On the tenth anniversary of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), the third “Belt and Road” International Cooperation Summit Forum was held in Beijing from October 17 to 18, 2023. The summit forum has great and far-reaching historical and practical significance and is another important milestone in BRI process. As a professional department focusing on the cultivation of international talents along the Belt and Road and academic and policy research on the Belt and Road, Belt and Road School (BRS), strives to improve its political position and actively fulfill its mission. At this historical moment, BRS believe actively serving the third “Belt and Road” International Cooperation Summit Forum is an important part of the study and implementation of the theme education of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era and strives to contribute to the successful holding of the summit forum.

 

BRS has the “High-quality BRI Series” published. As a school specializing in “Belt and Road” research, BRS has made a theoretical as well as a practical summary of the ten-year work of BRI and put forward opinions and suggestions for high-quality cooperation in the future. Wang Shoujun, Dean of the School, and Hu Biliang, Executive Dean, served as chief editors. They published the “High-quality BRI Series” before the summit forum and presented it as a gift to the Publicity Department of the Chinese Communist Party, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the National Development and Reform Commission, the International Department of the CPC Central Committee and other relevant national ministries and departments. The set of books is the embodiment of academic research results to serve national strategic decisions.

In addition, Dr. Djoomart Otorbaev, a Distinguished Professor of BRS, published an English book on Central Asia’s Economic Rebirth in the Shadow of the New Great Gam (Routledge) in 2023; Distinguished Professor Harinder Singh Kohli, Rajat Mohan Nag, and others jointly published The Belt and Road Initiative & Global 2030 Sustainability (Penguin Enterprise) and Distinguished Professor Grzegorz W. Kolodko published China and the Rebalancing of Globalization (Springer) and other works.

BRS actively participated in field investigation and policy research. In order to better understand the role of the BRS in promoting high-quality construction of BRI, on 28th March 2023, Xu Jianping (Director of the Office of the Leading Group for Promoting the BRI Construction and Department of Regional Opening, National Development and Reform Commission), a delegation of 8 people led by Liang Linchong (Deputy Director and First-level Inspector) and Zhang Ming (Deputy Director) paid a research visit to Beijing Normal University on the construction of BRI. Cheng Jianping (Chairman of the University Council of Beijing Normal University) met with Xu Jianping and his delegation. The two sides exchanged views on promoting international education and cultural communication under BRI.

 

In April and May 2023, BRS was invited to participate in field research activities organized by the Regional Opening Department of the National Development and Reform Commission on the experience of carrying out the BRI construction in 10 cities in Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Guangdong provinces. Based on the results of the field survey, a report named Practical Exploration of the Belt and Road Initiative: Survey of Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Guangdong was completed. This report provides an important reference for government departments to engage in relevant decision-making and for scholars to engage in relevant research.

 

In May 2023, Hu Biliang and Liu Qian (Deputy Dean of BRS) participated in seminars organized by the Department of International Economics of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and presented their views. In August 2023, researchers of the school collected more than one million words of documents and materials regarding BRI in the past ten years and formed ten thematic reports and one summative report, which provided strong support for government decision-making.

 

BRS provided support for the filming of full-length documentaries including “Road to Prosperity” and “Beauty and Beauty.” The fourth episode of "Road to Prosperity," named "Heart and Hand,” uses a decent amount of footage of classroom teaching, field research, graduation ceremonies, interviews, etc. of teachers and students of BRS. In addition, one of the lead singers of the documentary’s theme song and 12 international participants of the chorus are all from BRS. In order to accurately grasp the essence of General Secretary Xi Jinping’s systematic thoughts on BRI, all editors and project staff of the “Road to Prosperity” documentary visited BRS on March 11, 2023. Hu Biliang explained in detail to the main staff how to grasp the highlights, key points, difficulties and other issues of the documentary, and provided guidance from the ideological and academic perspective of BRI.

