Insights | BRI doesn't distinguish participants based on ideologies, nor does it respond to zero-sum game logic: expert

By Gan Tian

(ECNS) -- "The Communist Party of China (CPC) has never forgotten its main mission, which is to serve the people and their interests," said Fabio Massimo Parenti, professor of international studies at the International Institute Lorenzo de' Medici in Florencein an online interview with China News Network.

At its 102nd founding anniversary of the CPC, Parenti noticed that the political generations of the party have been able to overcome difficulties and reach many successes, such as complete eradication of absolute poverty across China.

Parenti noticed that China’s distinctive model of the socialist market economy has tried to combine private profits and common prosperity, productivity and welfare, merit and social demand, something even impossible to think of nowadays in the West.

During the interview, Parenti spoke highly of achievements in the 10-year development of The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). He mentioned that the BRI currently involves almost 150 countries, which is benefiting not only Asia, Africa and Europe but also the Americas and Oceania Australia, thanks to better connections and new cooperative platforms to join investment projects along the BRI countries.

According to China's Ministry of Commerce, China's trade in goods with BRI countries doubled from 1.04 trillion U.S. dollars in 2013 to 2.07 trillion U.S. dollars in 2022, with an average annual growth rate of 8 percent. In the same period, China's cumulative bilateral investment in BRI countries exceeded $270 billion.

"In addition to trade economic aspects, it is worth to say that the BRI is an initiative specifically designed to ensure peaceful world development." In Parenti's opinion, contrary to what some western propaganda claims, the BRI is neither a geopolitical nor a military alliance.

“It is an open, inclusive and common development process rather than an exclusionary block or an exclusive club”, said Parenti, which does not distinguish participants based on their ideologies, nor finally does it respond to the logic of a zero-sum game.

Parenti pointed out that the key element of the BRI is a win-win approach. "In any case, we can say that the BRI has been the most important political, economic, international initiative proposed in the past decade."

Additionally, Parenti also mentioned the Chinese path to modernization, which in his view, is a crucial concept inside the CPC agenda. He believed that by 2035, China's economic technological strengths will increase significantly and the country will become a global leader in innovation, sustainable industrialization, Information Technology, smart urbanization and agriculture, and more.