On September 27th, 2023, H.E. Wu Wei, Chinese Ambassador to the FSM, published an article titled Belt and Road Cooperation Contributes to China-FSM Friendship on The Kaselehlie Press, the only newspaper in the FSM (bi-weekly), in its Vol. 23 and Iss. No.22. The full text is as follows:
These days, I read a short story that touched me deeply, and would like to share it with my friends in the FSM. In May of this year, at the 8th UN Multi-stakeholder Forum on Science, Technology and Innovation for the SDGs held in New York, Ms. Korarome from Papua New Guinea (PNG), shared her story that in 2020, with the help of Chinese experts, she started to use Juncao (mushroom grass) technology to grow mushrooms. Soon she earned money, with which she built a new house and bought a new car. She also set up a large-scale Juncao mushroom farm which produced more than 200 kilograms of fresh mushrooms every week and employed 25 local workers, most of whom were women. The locals took Juncao as the grass to wealth and happiness.
The story of Ms. Korarome is an epitome of the Belt and Road cooperation with Pacific island countries to benefit the people there. The China-aid Juncao and Upland Rice Technology Project to PNG is an important assistance project under the personal attention of President Xi Jinping. In 2018, during President Xi Jinping's state visit to PNG, this Project became a part of the Belt and Road cooperation between the two countries. At present, Juncao technology has been introduced to 9 provinces in PNG covering 6,121 farmers, and the upland rice planting area has reached 1,796.4 hectares covering 13,499 farmers. The entire Project has benefited more than 45,000 people in PNG.
On September 18, I met two Chinese experts on Juncao who were traveling to Kosrae via Pohnpei. They were members of the China-Aid Agricultural Technical Cooperation Program (Phase XII) in the FSM, and planned to teach Juncao technology to farmers of Kosrae within two years. Like all Chinese builders participating in cooperation projects in the FSM, they looked full of passion for working in friendly undertakings, which brought me great hope for further promoting China-FSM Belt and Road cooperation to help the people of the FSM achieve a better life.
In the Autumn of 2013, President Xi Jinping proposed the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), which received a warm response worldwide. Ten years on, the BRI has become the most popular global public good and the biggest international cooperation platform. How does the Belt and Road cooperation stand out on the world stage and continue to attract partners? Because it is people-centered cooperation guided by the principles of extensive consultation, joint contribution and shared benefits. Let me refer to some achievements that brightens its ten years.
A decade's endeavor has laid a solid ground for more effective cooperation mechanisms. To date, China has signed Belt and Road cooperation documents with 152 countries and 32 international organizations. Over three quarters of countries around the world have joined this Initiative. China successfully held the first and the second Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation respectively in 2017 and 2019, through which national governments, local authorities and enterprises reached a series of cooperation agreements, important measures and pragmatical results. China has facilitated the establishment of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, the BRICS New Development Bank, the Silk Road Fund, and many other Chinese-foreign cooperative funds, and promoted the building of Belt and Road financial cooperation network. China gives full play to platforms, such as China International Import Expo, China International Fair for Trade in Services, China Import and Export Fair, China International Consumer Products Expo and so forth, to strengthen dialogue and exchanges among all parties, and promote trade liberalization and facilitation, contributing to an open world economy. Stories of BRI Cooperation mechanisms can go on and on, where all parties concerned are able to build consensus and adopt plans for future cooperation.
Practical cooperation with concerted efforts has yielded fruitful outcomes. Over the past decade, Belt and Road cooperation has galvanized nearly USD 1 trillion of investment, established more than 3,000 cooperation projects, and created 420,000 jobs, lifting almost 40 million people out of poverty outside China. China's high-speed trains, highways, bridges and ports are going abroad and world-renowned, substantially improving trade, investment and national living conditions of participating countries. Take the China-Laos Railway as an example. The railroad has a 422-km section within the Lao territory, including 197 kilometers of tunnels and 164 bridges. The Chinese construction company overcame great difficulties and successfully completed the railway construction, turning Laos from a land-locked country into a land-linked one. According to the World Bank, by 2030, Belt and Road cooperation is expected to increase trade between 2.8 and 9.7 percent for participating countries, and between 1.7 and 6.2 percent for the world, increasing global real income by 0.7 to 2.9 percent. Groups of positive data fully show that the Belt and Road cooperation is a grand project which creates impetus for global growth and brings opportunities for world development.
