Chinese President Xi Jinping proposed the idea of building Silk Road Economic Belt for the first time in his speech at Nazarbayev University in Kazakhstan on Sept. 7, 2013. After that, Xi proposed the idea of the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road in October the same year. The design was formulated and completed in 2014 and 2015.
Over the past three years since the initiative was proposed, China promoted the building of the "Belt and Road" through top-level guidance, cooperation frameworks, project-building, and policy and platform support. China has signed memoranda with over 40 countries, as well as cooperation agreements with more than 40 countries in the Belt and Road region. China has also established industrial capacity cooperation with over 30 countries. Construction of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) is in full swing, guidelines for the China-Mongolia-Russia Economic Corridor have been signed and the building of the New Eurasian Land Bridge is being steadily promoted.
With the opening of AIIB and completion of the Silk Road Fund, there are already over 100 countries and international organizations supporting the initiative. Below are some of the achievements China has made:
In May 2014, the first stage of the China and Kazakhstan (Lianyungang) logistics base was officially launched, marking the activation of the first physical platform of the Silk Road Economic Belt.
In May 2015, the Tajikistan "Vahdat-Yovon" railway project was initiated. This project was the first launched and completed railway project within the framework of the Silk Road Economic Belt.
In March 2016, the "longest tunnel in Central Asia," the 19.26-kilometer Kamchiq tunnel in Uzbekistan was finished and put into use.
In June 2014, the C-line of the China–Central Asia natural gas pipeline was completed.
In May 2014, the Bishkek power station reconstruction project was launched.
In September 2013, the Sino-Myanmar natural gas pipeline was completed.
In January 2015, the Sino-Myanmar crude oil pipeline was put into use.
In December 2015, construction of the China-Thailand railway kicked off.
In April 2015, construction of Hai Duong thermal plant was begun.
In July 2015, the first stage of construction of Yongxin coal-fired power plant was started. This project represents China's largest investment in Vietnam.
In September 2015, Yon Hydropower Station in Vietnam was completed.
In January 2016, the Jakarta-Bandung high-speed rail project was started.
In December 2015, construction of the Laos section of the China-Laos railway was started.
In June 2016, the SihanoukVille Special Economic Zone (SSEZ), featuring 100 enterprises in one park, was initiated by Chinese and Cambodian enterprises.
In October 2016,the Cambodian project of Southeast Asia Telecom was included in the key projects of China-Cambodia "Belt and Road" building and investment.
In January 2016, the construction of Karot hydropower project was started.
In November 2016, the Chinese-funded port of Gwadar in Pakistan was officially opened, and the China-Pakistan economic corridor was launched.
In August 2016, the second phase of the construction of Hambantota Port in Sri Lanka, which is an important location along the Maritime Silk Road, was completed. The port will feature eight docks with a capacity of DWT 100,000 tons, and will be turned into a crucial transportation hub in South Asia.
In August 2016, the construction of Padma Bridge in Bangladesh was started. It is so far the largest overseas bridge project contracted by a Chinese enterprise.
In January 2016, the Yanbu refinery project was officially put into operation. This is China's largest investment project in Saudi Arabia.
In July 2016, the construction of Baroud section of Borolus-Itay (79 km) was started. This project is the first building contract successfully signed under China-Egypt capacity cooperation, and it is also the largest and highest-voltage transmission line project in Egypt.
In January 2015, the construction of the Mombasa–Nairobi Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) connecting the largest port in East Africa Mombasa and Kenyan capital Nairobi began. With an overall length of 480 km, this railway is the first new railway in Kenya in a century.
In November 2016, as one of the important financial infrastructures of the Belt and Road Initiative in Africa, the Silk Road International Bank was officially established in Djibouti. It is the first time a Chinese-funded enterprise has gained a banking license in Africa.
In July 2016, with a total length of 1,315 km, the railway connecting the capital Abuja to Kaduna was put into operation, becoming the first Chinese SGR in Africa.
On Oct. 5, 2016, the first modern electrified railway built abroad by Chinese enterprises to full Chinese standards officially opened, connecting Ethiopia's capital Addis Ababa to Djibouti.
In June 2015, the Moscow-Kazan high-speed rail project was made official, becoming the first contract for China's high-speed rail to "go global."
In June 2015, construction of the Chinese section of the China-Russia East Route natural gas pipeline began.
In November 2015, China and 16 countries in Central and Eastern Europe made the medium-term "16 + 1 cooperation" plan, and half those countries signed MOU on jointly building the Belt and Road with China.
In December 2015, the construction of the Budapest-Belgrade railway (the section from Hungary to Serbia) began. This is China's first railway jointly constructed with others in Europe.
In April 2016, a Chinese enterprise took over the Smederevo steel mill in Serbia.
On June 8, 2016, the China-Railway officially launched the brand CHINA RAILWAY Express, the China-Europe freight train service. In the past few years, routes linking Chinese cities to Europe have been successfully run over 1,500 times.
In August 2016, a Chinese enterprise acquired one of the three major steel producers, ZDAS.
In August 2016, a Chinese enterprise acquired Greece's Piraeus Port Authority, taking over its management.
In September 2016, an international container railway from Lanzhou to the China-Belarus Industrial Park was opened. The planning of traffic, electricity, water, drainage, telecommunication, cable TV, gas, natural land consolidation and infrastructure of the China-Belarus Industrial Park have been basically completed.
In September 2016, a Chinese enterprise finished the agreement for investment in the U.K. Hinkley Point C nuclear power project.
In September 2013, China delivered Remote Sensing Satellite I to Venezuela.
In October 2014, China and Venezuela signed a contract for Venezuela Remote Sensing Satellite II.
In May 2015, the feasibility study of a "Twin Ocean Railroad" connecting Brazil and Peru and stretching across South America was started.
In May 2015, China and Chile agreed to cooperate on the "Two-Ocean Tunnel."
In November 2016, the Coca Codo Sinclair hydroelectric power station, built by China, was completed and put into use. The China-built Joint Laboratory of Ecuador Public Security Emergency Command and Control Center was inaugurated.
In July 2016, China released the outline of a national IT development strategy promoting IT development in the Belt and Road Initiative, organizing the building of a submarine optical cable and cross-border land optical cable, in order to improve connectivity and build an "online Silk Road." China has started cooperation with other parties to build the China-Central Asia information platform, China-ASEAN information port and China- Arabia online Silk Road.
In short, the Belt and Road Initiative includes projects in energy, infrastructure, industrial capacity cooperation, culture, education, standards and people-to-people exchange. The initiative aims to connect all parties in terms of strategies, plans, projects, intelligence, media and actions.
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