Sergey Saenko, international observer

The third international forum “One Belt, One Road” (BRI) was held in Beijing on October 17-18. It is noteworthy that the forum was held on the 10th anniversary of the moment when, in September 2013, Xi Jinping, who had recently become the leader of China, during a visit to Kazakhstan, first publicly outlined the idea of ​​reviving what arose during the Han Empire (206 BC). . – 220 AD) “The Great Silk Road”. By the way, in October of the same year, speaking in the Indonesian parliament, the leader of the People’s Republic of China supplemented the idea with a proposal to create a Maritime Silk Road of the 21st century, thereby effectively launching the OBOR initiative.

For an international audience, the goals of this megaproject were formulated by Beijing in a very attractive way. In particular, they envisaged multi-vector cooperation in the development of land and sea routes connecting Asian countries with Europe and Africa, the construction of infrastructure, the creation of favorable conditions for trade and investment, strengthening interaction in the financial sector, and intensifying cultural ties.

True, on the other hand, from the very beginning it was clear that the main driver of implementing the idea of a new Silk Road would be China. Despite this, Beijing did not want to oppose the OBOR initiative to other countries and, as far as possible, tried to avoid its politicization, presenting the project as purely economic. At the same time, the Chinese side noted that to implement the initiative it would not be necessary to create a clearly defined international structure: it would be enough to flexibly use existing bilateral and multilateral cooperation formats, as well as use the potential of already existing regional organizations. According to Beijing, its participants will thereby be provided with the maximum possible freedom in choosing forms of cooperation that are suitable for them and that meet their own development strategies.

Let one note that in addition to the international dimension, the OBOR initially had an important intra-Chinese factor. This project was associated with hopes for strengthening the economic positions of Chinese companies in the countries participating in the initiative by increasing the export of goods and the export of capital, as well as accelerating the process of internationalization of the yuan. The PRC leadership also hoped that the OBOR would help solve the problem of excess capacity in Chinese industry by transferring part of production abroad, and would also give additional impetus to equalize the economic level of development between the eastern part of the country and the lagging regions of western, southwestern and central China.

To be fair, it should be noted that over the ten years of the existence of the OBOR project, Beijing has faced a number of both objective and subjective difficulties in its implementation. For example, the COVID-19 pandemic has made significant adjustments to the development of the Chinese economy, slowing down the pace of its development. Permanent uncertainty in the global economy, growing geopolitical tensions, escalating Chinese-American competition in many areas, and the Ukrainian crisis have placed China in the face of acute challenges, which also affected the implementation of the OBOR project. The information war of the West against the PRC also played a negative role, during which rumors about the problems of the megaproject that were undesirable for the Chinese side were spread.

However, the third OBOR forum held in Beijing refuted all the speculations of the collective West, led by the United States, about the failure of this Chinese initiative. Suffice it to say that at this forum, virtually the entire planet was represented at one level or another, with the exception of a number of Western countries, whose leaders, by the way, Beijing did not invite. Specifically, these are over 140 countries and 30 international organizations, including more than 20 heads of state and government. Only the UN and FIFA have a larger number of participants.

Many experts believe that there are two main reasons for the success of the BRI project. The first is that the old world is becoming a thing of the past and is being replaced by a new multipolar world order. Yes, its clear contours have not yet been defined – construction is just underway. Moreover, one of the main architects in this construction are Russia and China. In this regard, the successful implementation of the Chinese OBOR initiative can outline the contours of a new world. The second reason for the success of this megaproject: it is already being implemented quite successfully and a lot can be “touched with your hands.” After all, the OBOR is not only ideas, but also considerable experience in the construction of specific facilities and laying out new trade routes, which can be studied. It was to study this experience that representatives of many countries came to the third BRI forum in Beijing.

It is no coincidence that in this regard, the White Paper of the State Council of the People’s Republic of China, published on the eve of this event, entitled “The Belt and Road Initiative: a key supporting structure of the global community of a common future,” aroused great interest. Moreover, the most important thing in it is the facts about what has already been achieved over the past ten years of the existence of this project. In particular, the document provides general figures: for example, last year China’s trade turnover with partners in the project grew to $2.9 trillion and is growing by an average of 6.4% per year, gradually overtaking trade with the West. In addition, Chinese construction workers have completed $1.3 trillion in work worldwide, created 420,000 jobs in countries along the BRI route, and lifted nearly 40 million people out of poverty.

Speaking about the third OBOR forum in Beijing, one cannot fail to mention Russia’s participation in this Chinese initiative. Let’s start with the fact that our country was represented at the forum by President Vladimir Putin, who spoke at it on October 18. It was on this day that the Russian leader had a separate meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping. It is noteworthy that after negotiations in an expanded format, the leaders retired for a one-on-one conversation that lasted about two hours and during which, according to Putin, “confidential issues” were discussed. By the way, this was their second meeting this year – the first took place in March in the Russian capital. It is no secret that Russia supports the Chinese megaproject, since it fits well with Moscow’s proposals for the creation of a large Eurasian space, where various integration initiatives can be combined: OBOR, SCO, ASEAN and EAEU. By the way, Vladimir Putin once again mentioned this when speaking at a forum in Beijing.

In addition, the ideas contained in the Chinese project are reminiscent of thoughts that have already been expressed more than once by the Russian leadership. For example, the six principles of life in a new and correct world, put forward in Vladimir Putin’s recent speech at the Valdai Discussion Club. In this regard, it is not at all surprising that every word of Putin and Xi Jinping at the forum in Beijing was closely watched throughout the world. The reason for this lies in the fact that for both leaders, words are coupled with deeds; they not only put forward ideas about the right future – they accompany them with concrete actions that clearly make the world a better and fairer place.

It is important to note one more point here. Vladimir Putin’s visit to the BRI forum in Beijing became the main foreign visit of the Russian leader this year, who previously did not take part in the BRICS and G20 summits due to an ICC arrest warrant. This fact can only indicate further rapprochement between Moscow and Beijing at the end of the year. At the same time, we can say with full confidence that in the conditions of a split in the world, the PRC and Russia are cooperating with the goal of collective leadership in an alternative world order that rejects Western “rules.” Moreover, cooperation between the two countries is carried out on an equal basis and mutual respect.

According to Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, Moscow is “very grateful to our Chinese friends for inviting President Putin as the chief guest to the third Belt and Road International Forum.” In turn, Lavrov’s Chinese colleague Wang Yi said on the eve of the opening of the event in Beijing that “the participation of President Putin will make a very important contribution to the successful conduct of the forum, and will also be very useful for promoting our strategic interaction and will add new energy.”

By and large, this is what happened, and Vladimir Putin’s participation in the third OBOR forum gave it additional impetus and once again confirmed the similarity of positions of Moscow and Beijing on major international issues, thereby once again proving to Western skeptics the strength of Russian-Chinese relations.