The "Belt and Road" Initiatives Come at a Key Period for China

In September 2013 Chinese President Xi Jinping announced,during a speech at Nazarbayev University in Astana, Kazakhstan, the strategic vision of the Silk Road Economic Belt, a transcontinental zone of economic development stretching from China across Central Asia and the Middle East to Europe, an area that maps over the ancient trade routes of the Silk Road. The following month President Xi announced in a speech to the Indonesian parliament the strategic vision of the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, a zone of economic development that maps along the key ports and maritime trade routes of the South China Sea and Indian Ocean. Both strategic visions come together under the "Belt and Road" framework, which offers Chinese funding, expertise, and industrial technology in the implementation of massive infrastructural projects in the geographical areas coming under the Silk Road Economic Belt and 21st Century Maritime Silk Road. These projects, ranging from the construction of airports and railways to the redevelopment of deepwater ports, represent important opportunities for Chinese companies to expand and diversify their businesses by going global. It is not just these Chinese companies who will benefit from the projects, of course. China's partner countries can expect to accelerate their economic development thanks to the improvements in their infrastructure, without having to worry about political interference in their internal affairs. The Chinese government takes a long-term view of the "Belt and Road" projects. As Foreign Minister Wang Yi mentioned in a speech in Nairobi, Kenya in January 2015:

"When Premier Li Keqiang visited the headquarters of African Union last year, Chairperson of African Union Commission Ms. Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma said that African people cherish a dream that one day the capitals of all African countries will be linked by high-speed railways. As a good friend of Africa, China is willing to make efforts to help African friends realize the dream. It is a century project that requires comprehensive planning and gradual advancement."

The "Belt and Road" initiatives come at a key period for China. After enjoying double digit GDP growth in the first decade of the 2000s, China's growth has decelerated to what its leadership has described as a new normal of single digit growth. At the annual meeting of the National People's Congress in March 2015, Premier Li Keqiang announced that the government has lowered the annual growth target to 7%. This contrasts with previous decades when China enjoyed an average growth rate of approximately 10% between 1978 and 2013, with 11.5% between 2003 and 2007. In 2012 and 2013 growth decelerated to 7.7%, ushering in the new normal of medium-to-high growth and development, and triggering the need for the Chinese government to find new engines of growth. The "Belt and Road" framework can be placed in this context as one of China's new engines of growth, offering fresh sources of employment and business opportunities to enable China to achieve what President Xi has highlighted in his political theory of the "Four Comprehensives" as the national goal of a moderately prosperous society. In particular, the employment opportunities created by the "Belt and Road" initiatives will be needed for the 15 million students who are expected to graduate from universities, technical and middle schools and join the workforce in 2015, as well as the 3 million surplus rural labourers who are also expected to join these students on the employment market.