Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Mao Ning Photo: Ministry of Foreign Affairs

The China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), as demonstrated by fruitful cooperation outcomes, could be compared to a pathway toward common development, China's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said at a press briefing on Wednesday.

Cambodian Prime Minister Samdech Techo Hun Sen said on Monday that BRI cooperation has provided tangible benefits to Cambodia. The comment was made during a speech he delivered at the achievement exhibition of the Sihanoukville Special Economic Zone, which celebrated the 10th anniversary of the BRI on Monday. 

The Sihanoukville Special Economic Zone is a flagship project of China-Cambodia cooperation under the BRI.

According to Hun Sen, China has helped Cambodia build an array of infrastructure including roads and bridges, and China's stable supply of raw materials has guaranteed Cambodia's exports and millions of jobs for the country. 

"If we look at China's policy, no declaration of enmity has been made with any country and China has never set out a policy of blocking or hostile to other countries," he said.
 
In response, Mao said that the BRI is committed to facilitating connectivity among individual countries and achieving joint development. "As Hun Sen said… It's always about helping and supporting other countries' development," Mao noted. 

According to Mao, the initiative, building on the principle of "wider consultation, joint contribution and shared benefits," has grown into a popular global public good and international cooperation platform since being proposed 10 years ago. To date, the initiative has attracted the participation of three-quarters of the world's countries, and has created 420,000 jobs for those participants and helped more and more countries to speed up economic development. 

Mao said that with the continuous advancement of high-quality BRI cooperation, the initiative is set to bring more opportunities to the common prosperity of all participants. China will follow through on the important common understandings between the Chinese and Cambodian leaders to further enhance the cooperation under the BRI and bring more benefits to the people.  

This year marks the 10th anniversary of the BRI, which has gained strong momentum. By January 6, as many as 151 countries and 32 international organizations had signed more than 200 BRI cooperation documents with China, according to statistics provided by the official Belt and Road Portal website.

Hun Sen said in the speech that in the past decade, the Sihanoukville Special Economic Zone has embarked on a rapid development, with over 175 enterprises being set up in the zone and together, they provided more than 30,000 jobs to Cambodia, the China Youth Daily reported.

The special zone's production value contributed to over 50 percent of Sihanoukville's economy, and it is dubbed as the "economic engine of Sihanoukville," the report said.

Global Times