TO sustain its growth and to extend its influence in world affairs that matches its economic success and potentials, China seems set to embark on a new phase of readjustments flowing from its global exposure.

For example, the multinational trade route project, which might help counter the country’s recent economic slowdown, may have speeded up the drive to forge closer trade and economic ties with the outside world.

“The launch of a grand ‘One Belt, One Road’ project is not atypical, but there are early signs that spell a departure from the traditional Chinese approach. The communist China’s centralised style ‘to decide, keep low and strictly official’ seems to be changing,” a China watcher said.

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“Probably inspired by the perceived benefits and the value of social support of locals for the success of an economic project, they intend to reach out to societies and not just governments and are at least trying to be more accommodating in their interaction with other countries to reduce the trust deficit of certain key regional partners,” said a retired Pakistani official who has served in China, while discussing Beijing’s recent transnational projects.

The proceedings at a recent forum in China attended by the scribe did support this view. Unlike the past when China used to be content with dealing with the relevant government hierarchy, the Communist state — at the Asia Media Forum — appeared keen to build public support across the Asia Pacific region for its ‘One belt, One Road’ initiative.

‘Probably inspired by the perceived benefits and the value of social support of locals for the success of an economic project, they (Chinese) intend to reach out to societies and not just governments’

The project, according to official Chinese position, features “building a 21st century Maritime Silk Road, creating a new blueprint for maritime cooperation,” a key component of the country’s future development strategy.

“China has product base, skill sets and technological expertise, beside many trillions of dollars’ worth of savings and reserves to extend a helping hand to struggling nations with wide infrastructure deficits, to transform the economic ecosystem of the region and beyond,” a participant at the forum told Dawn in Nanning, Guangxi, China.

“The aim is to deepen regional integration through a free flow of trade for the collective benefit of all participating nations,” added the Chinese official, who wished not to be named as he was not authorised to offer comments.

The China Daily-sponsored forum — where experts, officials and Asian News Network (ANN) members es converged — took place on September 17 in one of the greenest cities of China, Nanning, and coincided with the opening of the 12th China ASEAN Expo there. In all, representatives from 17 media groups attended the meeting.

The ban on the popular search engine Google and its allied mailing sites in China hampered the work of several journalists reporting from the forum to their readers and viewers back home. But the visit did provide them an opportunity to gain a rare insight into the life and working of the great power of the East, which has both intrigued and fascinated people across continents.

“It is astonishing how little people know about the country that supplies most products, from prayer beads and mats to countless other everyday items,” said a colleague from another South Asian country attending the forum.

“To me, China is a big riddle. I have no clue how this top heavy centralised economy responds to market changes so swiftly,” commented another journalist.

Commenting on the aim of the forum almost all speakers at the said event hammered the same theme: facilitating flow of information to ‘raise awareness about ‘Belt and Road initiative’ and ‘shared destiny’ among people of the vast region.

Kang Bing, deputy editor-in-chief of China Daily, said it was crucial that the media build an ‘information Silk Road’.

Mahfuz Anam, editor and publisher of Bangladesh’s Daily Star, said as journalists “we rejoice at the launch of the initiative and intend to follow the implementation of the plan closely.

“When implementation is not fast enough or good enough, we can write critically about this. Not because we don’t want it to succeed but because we want it to be very successful,” he said.

Suthichai Saeyoon, founder of the Asia News Network, said the initiative would provide a platform to exchange information.

“We have a role in reporting, analysing and getting out all the information that is necessary because we don’t want the initiative to be confined only to the leadership, academics and bureaucrats,” he said.

When approached for comment on the possibility of gaining social endorsement of locals for multiple projects of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), Zhang Haizhou, assistant to the publisher at China Daily Asia Pacific, opted not to give a direct reply.

He, however, said given the scale of investment ($45bn) and the involvement of private Chinese companies in the allied CPEC projects, some Chinese think tanks have opened or in the process of opening offices in Pakistan.

The challenges to the security of Chinese people and companies in Pakistan, in particular, make it important to adopt a well-rounded approach towards the long-term economic engagement.

A retired Pakistani diplomat who spent many years in China endorsed the perception of transformation, but believed it to have been an integral part of China’s strategy for the past several decades.

“This is the secret of China’s success. The ruling party, which led the country through painful past transitions, is cautious to jealously guard its gains but quite open to apply the wisdom acquired from others’ experience to chart its future strategy,” he said.

“Instead of judging Western standards, Pakistanis need to try and understand the system and it’s working to partake in the making of the collective future,” he advised.

In a recent publication, Moody’s predicted that “the Silk Road Economic Belt will benefit predominately smaller states with underdeveloped economies, low investment rates and low per-capita incomes”.

Published in Dawn, Business & Finance weekly, September 28th, 2015

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