China's wisdom and global vision is benefiting the world. As the world is undergoing major changes unseen in a century, the current international situation is unstable and volatile with sluggish global economic recovery, and all countries need to join hands to tackle those challenges. Guided by the principle of extensive consultation, joint contribution and shared benefits, the BRI represents an approach to international cooperation featuring mutual respect, justice, equity and cooperation for win-win outcomes, and contributes China's solutions to global difficulties. Belt and Road cooperation with its core concepts incorporated into documents from the UN, G20, APEC, Shanghai Cooperation Organization and other international and regional organizations, has become an important practical platform to promote the building of a community with a shared future for mankind. Facing changes in our world, our times and history, President Xi Jinping proposed the Global Development Initiative, the Global Security Initiative and the Global Civilization Initiative, which have further enriched the connotation of the vision of a community with a shared future for mankind and the BRI, and injected more stability, certainty and positive energy to the world.
In March 2017, when President Xi Jinping met with Peter M. Christian, then-President of the FSM, he invited the FSM to participate in Belt and Road cooperation for shared development. In November 2018, the two sides signed the Memorandum of Understanding on the BRI, opening a new chapter in China-FSM cooperation. Over the past 5 years, our bilateral cooperation has made remarkable outcomes. The implementation of demonstration projects and “small yet smart” programs has played a leading role in China-FSM high-quality Belt and Road cooperation and continued to deepen people-to-people connectivity between the two countries.
Under the framework of Belt and Road cooperation, China has carried out a host of projects in the FSM, such as roads, bridges, gymnasiums, government buildings and schools. Among them, the China-aid secondary road in Pohnpei is said to be the “best road in the FSM” by locals. The China-aid gymnasiums have also become local landmarks. And the China-aid Pilot Farm is widely welcomed by people of the FSM. Furthermore, China stays fully attentive to the actual needs of the FSM, and cooperates well with the local governments and communities accordingly. On such basis, multiple livelihood projects in disaster prevention and reduction, climate change, agriculture, health and other fields have been implemented one after another, which have greatly promoted people’s well-being in the FSM.
Nothing can separate people who share the same vision. As a reliable friend of the FSM, China has always attached much importance to the Belt and Road cooperation with the FSM. The 21st century should be an era for developing countries to accelerate their development. China is ready to seek greater synergy with the FSM between the BRI and the Blue Prosperity Micronesia, expand cooperation in fields such as agriculture, fisheries, infrastructure, trade, investment and tourism, so as to advance the sustained and steady growth of bilateral relations. While promoting Belt and Road cooperation, China is willing to help and support the FSM to jointly realize the historical mission of accelerating development and revitalization.
This year marks the 34th Anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between the two countries. Over the 34 years, the two countries have been helping each other through thick and thin. After the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, the FSM provided financial assistance to China at the earliest time, to help China fight the pandemic. Recently, China suffered from typhoon disaster, and H.E. President Wesley W. Simina sent a message of condolences to China. We will always bear these in mind. Over the decades, China has provided selfless assistance to the FSM, without any political strings attached, never imposing on the latter, and never seeking self-interest and the so-called “sphere of influence”. Looking ahead, China is willing to help the FSM to the best of its ability.
Recently, the Kosrae State Legislature adopted the resolution in support of the one-China policy and the FSM-China relations, which is an extension of the FSM Congressional Resolution passed in this April reiterating its support for the one-China Policy. Facts have fully proved that China and the FSM enjoy broad prospects for cooperation, and China-FSM friendship crosses mountains and seas. Thereby, maintaining and developing China-FSM friendly relations serve the fundamental interests of the two countries.
After ten years' forging ahead against winds and waves, the BRI is to set sail on a new journey. China will hold the third Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation in Beijing in October this year. We welcome the FSM friends to join us in the grand gathering for common development, and promote the substantive and high-quality development of our Belt and Road cooperation and usher in a brighter future of our two countries.