Xi's speech: A ray of sunshine

The second Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation is now over. The keynote speech of President Xi Jinping, along with the communique issued by the world leaders, form the agenda of the BRI plan of action for the near future and therefore merit close attention.

Xi's speech differed from the one he delivered two years ago, not only in being shorter but in concentrating on the quality of development, rather than its significance. He forthrightly addressed issues that have arisen since the last BRI forum to further strengthen the initiative and make it even better. The speech suggested two strong colors to me: green like the forest and yellow like the shining sun.

This was definitely a green speech. This is no surprise given that Presidents Xi and Barack Obama together made the Paris Climate Accords viable, although China has lost its partner in exercising global leadership. Xi highlighted a host of environmental partnerships such as the BRI Sustainable Cities Alliance and International Green Development Coalition and the formulation of the Green Investment Principles for Belt & Road Development that promotes environmentally friendly investment and green financing with financial institutions to curtail carbon emissions arising from infrastructure construction. The president also said that BRI countries will have a more robust cooperation in fields such as agriculture and the use of precious water resources.

It can't be mere coincidence that the Beijing Horticultural Expo is opening down the road from the forum venue because the expo and the forum both address the same pressing issues. The expo is not only about beautiful plants, flowers and architecture but about the continuing existence of our planet as we know it. While the Paris climate accords set the goal of a two degree Centigrade rise in global temperatures by 2100, latest estimate show a 3.2 degree rise, if this estimate is true, it's apocalyptic and large parts of some Chinese cities like Shanghai, Shantou and Tianjin could be submerged.

It was also a sunshine speech because Xi firmly called for greater dealings in the sunshine-- transparency and fuller consultations in BRI-related matters. He specifically cited the inauguration of Beijing Initiative for Clean Silk Road to curb corruption; no one knows more about successfully fighting corruption than President Xi!

In an apparent reference to criticism leveled at BRI being a debt trap for some countries, he discussed the need to ensure the commercial and fiscal sustainability of BRI projects. The previous day China's Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) recommended voluntarily following the debt sustainability analysis framework of the IMF and World Bank for low income countries to ensure financial stability.

I believe that China has been unfairly tagged with responsibility for this and that it's more likely a case of the desperate recipient nations who are responsible for their debt problems. Nevertheless, MOFCOM's voluntary guidance will serve to deter similar problems in the future.

When Xi announced what's now called BRI in 2013 the world was a far different place. I continually muse about how Xi could have foreseen how much the globalized world would change into one marked by nationalism, short-sightedness and selfishness that needed an unbelievably ambitious project to connect countries into a community of shared future for mankind. Some doubted China's ability to construct such an undertaking, but we now know that the doubters were wrong.

So far 125 countries and 29 organizations have signed BRI cooperation agreements. To date China's direct investment has been $90 billion. Turnover of contracted BRI projects has exceeded $400 billion. More than 40 countries have signed agreements on industrial cooperation. Trade in goods among BRI countries has been $6 trillion. The 82 overseas economic and trade cooperation zones China has built in 24 countries along Belt and Road have paid more than $2 billion in taxes to host countries and created about 300,000 local jobs. It's fair to say that BRI is a success and here to stay, especially after the just concluded Belt & Road Forum for International Cooperation.

To me a very significant development is Switzerland's decision to sign a BRI Memorandum of Understanding during the current state visit of its President Ueli Maurer. Why? Switzerland with its long history of banking is known for two things; the conservative nature of its finance and for many years being chosen as the most creative country in the world. So you have to conclude that BRI has passed a critical milestone when the Swiss president declared that "the projects within BRI are the most important investment projects of this century. There has to be investment first if we want prosperity." Sino-Swiss cooperation will center on intensifying cooperation on trade, investment and project financing in third markets along the routes of the BRI.

Let's hope that like the flowers and plants at the Beijing Expo, the success of the BRI projects generated by the 125 countries and 29 organizations will continue to grow and prosper.

Harvey Dzodin is senior fellow at the think tank Center for China and Globalization, and is a former legal advisor in the Carter Administration.

The opinions expressed here are those of the writer and do not represent the views of China Daily and China Daily website.