Former British PM Gordon Brown calls China’s New Silk Road ‘the biggest story in
Former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has hailed China’s Belt and Road trade initiative as the “biggest story in town” for the global economy, and a huge opportunity for both the United Kingdom and Europe.
The Belt and Road initiative is an ambitious project proposed by China to boost trade and infrastructure investments among countries along the ancient Silk Road trade routes s
tretching from Asia to Europe and Africa.
Speaking to business leaders and scholars at the Silk Roads Conference in Edinburgh on Wednesday, Brown said Western countries should not underestimate the importance of the project.
"Eurasia, linked by the Silk Road－and China's new engagement with Europe and the jobs that can come from it－is the biggest story in town for the future of the world economy," Brown said according to China Daily.
"There is a huge opportunity for this city, country and continent to align itself with the rising economic power of Asia."
Brown was echoing Chinese President Xi Jinping, who told an international summit in Beijing in May that the Belt and Road initiative was “the project of the century” and would benefit all countries.
Under the initiative, China has planned more than US$900bn worth of investments for projects including a railway linking the Greek port of Piraeus to Budapest in Hungary, air, road and sea infrastructure in Kenya, and satellites in low Earth orbit.
In January, the first direct “Silk Road freight train", carrying clothes, shoes and other Chinese goods, arrived in London having travelled nearly 13,000 kilometres in 18 days from Yiwu in Eastern China.
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“Fundamental seismic change”
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"It is a big idea, and I think we sometimes in the West don't understand how big an idea it is," said Brown. "I don't think we should underestimate the importance of the Silk Road."
He said China’s project was important because of a “fundamental seismic change”, whereby by the majority of the world’s trade, investment and production had shifted from Europe and Northern America to emerging economies during the past decade.
Critics have voiced concerns about the transparency and reciprocity of the Belt and Road initiative, arguing it will boost Beijing’s political influence abroad and mainly benefit Chinese companies, many of which are suffering from overcapacity at home.
“I believe that although China will be very strong in defending its regional position, China wants to see cooperation between the big powers of the world so that we can engage each of us in the business of creating greater trade and greater prosperity,” Brown concluded.
Brown is not the only European politician to applaud China’s Silk Road project.
Former French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin wrote in Xinhua last month that the Belt and Road initiative offers a “lasting alternative to the risk of slowdown, isolation and confrontation” in the world.
De Villepin said that to promote the project, he and other former European and Asian prime ministers and foreign ministers had created a group called the International Marco Polo Society in “tribute to the most famous bridge-builders of the Middle Age”.