12月5日和6日，赵建总领事分别在美中西部地区英文媒体《印第安纳星报》、《芝加哥论坛报》发表署名文章《“一带一路”倡议：共商共建共享，共创美好未来》。

    文章指出，当今世界，人类社会正处在一个大发展大变革大调整时代，世界经济增长需要新动力，发展需要更加普惠平衡，贫富差距鸿沟有待弥合。顺应经济全球化的历史潮流，顺应全球治理体系变革的时代要求，顺应各国人民过上好日子的强烈愿望，中国国家主席习近平于2013年提出了共建丝绸之路经济带和21世纪海上丝绸之路，也就是“一带一路”倡议。

    文章强调，“一带一路”是一个开放包容的经济合作倡议，它以共商共建共享为原则，以经济合作为基础和主轴，以人文交流和文明互鉴为重要支撑，目的是聚焦互联互通，深化务实合作，谋求互利共赢和共同发展。“一带一路”合作的实质是政策沟通、设施联通、贸易畅通、资金融通和民心相通。“一带一路”倡议得到国际社会积极响应和广泛支持，正在从蓝图变为现实，为世界各国带来巨大机遇和红利。中国与“一带一路”合作伙伴贸易额累计超过9.2万亿美元，中国企业在沿线国家直接投资累计超过1300亿美元。世界银行报告认为，“一带一路”倡议全面实施可使近4000万人摆脱贫困，并有力促进全球经济的增速。

    文章指出，新冠肺炎疫情发生以来，“一带一路”合作展现出的强大韧性和旺盛活力。我们携手构筑国际抗疫“防火墙”。中国与各方举行了100多场疫情防控经验交流会，已向世界各国提供了2900多亿只口罩、35亿多件防护服、45亿多份检测试剂，帮助许多国家建设病毒检测实验室。中国与多国广泛开展疫苗合作，已通过捐赠、出口等方式，向110多个国家提供了超过17亿剂疫苗和原液，其中大多数是“一带一路”合作伙伴。尽管有疫情阻隔，“一带一路”倡议下的经贸投资合作成绩斐然，成为促进经济社会恢复的复苏之路、释放发展潜力的增长之路。2020 年，在全球对外直接投资同比缩水35% 的背景下，中国境内投资者在“一带一路”沿线的 58 个国家实现直接投资 186.1 亿美元。截至 2020 年底，境外经贸合作区累计投资 448.5 亿美元，为当地创造了 37.3 万个就业岗位。

    文章指出，面向未来，中国将继续同各方高质量共建“一带一路”，践行共商共建共享原则，弘扬开放、绿色、廉洁理念，将“一带一路”建设为走向繁荣之路、绿色发展之路、健康之路和开放包容、互利共赢之路。

    文章强调，中方欢迎并支持美国参与到“一带一路”倡议合作中来。中美经济结构和优势高度互补，中美开展“一带一路”合作不仅符合中美双方的利益，也符合所有“一带一路”倡议参与方的利益。“一带一路”倡议完全可以为美国企业提供广阔机遇，为中美关系拓展新合作空间，为各伙伴国的基础设施建设、工业化发展和民生改善做出贡献。

    文章指出，中国已开启全面建设社会主义现代化国家新征程，构建以国内大循环为主体、国内国际双循环相互促进的新发展格局。这将为“一带一路”发展提供更强动力，更大空间。中国愿与相关国家一道，结合各国疫情防控和经济复苏的现实需要，通过高质量共建“一带一路”，为推动构建人类命运共同体、共创人类美好未来做出更大贡献。

    文章英文全文如下：

The Belt and Road Initiative: Build aBetter Future Through Extensive Consultation and Win-win Cooperation

Centuries ago, the well-known ancient Silk Road, a network of trade routes originatingfrom China, connecting Asia, Europe and Africa,led to a boom in travel and trade over land and across the seas along the routes, providing a strong impetus to regional development and exchanges and cooperation among different nations and civilizations.

The world today is undergoing great development and profound transformation and changes, calling for new growthdrivers of the global economy, more inclusive and balanceddevelopment and more effective waysto bridge the yawning gap between the rich and the poor.

In line with the prevailing trend of economic globalization and in response tothe call of the times for global governance system reforms and the strong aspiration of the world’s people for a better life, Chinese President Xi Jinping proposed the building of the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Roadin 2013, also known as the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).

This is an initiative for open and inclusive economic cooperation based on the principles of extensive consultation, joint contribution and shared benefits. Centering around economiccooperation and underpinned by people-to-people exchanges and mutual learning among civilizations, it aims to increase connectivityand promote common developmentamong countries along the routes through deepened practical and win-win cooperation.

At the center of the Belt and Road cooperation are “five connectivities”.

First, policy connectivity. All cooperation projects under the BRIwill becarried out through equal-footed consultation with no political strings attached and no projects will be imposed from a “position of strength”. The initiative has been aligned with other countries’development strategies andregional and international development agenda to leverage each other’s strengths for mutual complementarity.

Second, infrastructure connectivity. China is working actively with relevant countries to implement major infrastructure projects such as railways, roads and ports at faster pace, with many more connectivity projects in the pipeline. The goal is to create better conditions and more opportunities for trade and investment cooperation and the economic development of all countries.

