A personal tribute

The BRI has touched our lives over the past 10 years and its sound policy structure means it will continue to touch lives for at least the next decade

Over the past 10 years, the Belt and Road Initiative has become an important driving force for global economic trade and investment cooperation through concerted efforts and concrete actions. It is a program of vital global significance.

I have personally witnessed the development in countries involved in the Belt and Road Initiative. I stood on the hard-stand foundations of the China-Laos Railway station at Mohan. I watched the tunnel for a high speed rail line emerge from a mountainside in Yunnan province. I discussed the preservation of cultural artifacts in Dunhuang, Gansu province, and the way the Belt and Road Initiative cooperation could stop the illegal trade in antiques.

My personal touch-points of the initiative are just small examples of the wider achievements and milestones that reflect the four major dimensions of the Belt and Road Initiative. Over the past decade there have been some modifications to the initiative, priorities have been adjusted in response to developing circumstances, but the four policy dimensions of the initiative have remained intact and have stood the test of time.

The first and most obvious dimension of the Belt and Road Initiative is physical infrastructure, as this facilitates the growth of trade. High-speed rail connections are a key component because they have opened up new areas in Asia and Central Asia. The rail-sea transportation route from Xi'an, Shaanxi province, to Germany, which is 11,300 kilometers long, traverses Central Asia, the Caspian Sea and the Black Sea and can transport 6.6 million metric tonnes of cargo annually. The Laos-China Railway constructed under a Belt and Road program carries more than 11.2 million tons of goods annually.

The thousands of kilometers of better roads and bridges are essential to trade development. They provide the physical framework that enables previously trade-deprived areas to enter the global marketplace. Land-locked Central Asia now has increasingly reliable trade transport and access. This engagement is a foundation of prosperity and the Belt and Road Initiative reaches out to tackle the massive infrastructure deficit that hinders the global economy.

Western commentary has an almost exclusive focus on the infrastructure scale and fails to understand the broader benefits of the Belt and Road Initiative.

The second dimension is trade infrastructure and this is perhaps more important than roads and bridges. This includes the removal of trade barriers and standardization of trade regulation. China's participation in agreements such as the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership is consistent with the philosophical objectives of the Belt and Road Initiative, which supports the Global Development Initiative.

Trade settlement processes are essential enablers of trade. China leads the way in many areas, such as the use of blockchain customs clearance based on digital certificates. The Guiyang Free Trade Zone continues to do good work in developing blockchain solutions for cross-border e-commerce. China's support for the World Trade Organization as the primary mechanism for resolving trade disputes is consistent and compatible with the inclusive nature of the Belt and Road Initiative.

The third dimension is the essential soft infrastructure because it deals with payment systems and protocols. This is an essential ecosystem that includes a broader application of blockchain certification not just for payments, but also in fighting product substitution.

Countries within the Belt and Road Initiative participate in a harmonized set of trade and trade settlement standards that will make cross-border trade more efficient. Physical infrastructure, such as the Laos-China Railway, is a foundation but its true economic benefit is enabled by the common software infrastructure adopted by participants in the initiative.

International standards serve as soft infrastructure. A universally accepted USB plug design is just as vital to modern commerce as a new bridge. This is where the Belt and Road Initiative has delivered a lasting impact. The return on investment for a bridge is less important in the long term than the adoption of the standards on everything from construction to finance, from cross-border e-commerce transaction to data management.

When the initiative builds high-speed rail links, it also exports key technical standards for this type of construction. Countries tend to voluntarily adopt these standards and it becomes soft infrastructure that underpins the operation of the digital economy.

The final dimension of the Belt and Road Initiative is capital infrastructure. Currency integration is a precursor to the growth of China's capital markets. The steady progress in the opening of the capital account, debt markets and the liberalization of investment conditions are part of this process. More recently this has included the application of China's digital currency which prevents trade being held hostage to the US dominated Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication currency transfer system.

Foreign commodity companies are using China's digital currency to speed up trade settlement time, reduce exposure to currency and counterparty risks. Settlement is now measured in hours rather than multiple business days.

At its core, the Belt and Road Initiative is based on the concepts of a shared prosperity that recognizes and accepts the diversity of political structures.

The broad and widespread impact of policies on cross-border trade, e-commerce, operational systems, regulatory structures and trade relationships has encouraged countries to create a role for themselves within the Belt and Road Initiative discussions. At times business organizations such as the Silk Road Chambers of International Commerce and others have led the way for political and business leaders to lift the China relationship to a more sophisticated level.

It's easy to be overwhelmed by the grand achievements of the Belt and Road Initiative, but for me the 10-year celebration is more personal. The engineering achievements of tunnels and bridges are an impressive sight, but so too is the simple WePay transaction made from a foreign country that we take for granted because it rests on a digital economy that is equally a part of the benefits of the Belt and Road Initiative. The initiative has touched our daily living over the past 10 years and its sound policy structure means it will continue to touch lives for at least the next decade.

The author is an international financial technical analyst and a former national board member of the Australia China Business Council. The author contributed this article to China Watch, a think tank powered by China Daily. The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.

Contact the editor at editor@chinawatch.cn.