 

In addition, Hu Biliang, as one of the experts, participated in the Expert Seminar of the International Cultural Exchange Program “Beauty and Beauty,” jointly launched by China Central Radio and Television and the Ministry of Culture and Tourism and put forward opinions and suggestions for improvement.

 

BRS made a practical report on BRI for the editors and reporters of CCTV News Network, Xinhua News Agency, and China Net, who participated in the news reporting of the summit forum. At the invitation of the CCTV News Department, China Media Group, on August 30, 2023, Hu Biliang systematically explained General Secretary Xi Jinping’s BRI thoughts, achievements, and experiences, problems and prospects of jointly building“the Belt and Road” to the editors and reporters of the “News Network” and “Evening News” programs of CCTV. On September 23, 2023, at the invitation of the Editor-in-Chief of Xinhua News Agency, Hu Biliang gave a lecture on “Belt and Road Initiative” to editors and reporters in the Xinhua News Agency auditorium.

BRS actively participated in summit forums and related forums and offered suggestions for high-quality Belt and Road cooperation. The 3rd “Belt and Road” International Cooperation Summit Forum was held in Beijing on October 17-18, 2023. On the morning of October 17, Hu Billiang attended the 2023 Council of the “Belt and Road” International Think Tank Cooperation Committee at the Grand Hotel Beijing and spoke as a member of the council. On the afternoon of the same day, Hu Biliang and Yukio Hatoyama and Grzegorz W. Kolodko, the distinguished professors of Belt and Road School, attended the plenary meeting of the “Belt and Road” International Think Tank Cooperation Committee at the Beijing Hotel. Professor Yukio Hatoyama delivered a speech at the conference; Professor Kolodko spoke at the Belt and Road and the “Community of a Shared Future for Mankind” sub-forum; and Hu Biliang gave a speech titled “Grasping High-quality Joint Construction of BRI from Two Levels” at the sub-forum “High-quality Joint Construction of BRI.” On the morning of October 18, Hu Biliang and Liu Qian, as well as the distinguished professors Yukio Hatoyama, Tadic, and Kolodko attended the opening ceremony of the third “Belt and Road” International Cooperation Summit Forum held in the Great Hall of the People and listened live as President Xi Jinping delivered a keynote speech on “Building an Open, Inclusive, Interconnected, and Common Development World.” On the afternoon of the same day, Yukio Hatoyama, Tadic, Kolodko and Hu Biliang delivered speeches in a think tank forum at the National Convention Center.

 

The picture shows Distinguished Professors of BRS, including former Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama, former Serbian President Boris Tadic and Professor Hu Biliang attending the summit forum and related forums.

 

 

BRS actively promoted the positive significance of jointly building the “Belt and Road.” Since September 2023, teachers from the school have actively participated in various academic activities to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the joint construction of BRI and to present the positive impact that the joint construction of the “Belt and Road” has brought to China and the world in the past 10 years. On September 9, 2023, Hu Biliang participated in and spoke at the “Seminar on the Tenth Anniversary of the Belt and Road Construction” organized by the Chinese Academy of Sciences. On September 12, at the “China-Central Asia Human Rights Development Forum” with the theme of “Co-building the ‘Belt and Road’ and Promoting the Development of Human Rights,” Hu Biliang delivered a speech on “The Economic Logic of China’s Human Rights Path.” Later on September 15, Hu Biliang was invited to give a lecture entitled, “The Belt and Road Initiative Promotes Global Common Development,” to the students of the Uganda Medical and Public Health Training Course. On September 16, Hu Biliang delivered a speech entitled “Practical Exploration of the ‘Belt and Road Initiative’” at the 2023 Thinkers Forum of “The 10thAnniversary of the Belt and Road Initiative: Review and Prospects” seminar held by Fudan University. Then, from September 17-21, Hu Biliang went to the United Nations Headquarters in Geneva to attend the 54th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council, and delivered a speech on the positive role of BRI on the international order, and spoke at a side event with the theme of “Combined effort of building BRI and the Development of World Human Rights.”

