BRI

• Christos Stylianidis, the Minister of Maritime Affairs and Insular Policy of Greece, underscored the vast potential for strengthening bilateral relations between Greece and China.
• Kolodko emphasized the need to leverage this favorable "wind" to forge meaningful collaborations and promote collective development.
• Of particular note was the substantial surge in the export of new energy-related products, showcasing China's proactive role in sustainable and innovative industries.
• The event provided a dynamic platform for exchanging ideas, fostering dialogue, and enhancing understanding between experts and stakeholders from Europe and China.

• According to China's General Administration of Customs, the trade volume between the two countries in 2022 reached $1.892 billion, a year-on-year increase of 9.6 percent.
• During a visit to Kazakhstan in September 2013, Xi delivered a speech of far-reaching significance at Nazarbayev University.
• In 2016, the UN Development Program and the People's Republic of China signed an MoU on cooperation under the BRI.
• China has pursued open, green, clean and high-standard cooperation to promote sustainable development and improve people's lives, and advanced high-quality Belt and Road cooperation.

• But often western reactions to a Chinese decision can come from a lack of understanding of Beijing’s motivations.
• With this in mind, here are five things that the west often gets wrong about Chinese foreign policy.

1. It’s not a grand scheme

• In the western media, Chinese foreign policy has often been seen as a grand scheme to secure world leadership.
• However, Chinese policy is not quite the labyrinthine plot that it has often been presented as.
• Chinese foreign policy has largely been devised in response to recent developments rather than being a long-term scheme for domination.

2. China deals with democracies

• The Chinese model of economic development has racheted up fears of China attempting to spread its political system beyond its national borders.
• But, some of the biggest advocates of the China model have been the political elites in developing nations, many of whom have a colonial history, and who appreciate that China offers an alternative to the west in attracting investment.

3. China’s role in the world order

• One of the most common depictions of China in recent years has been of it as a revisionist power that seeks to overthrow the liberal rules-based world order and international bodies.
• Such an image was popularised by Graham Allison’s 2017 book Destined for War, which warned of a China seeking to overthrow US domination.

4. China’s historical experience

• But China draws on a different history, one that includes its own dominant position internationally, but also its defeat and occupation.
• Beijing references this past when talking of the “Century of Humiliation” (1839-1949), a period when China was dominated and occupied by colonial powers.
• The Silk Road refers to an historical network of highly lucrative trade routes linking a powerful China to the rest of the world, and used to sell its products for centuries.

5. The appeal of Chinese aid

• China’s financial aid and investment projects in developing countries are sometimes portrayed as simply bribing corrupt states or ensnaring them with “debt trap diplomacy”.
• While these images have been popular in western media coverage of Chinese foreign policy, they overlook the role of the country receiving aid to choose to accept Chinese finance and how this also appeals as an alternative to western aid packages which traditionally come with many conditions relating to governance.

• Ten years ago, Chinese President Xi Jinping put forward the idea of building a global community of shared future.
• The white paper said "To build a global community of shared future is to pursue openness, inclusiveness, mutual benefit, equity and justice."
• Over the past decade, China has contributed its strength to building a global community of shared future with firm conviction and solid actions.
• Over the past decade, the vision of a global community of shared future has gained broader support.