With Beijing set to host the second Belt and Road Forum for  International Cooperation from Thursday to Saturday, it's time to assess  the achievements China has made in promoting the Belt and Road  Initiative since it hosted the inaugural forum in 2017. To be sure,  China has greatly advanced the initiative to improve infrastructure  connectivity between Asia, especially China, and Europe and Africa by,  among other things, creating more public goods. That the BRI has  expanded beyond Eurasia shows China's efforts are yielding fruitful  results across more regions.

　At the upcoming Belt and Road forum, the participants will discuss  how to strengthen the BRI. China has proposed to strengthen the BRI  through consultation, co-construction and sharing. And China's efforts  to share its economic development ideas and expertise to bring the  countries closer through better infrastructure connectivity have drawn  the support of almost half of the countries in the world.

　While the idea of promoting infrastructure connectivity is welcome,  it requires huge amounts of resources to do so. To build a modern  airport or a high-speed railway, we need large amounts of funds, which  could be sourced from the World Bank or the Asian Development Bank. But  since China has helped establish the Asian Infrastructure Investment  Bank specifically for this purpose, it is easier to seek the required  funds from it to build such infrastructure facilities.

　It is equally important that those countries where such facilities  are to be built contribute their share of the required resources,  especially in large-scale projects. The East Coast Rail Link in Malaysia  is one such project. According to their extensive consultations and  negotiations, Beijing and Kuala Lumpur agreed in 2016 to build a  688-kilometer high-speed railway along the east coast of Malaysia.

　The Malaysian government approved the project, initially estimated to  cost some 55 billion Malaysian ringgits ($13.29 billion). After work  was stopped on the project in July last year, Kuala Lumpur and Beijing  have been re-negotiating in order to revisit the project to make it more  affordable for Malaysia in the short term.

　Based on the principle of consultation, co-construction and sharing,  China and Malaysia have held cordial talks to review the project,  including some detouring and shortening of length, and cutting some of  the cost. Though China may bear more of the cost reduction, so as to  help lessen the burden for Malaysia, its attitude has been appreciated  by the Malaysian government and people. Over time, the world will  realize the importance of the ECRL in improving connectivity along the  21st Century Maritime Silk Road as part of the Belt and Road Initiative,  as it would link most ASEAN states with the rest of the continent.

　China has proposed the same principle to work in partnership with  European countries. During Premier Li Keqiang's latest visit to Europe,  China issued a joint statement with the European Union, and initiated  investment agreements between the two sides. This is a significant  progress in seeking cooperation under the BRI framework through broadly  defined partnerships. But despite China's initial success in  collaborating with Central and Eastern European countries in  infrastructure construction, some Western European countries have  preferred to wait and watch rather than working with China to improve  infrastructure connectivity.

　During President Xi Jinping's recent visits to Italy, Monaco and  France, Italy became the first G7 country to sign a memorandum of  understanding on infrastructure construction with China under the BRI  framework. Although Rome expects Beijing to be more transparent with its  financing sustainability aspects, it has made it clear that such  concerns will not prevent it from cooperating with Beijing.

　Premier Li has further promoted China's cooperation with EU countries  based on mutual investment in order to usher in an era when the two  huge markets would be more open to each other. Once that happens, both  economies will benefit hugely, sending a strong message to the world  that cooperation is the only way to increase mutual benefit. (Source: China Daily)