently, and the idea of de-globalization emerged.
since 1978, china has constantly and deeply participated in eco-nomic globalization through progressive reform and opening-up. on one hand, china introduced foreign capital, technology and management ex-perience to attain rapid economic growth; on the other, china has estab-lished a governing mechanism that conforms to economic globalization. owing to economic globalization, china has maintained rapid economic growth for decades and has d an economic miracle in human his-tory. moreover, china has made tremendous contribution to the world’s economic growth and has tranormed the global economic structure. in some sense, the rise of china’s economy in the past 40 years saw the big-gest change in the global economic structure in the past hundred years, and one of the most remarkable events in the world structure in the past 300 years.
at the beginning of reform and opening-up, china’s gross domes-tic product (gdp) only accounted for around 5% of the world; china’s export less than 1.5%. by 2013, china’s share of global gdp had risen to 12.3%, and the exports to 12%. in 2010, china became the world’s second largest economy and the world’s largest industrial manufacturing country, surpassing the united states. in 2013, china became the world’s largest trading country for goods. since the global financial crisis in 2008, china’s contribution to the world’s economic growth has maintained around 30% (with the lowest point in 2014, reaching 27.8%). in that case, the belt and road initiative demonstrates china’s commitment to pro-mote the in-depth development of economic globalization, and china’s effort to protect the fruits and mechanism of economic globalization.
in the economic opening-up, china has accumulated abundant for-eign exchange reserve. at of the end of june, 2014, china’s foreign ex-change reserve reached 3.99 trillion us dollars, approaching 4 trillionus dollars , accounting for about 1/3 of the world’s total. meanwhile, china faces all-pervading excess capacity. when the marginal return of invest-ment continues to decrease and investment growth begins to drop, excess capacity will affect china’s economic growth. obviously, to eliminate backward production capacity and tranorm the economic development mode becomes the only way for industrial tranormation and upgrading.
as a new mechanism of regional economic cooperation, the belt and road initiative is rooted in the spirit of the silk road: peace and co-operation, opening and inclusiveness, mutual learning and mutual benefit. in regional economic cooperation, other mechanisms cannot parallel it in openness. the initiative is not exclusive, but a new approach to make it more liberal and convenient in global trade and investment, an effective tool to reduce international economic imbalance, and a new driving force for the world’s economic growth.
as the ancient silk road was cut off, europeans turned to the ocean and colonized the world with the help of the great discovery. this ushered in the so-called globalization. however, traditional global-ization rose from the ocean and relied on it. coastal and maritime nations developed first, while inland nations lagged behind, which caused a huge gap between the rich and the poor. traditional globalization originated in europe, and disseminated in the united states. as a result, western cen-tralism came to stage in the international order and gave rise to inequality and unfairness, like the east subordinating to the west, the rural to the urban, and the land to the ocean.
data from the world bank suggests that 80% of today’s world out-put comes from areas that are within 100km distance from the coastline, and 90% of global trade runs through the ocean. the ocean-oriented globalization centers on the west and justifies what we call partial global-ization or one-dimensional globalization.
globalization was initiated by western developed countries, whose mainstream culture was christianity. based on monotheism, christianity,
in particular protestantism, was characterized with a strong color of con-quest and exclusiveness. it was understandable that the traditional global-ization of trade and capital was accompanied with the western centralist values. in essence, this produced a hierarchical order among cultures, which differentiated the native from the foreign geopolitically and legally.
today, the belt and road initiative aims to achieve global re-bal-ancing. it is open to the west and strives to promote the development of western china and of inland countries and regions such as central asia and mongolia, and to spread worldwide the idea of inclusive develop-ment in globalization. in addition, through the initiative, china exports to the west its high-quality production capacity and comparatively advan-tageous industries. firstly, this benefits the countries along the way. sec-ondly, this improves the lowland predicament of central asia and other regions along the belt and road that were used as a channel for commer-cial and cultural exchanges in the silk road in history. for that reason, the initiative transcends the rich-poor gap and the imbalance of regional development out of globalization d by the europeans, and fosters a harmonious world with lasting peace, universal security, and mutual prosperity.
theoretically, the age of the ancient silk road for east-west trade and cultural exchange was globalization 1.0. in that age, civilizations met in the eurasia with the form of trade-culture, based on the spirit of“peace and cooperation, opening and inclusiveness, mutual learning and mutual benefit”. the age of globalization initiated by the modern west was globalization 2.0. in this age, nation-state expanded trade and in-vestment globally and established a western-centered world. the age of the belt and road initiative is globalization 3.0. in this age, as a proposal of cross-continental cooperation in the 21st century, the initiative intends not only to re-open the silk road that was cut off; but more importantly, to
a new-type globalization based on the historical term.
