Belt and Road Initiative Improves Global Well-Being, Human Rights-Xinhua

A train runs on the Gate Linh-Ha Dong Urban High-Level Railway in Hanoi, Vietnam on December 9, 2023. The railway is an important project in the integration of China’s Belt and Road Initiative with Vietnam’s „Two Corridors and One Economic Circle” plan. . (Xinhua/Cheng Yiheng)

Under the Belt and Road Initiative, global experts say that China has contributed a lot to the advancement of global human rights and interests through international cooperation.

Beijing, Dec. 15 (Xinhua) — Under the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), China has contributed a lot to the promotion of global human rights and interests through international cooperation, experts from around the world said while commenting on the latest BRI report.

The China Foundation for the Development of Human Rights and Xinhua’s think tank New China Research released a report last week titled „For a Better World – A Joint Follow-up of the Belt and Road Initiative in the Past Decade from a Human Rights Perspective.” .

Using a large number of cases and data, the report demonstrates BRI’s positive role in helping local populations better realize their rights to survival and development, and achieve broader human rights protections over the past decade. Global Human Rights Administration.

„The Xinhua study … provides a better overview of the BRI’s enormous contributions to global well-being and the fulfillment of basic economic and cultural rights,” said Jeffrey Sachs, director of the Center for Sustainable Development at Columbia University in the US. .

Taking major projects like the China-Laos Railway and the Jakarta-Bandung High-Speed ​​Railway, Virun Pichaiwongpakdee, director of the Belt and Road Initiative’s Thailand-China Research Center, said the BRI has helped the world achieve unprecedented connectivity.

Phichaiwongphakdee said the world has seen the BRI’s contribution to the development of human society and allowed developing countries „long oppressed by the West in terms of human rights” to see success on China’s path. Human rights development.

This photo taken on Dec. 7, 2023 shows the Second Belt and Road Forum for Laos-China Cooperation held in Vientiane, Laos. (Xinhua/Zhu Wei)

While promoting economic growth and infrastructure construction, primarily in developing countries, the BRI has also improved the quality of life of their people, said Tecio Machado, an international political analyst and Spanish citizen who has lived in Ecuador for many years.

Its philosophy of putting people first and promoting cooperative development brings positive forces to the development of human rights, justice and social justice, and affirms the foundation of human rights development.

„I fully agree with the statement’s interpretation that the cooperative construction of the Belt and Road is in line with the strong desire of the people of partner countries to live a better life,” said Rafael Quintero, Ecuador’s former deputy foreign minister.

This photo taken on April 3, 2023 shows some of the wind generators of the 100 MW Zanatas wind farm in Zanatas, Kazakhstan. Under the integrated framework between the Belt and Road Initiative and Kazakhstan’s „Bride Road” New Economic Policy, China and Kazakhstan have been pioneers in manufacturing capacity and investment cooperation. (Photo by Kalijan Ospanov/Xinhua)

Echoing Quintero’s sentiment, Mohammad Al-Jubouri, a media professor at Baghdad-based Al-Iraqi University, said the report is critical in being objective and professional, providing clear, realistic examples and numbers of what the BRI has achieved. .

In Iraq, BRI contributes to the improvement of local life in the fields of energy and education, the professor said, adding that Chinese companies play an important role in boosting Iraq’s electricity and oil production, to alleviate the suffering of its people and increase its income, while they build hundreds of schools to end the lack of schools for Iraqi students.

Visitors select carpets at Iran’s booth during the 7th Silk Road International Expo in Jian city, northwest China’s Shaanxi province, November 16, 2023. (Xinhua/Shao Rui)

„The numerous cases and data in the report … demonstrate that the initiative has helped many developing countries overcome development barriers such as lack of infrastructure,” said Anna Malindok-Uy, vice president of the Manila-based think tank for Asia. Centennial Philippine Institute for Strategic Studies.

„Through those joint projects, the Belt and Road cooperation has created more jobs, provided more vocational training and education opportunities to people in partner countries, and improved their livelihoods in the process of development,” he added.■