Reposting CRI Report: Chinese and French Experts Discuss China-EU Cooperation Under the Belt and Road Initiative
Deng Chundong, Party Committee Secretary of the Institute of Marxism Studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS), presided over the opening ceremony of the forum.
CRI Online report (Reporter Xue Chao from China Radio International): On October 9, the French sub-forum of the “2017 China Road Europe Forum—China-EU Cooperation under the Belt and Road Initiative” was held in Paris. The “2017 China Road Europe Forum” was jointly organized by the Institute of Marxism Studies at CASS, the Gabriel Péri Foundation of France, and L'Humanité [1], the newspaper of the French Communist Party, among other organizations. Three sub-forums were held respectively in Spain, France, and Italy, aiming to promote the construction of the Belt and Road Initiative and the process of global integration.
As one of the initiators of the event, Deng Chundong, Party Committee Secretary of the Institute of Marxism Studies at CASS, first stated the purpose of holding this forum at the opening ceremony of the French session: “I feel that even as information is highly developed today, the understanding of China in France and even across Europe remains incomplete and lacks objectivity. Therefore, our Chinese scholars have come here to engage in face-to-face exchanges and introduce China’s actual conditions and the country’s overall progress over these years to our French friends. I believe this is not only necessary for French friends to understand China, but it also allows them to introduce the situation they have learned to the whole of French and European society.”
Chinese and French scholars engaged in discussions regarding the prospects of the Belt and Road Initiative.
Subsequently, Sadia Samabash, head of International Relations for the French Communist Party, introduced the situation in France. She spoke of President Macron’s determination for reform in areas such as labor law and defense budgets since taking office, which has also elevated the status of foreign trade in France’s economic development. His boldness and innovation have attracted more foreign investors. Sadia Samabash believes that it is precisely against this background that the Belt and Road Initiative proposed by President Xi Jinping better meets France’s development needs and opens up new horizons for the development of France and even the whole of Europe. Sadia Samabash said: “What the Belt and Road Initiative involves is not just a single region, but cooperation between countries across different continents. The foundation on which the Belt and Road Initiative can be implemented is the promotion of economic cooperation and infrastructure construction. Clearly, such a mutually beneficial model is worth participating in. More importantly, this transnational and trans regional infrastructure cooperation also allows the human rights and freedoms of ordinary people in the regions along the routes to be better guaranteed.”
However, the proposal of the Belt and Road Initiative has not been recognized by everyone, and has even triggered the media in some Western countries to put forward the “China Threat Theory,” [2] arguing that China is using the opportunity for economic expansion. In response, Ma Yongfu, a professor at the College of Humanities and Social Sciences of the National University of Defense Technology of China, emphasized in his speech that the Belt and Road Initiative is a road paved for win-win cooperation among all countries, and China only plays a guiding role: “In the construction of the Belt and Road, we actively advocate rather than seek dominance; we strongly advance it rather than impose it. We do not seek to replace existing regional cooperation mechanisms, but rather seek to achieve mutual alignment and complementary advantages by pouring the ‘new wine’ of the Belt and Road into the ‘bottles’ [3] of existing mechanism platforms.”
Francis Wurtz, Honorary Member of the European Parliament and Director of the Institute of European Studies at Paris 8 University, delivered a speech.
Regarding the doubts about China using this for economic expansion or attempting to seek hegemony, Francis Wurtz, Honorary Member of the European Parliament and Director of the Institute of European Studies at Paris 8 University, believes that any country launching an initiative must first certainly want it to be beneficial to its own development; this is beyond doubt. As long as the proposal also conforms to the interests of the majority of countries, it is worth promoting. Francis Wurtz said: “For every country, launching a plan must first serve its own national interests. I believe China proposed the Belt and Road Initiative to consolidate domestic development trends while also seeking more recognition on a global scale. I think this is beyond reproach. At least so far, I do not feel that the Belt and Road Initiative has caused any loss of interest to China’s partners.”
In addition, a Chinese journalist mentioned that some French people they had encountered seemed to lack confidence in the prospects of the Belt and Road. Francis Wurtz also gave his understanding and suggestions: “It should be understood that for workers in France and the entire European Union, they are always full of concerns about their rights, their jobs, and their future. Therefore, I have always emphasized that if we are to realize the construction of the Belt and Road, we must adhere to the concept of mutual benefit and win-win results. Moreover, this win-win should not only be between enterprises and enterprises, but should be specifically reflected in the workers themselves, allowing them to see benefits from it as well. This is the most important thing.”
The theme of the speech by Wang Jin, Division Chief and Researcher at the Central Compilation and Translation Bureau [4], was “The Belt and Road and China’s New Development Philosophy.” [5]
In addition to jointly discussing the prospects of the Belt and Road, other units of the French sub-forum also conducted in-depth exchanges and discussions on issues of concern to both China and France, such as the reshuffling of labor rights and international security. On October 13, the final stop of the “2017 China Road Europe Forum—China-EU Cooperation under the Belt and Road Initiative” will be held in Italy.