 

Wan Zhe, a researcher at BRS, was invited to participate in the 14th Summer Davos Forum held in Tianjin from June 27-29, 2023, and attended the sub-forum “The Future of Belt and Road Initiative.” She also met with the Minister Kurz (Austrian former Prime Minister), Sekai Nzanza (Zimbabwean Minister of Industry and Commerce), Xin Baoan (Chairman of State Grid Corporation of China), and Liang Linchong (Deputy Director of the Regional Opening Department of the National Development and Reform Commission) and looked forward to the prospects of jointly building BRI. Wan Zhe gave an in-depth explanation of the role of BRI in maintaining closer relations among countries, promoting world economic recovery, building a green Silk Road, and improving the green finance and regulatory standards of BRI. In addition, Wan Zhe also accepted exclusive interviews from many domestic and international media, including China Central Radio and Television at the Summer Davos Forum.

 

On the morning of September 9, 2023, Wan Zhe was invited to participate in the sixth Belt and Road Development High-Level Forum held in Xiamen. This forum was one of the significant activities of the 23rd China International Investment and Trade Fair, and was co-sponsored by the China Society for International Economic Cooperation and the Xiamen National Accounting Institute. The forum focused on “Review of the 10thAnniversary of BRI and Opportunities and Challenges under High-Quality Development” for in-depth view exchanges and discussions. Many domestic and foreign government officials, representatives of international organizations, experts, scholars, and business representatives attended the forum. Wan Zhe delivered a keynote speech on BRI and poverty alleviation.

 

Academics of BRS promoted and commented on the BRI on various CCTV channels. Since September 1, 2023, Distinguished Professor Otorbaev has been interviewed by CGTN many times, including through dialogue and other programs, where he talked about the impact of BRI on Kyrgyzstan and Central Asian countries over the past ten years. Hu Biliang commented on the great changes and positive significance of the coming years. He also commented on the first episode of the feature film “Joining Hands for the Future BRI Ten Years” through a live broadcast on the CCTV News Channel on the afternoon of October 13 and on the seventh episode of the special film on October 19.

 

On October 10, 2023, Wan Zhe accepted the invitation of “News 1+1” (CCTV news channel 13) to comment on the white paper of “The Belt and Road Initiative: A Key Pillar of the Global Community of Shared Future” released by the State Council Information Office through a live broadcast to promote the achievements of BRI in the past ten years. On October 15, Wan Zhe accepted an invitation from Xinhua News Agency and commented on the ten-year achievements of the joint construction of “One Belt, One Road” for the program of “24-hour global multi-point live broadcast of ‘One Belt, One Road’, paving the road to common development and prosperity.” Later, on October 17, Wan Zhe was interviewed by CCTV’s Financial Channel to comment on the achievements and prospects of jointly building BRI. On the same day, Wan Zhe accepted a live broadcast on Phoenix TV to comment on the highlights of the 3rd “Belt and Road” International Cooperation Summit Forum

 

Academics of BRS actively cooperated with the third Belt and Road International Cooperation Summit Forum, actively published academic papers and review articles, and analyzed and explained relevant theories and academic foundations of high-quality joint construction of Belt and Road. Since the beginning of this year, BRS has published a total number of 21 academic articles in English and other foreign languages, as well as 92 academic and review articles in Chinese related to BRI at home and abroad.

 

Academics actively accepted interviews from mainstream media, including television interviews and interviews with newspapers and magazines, vigorously publicizing the major achievements of BRI in the past 10 years, and put forward relevant policy suggestions from scholars. Since September 1, 2023, Otorbaev, Hu Biliang, Wan Zhe, Liu Qian, Zhang Kunling and others have been interviewed by CGTN, Xinhua News Agency, China Central Television, China News Service, People’s Daily and Guangming News many times and contributed to the dissemination of the combined effort of building the BRI.