BEIJING: The security in the cities of Pakistan has certainly improved inrecent years with the progress in the ChinaPakistan Economic Corridor(CPEC), a pilot project of Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) launched by China.
Take Peshawar, a city which has been hit by terrorism in northern Pakistan.The security has certainly improved in recent years with the progress inthe CPEC, according to an article published by Global Times on Thursday.
Local people know that terrorism would stand in the way of Belt and Roadprojects, so they consciously resist the designs of anti-social elements,leading to a reduction in incidents of terrorism.
In northern Myanmar, the construction of the China-Myanmar EconomicCorridor under the BRI has seen a marked improvement in security as theimportance of peace and stability in facilitating the project dawns of thepeople. The fact is that the BRI is a geo-economic rather than geopoliticalconstruct and has nothing to do with geopolitics in form or content.
China neither has the intention of forming alliances through the BRI norplans to seek a sphere of influence. China seeks partners, not allies, inimplementing the initiative.
The opponents are grossly mistaken in regarding the initiative as ageopolitical concept.
Some in the West call the BRI China’s Marshal Plan. They are two differentthings that are not comparable. The Marshall Plan was an Americaninitiative providing aid to West European countries with the politicalmotivation of containing the spread of Communism at the start of the ColdWar.
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In sharp contrast, the BRI is more about investment. Countries of differentpolitical systems are welcomed to participate and it doesn’t aim at amilitary alliance.
The significance of the BRI as a geo-economic concept lies in that it canhelp solve development problems some backward regions are grappling withand provide them enabling conditions for the same.
Japan and China have agreed to step up cooperation in infrastructureprojects in third countries. Some Western countries such as Britain areeyeing closer cooperation with China under the BRI.
The initiative is open and inclusive; the more participants it draws in,the more secure and healthier its development. It will serve as a platformto step up cooperation among major powers.
In short, the BRI is a promising mechanism for economic cooperation, a newtool for managing security and a platform that can be used to explore moremajor-power cooperation.