ⅳ. the belt and road initiative highly compatible with the 2030 agenda for sustainable development
based on the principle of achieving shared growth through discus-sion and collaboration, the belt and road initiative focuses on the mutu-al development among eurasian countries and regions and the co-efforts to build a community with a shared future for mankind, by strengthening international cooperation, and aligning the development strategy and in-dustrial advantages of each country.
as an all-round opening strategy proposed by china, the belt and road initiative takes achieving shared growth through discussion and collaboration as its guiding principle. it aims to establish a comprehen-sive 3d-like interconnected communication network that covers railways, highways, aviation, navigation, oil and gas pipelines, transmission lines, and cn (communication network) in more than 60 eurasian and african countries along it, and form an economic corridor for the overall devel-opment of construction, metallurgy, energy, finance, communications, logistics, and tourism through industrial agglomeration and radiation. ultimately, it liberalizes and facilitates trade and investment, deepens economic and technological cooperation, establishes a free trade zone, and forms the eurasian market through policy coordination, facility con-nectivity, unimpeded trade, financial integration, and people-to-people bonds. among them, the energy corridor focuses on the pricing power of commodities, the logistics and finance corridors on the right to for-mulate trade ＆ investment standards, and financial integration on the efforts to promote the regionalization and internationalization of rmb, and the development of the internet, power grids and smart silk road on the formation of trading rules of world e-commerce. these will vig-orously enhance china’s institutional discursive power in the world.
on september 25, 2015, the united nations sustainable develop-ment summit passed the 2030 agenda for sustainable development,which directed the development and cooperation of countries in the coming 15 years. the agenda proposed 17 sustainable development goals and 169 objectives, which called attention to: eradicating poverty and hunger, pro-moting economic growth; comprehensively advancing social progress, safeguarding equity and just; strengthening ecological civilization and promoting sustainable development. in content, it involves economic development, social progress and environmental protection, which are indivisible and indispensable. in pract, it applies to all countries in the world, no matter the poor or the rich. in terms of goal formulation, all member states participated in the discussion and laid a solid foundation for it.
correspondingly, the belt and road initiative is dedicated to the diverse, independent, balanced, and sustainable development of coun-tries along it, giving priority to poverty alleviation, education, health and employment. the agenda and the initiative share much in common in ideal and goal, especially poverty alleviation. china has not only achieved poverty alleviation for 700 million people, but also promised to eliminate poverty for 40 million more by 2020, 10 years earlier than scheduled. this sets an example and direction for countries in advancing the 2030 agenda for sustainable development.in spite of their difference in purpose and coverage, the agenda and the initiative have similar visions and prin-ciples.
the construction of the belt and road not only strengthens the link between different regions and people, but also promotes the devel-opment of global free trade. highly compatible with and complementary to the 2030 agenda for sustainable development,the initiative supports the rise of the former and the two jointly advance international development and cooperation.to globally advance the 2030 agenda for sustainable de-velopment demands at least 1 trillion usd every year.the major challenge to the attainment of sustainable development is how to allocate public resources to and promote private investment in the goal. the vast in-vestment scale and capital flow the initiative raised has the potential of becoming the fund the goal needs. the initiative and the 2030 agenda are conceptually connected. both base themselves on the purpose and principle of charter of the united nations and endeavor to maintain multilateralism and promote world peace and development. the initiative insists on the principle of achieving shared growth through discussion and collaboration and advocates openness, inclusiveness and mutual ben-efit. the 2030 agenda stresses international development and coopera-tion at a global level, while the initiative values that from a regional level to a global level. the 2030 agenda and the initiative take the attainment of economic development and the improvement of people’s life as the ultimate goal. the 2030 agenda emphasizes the principles of autonomy and free will among countries. the 2030 agenda and the initiative both respect the sovereignty and development rights of all countries, and support countries to choose their development path according to their national conditions. this manifests a new international relationship with cooperation and mutual benefit as the core.