Third, tradeconnectivity. Partnering with other BRI participating countries, China works hard to promote trade and investment facilitation, improve business environment and build FTAs in firm support of the multilateral tradingregimeandthe development of an open world economy.

Fourth, financial connectivity. China has engaged in diverse forms of financial cooperation with BRI partner countries and organizations, and is willing and ready to provide them with financial support foreconomic development to the best of its ability. The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank and the Silk Road Fund, for instance, arealready providing funding and financial support to projects in relevant countries.

Fifth, people-to-peopleconnectivity. Guided by the Silk Road spirit, China and other BRI participating countries have also carried out extensive cooperation in science, education, culture, health and people-to-people exchanges with firm commitment to enhancing the exchanges, dialogue and mutual learning among different civilizations.

Having received positive response and broad support from the international community, the BRI is being translated from a blueprint into reality,generating huge opportunities and benefits to countries around the world. The cumulative trade between China and BRI partners has exceeded US$9.2 trillion, and Chinese businesses’ direct investment in countries along the routesexceeded US$130billion, making the BRIthe broadest and largest platform for international cooperation in the world.AWorld Bank report estimates thatwhen fully implemented, the BRI couldhelp nearly 40 million people in relevant countries get out of poverty.

Despite the sudden outbreak of COVID-19 that hasravaged the world since last year, the Belt and Road cooperation has not come to a halt. Instead, it has pressed ahead against the headwind, demonstrating strong resilience and vitality.

In the face of the raging pandemic, China and the BRI partners have jointly put up an international firewall of cooperation against the virus. Chinahas held over 100 meetings with relevant countries to share experience in pandemic response, provided more than 290 billion masks, 3.5 billion protective suits and 4.5 billion testing kits to the world, andhelped many countries build testing labs. China has also carried out extensive vaccine cooperation with many countries, andhad to datedonated and exported more than 1.7 billion doses of finished and bulk vaccines to more than 110 countries, most of which were BRI partners.

In spite of the challenges posed by the pandemic, trade and investment cooperation under the BRI has made remarkable achievements, making the Belt and Road a promising model of recovery for restoring economic and social activitiesand a model of growth for unlocking development potential. We have seen the China-Europe freighttrainsplaying a more prominent role as an artery for trade, the construction of the New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor picking up speed, and the cross-bordere-commerce boosting the circulation of supplies of anti-pandemicmaterials and daily necessities. Platforms like China International Import Expo(CIIE) and China Import and Export Fair (CantonFair) are also playing an increasingly important role in facilitating trade connectivity and technological cooperation among countries.

In 2020, Chinese investors made non-financial direct investment of US$18.61 billion in 58 Belt and Road countries, despite a 35 percent year-on-year decline in global outward direct investment, and their accumulated investment in overseas economic and trade cooperation zones reached US$44.85 billion, creating 373,000 local jobs.

Going forward, China will continue to work withother parties to promote high-quality Belt and Roadcooperation in line with the principles of extensive consultation, joint contribution and shared benefits and the philosophy of open, green and clean development to make it high-standard, sustainable and beneficial to the people.

The Belt and Road is a road to prosperity. China and other participating countries will continue to build all-round infrastructure connectivity, and further increase the free flow of goods, capital, technology and personnel to deliver more tangible benefits to the people and help more developing countries better participate in and gain from the international division of labor.

The Belt and Road is a road for green development. We are committed to green, low-carbon, circular and sustainable way of life and work, and call for enhanced cooperation on green infrastructure, green energy and green finance and deepenedimplementation of the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Developmentto bring about harmonious coexistence between man and nature and sustainable development of human society.

The Belt and Road is a road for health. We will continue to work with the BRI partners to help and support underdeveloped countries and regions in preventing and fighting epidemics,promote exchanges and cooperation in public health R&D, scale up cooperation in virus origin tracing and vaccine R&D and production, and further improve global public health governance to build a robust global community of health for all.

The Belt and Road is a road for open, inclusive and win-win cooperation. Some people say the BRI is a geostrategic tool of China. This is a biased misunderstanding of what china is doing. In building the Belt and Road, China acts in the spirit of multilateralism, pursuing cooperation through consultation and striving to bring into full play the strengths and potential of all parties involved to foster greater synergy.The BRI, though proposed by China, belongs to the whole world. It is open to all countries, be it from Asia, the Americas, Africa or Europe, and its fruits will be shared by all.

China welcomes and supports the U.S. participation in the Belt and Road cooperation. Our two countries are highly complementary in economic structure and comparative strengths. If we can cooperate on Belt and Road, itwill serve not only the interests of our two countries, but also the interests of all participating parties. The BRI would provide broad opportunities toAmerican businesses, open up a new horizon for China-U.S. cooperation, and place our two sides in a better position to help partner countries strengthen infrastructure building, advance industrialization process and improve people’s living standard.

Embarking on a new journey to build a modern socialist country in all respects, China is actively building a new paradigm of development with domestic cycle being the mainstay and domestic and international cycles reinforcing each other. This will provide stronger impetus and greater space for Belt and Road cooperation. China will continue to work with relevant countries to promote high-quality Belt and Road cooperation and help them meet their needs inpandemic response and economic recovery to jointly builda community with a shared future for mankind and create a brighter future for all.