Votes of confidence in Beijing

China's President Xi Jinping (4th R) meets with the guests at the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) launch ceremony at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing in this October 24, 2014 file photograph. [Photo/Agencies]

With the formal entry of the United Arab Emirates into the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank as a founding member, the number of founding members has increased to 34, and that of countries or regions that have applied to be founding members has exceeded 50.

In such a manner, countries across the world have cast their "votes of confidence" in Beijing.

The United Kingdom's announcement of its decision to apply to join the AIIB provoked the ire of the United States. However, following his visit to China only half a month later, US Secretary of the Treasury Jacob Lew said the US is prepared to welcome the China-led institution. Such a delicate change of attitude demonstrates that the AIIB can go beyond the previous geopolitical gap and bring both Eastern and Western countries together to work for regional and world development.

The increasingly globalized problems in the post-Cold War era call for the joint efforts of countries to remove mutual misgivings and consolidate cooperation in a pragmatic way.

China's substantial steps toward this end, from its Belt and Road Initiative that will link countries in Southeast and South Asia, Africa and Europe, to its efforts to promote the construction of the AIIB, will offer countries in the rest of the world opportunities to share the fruits of its development and promote common prosperity.

China's achievements over the past decades have increasingly won the approval of the rest of the world. Its performances in governance, reform and innovations have also boosted other countries' confidence in China as a leading force for the world's development.

China's experiences in managing dozens of its provincial-level regions, many of which are comparable to some countries either in territorial size or in economic strength, have given people more confidence in China's role in world governance and coordination.

The above is an abridgement of a People's Daily article published on Tuesday.