The second difference has to do with the nature of the plans. The "Belt and Road Initiatives" are open propositions for economic cooperation; they are meant to help the region's common development. But some American observers have said they are China's macro-strategy wrapped in the disguise of the "Silk Road", which could be used to challenge, even transform, the regional and world orders. They see the "belt-road" policy, BRICS Bank, Shanghai Cooperation Organization Bank, and Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank as attempts to create a new regime and challenge US hegemony.

Such misunderstandings can be removed only if China and the US communicate over the proposals, narrow their differences, and use the "belt-road" policy to facilitate a new type of major country relationship.

Global interconnectivity is a fundamental trait of globalization, which the Silk Road established more than 2,000 years ago. The Silk Road was not only a trade route; it was a major artery of political, cultural and ideological exchanges between East and West as well. If we consider the export of tea and china from and import of Mexican silver to China, the Silk Road extended up to the Americas, which means all countries related to the Silk Road are stakeholders in the "Belt and Road Initiatives."

A country's policy of open development should be seen as an organic part of global interconnectivity, and rules and laws for development of global interconnectivity are a centuries-old concept. It is thus important for major countries to have shared aspirations, instead of pulling the rug from each other's feet. And since, conflicts can never be conducive to prosperity, countries should develop mutually beneficial relationship and lift the barricades to global trade and communications.

China's economic rise and global interconnectivity have been synchronous, mutually facilitating and mutually complementary. In this regard, the US, as the most important advocate of global interconnectivity and consumption market, has to a great degree helped China's rise. Today, thanks to its tremendous energy for development, China is capable of providing regional, even global, public goods by strengthening interconnectivity construction, which is also conducive to the US' development. Since the "Belt and Road Initiatives" are the Chinese version of the global interconnectivity strategy, which is universally beneficial and inclusive, its benefits are obvious. This is something the US has to understand.

The author is the director of the Institute of World Political Studies, affiliated to China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations.

Courtesy: chinausfocus.com