Chinese President Xi Jinping's visit to Eurasia, Kazakhstan, Russia and Belarus has given new impetus to the construction of the Silk Road Economic Belt between China and Eurasian countries. People can see the contribution that China is making to ensure stable and healthy development for those countries.

Firstly China has formed a whole set of exchange visits and cooperation systems with Russia. China has also set up an Intergovernmental Cooperation Council directed by leaders of countries in Eurasia like Ukraine, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.

Secondly China is closely connected with Eurasian countries in the area of infrastructure. Intensive and busy airlines, booming land transportation, the Sino-Russia and Sino-Kazakhstan Oil Pipeline, the China-Russia and China-Central Asia Gas Pipeline link China and Eurasian countries into an encompassing network. 17 land ports, 3 cross-border railways, 10 cross-border highways and 7 river transportations have been put into service between Russia and China.

Thirdly China continues to expand economic and trade relations with Eurasian countries. For instance, China reached $153 billion of trade with Eurasian countries in 2014. As the biggest trade partner of Russia over 5 years, China had trade of $95.3 billion with Russia in 2014. Even though there are sanctions imposed by the US and European on Russia and the drop in oil prices, Sino-Russian trade growth presents extraordinary cooperation potential.

Fourthly a 150 billion RMB (815 ruble) bilateral currency swap agreement was signed between China and Russia. The trading of the RMB and Ruble on inter-bank forex markets is significant for the RMB's internationalization, for international trade settlements, and for currency diversification of reserve. A Sino-Kazakhstan currency swap agreement of 7 billion RMB (200 billion Tenge) was renewed, and the Investment Cooperation Fund was also set up. Seven Eurasian countries became the founding members of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank - Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Georgia and Azerbaijan.

Fifthly China successfully held a series of events such as the "National Year" the "Year of Languages", and "Tourism Year" with Russia. China also celebrated "Cultural Day" and "Cultural Week", and opened Confucius Institutes in other Eurasia countries. Most citizens of Eurasian countries regard China as the friendliest country.

The Silk Road Economic Belt is an unprecedented great initiative, which will not only promote regional economic development, improve people's standards of living, and strengthen cultural exchange and mutual learning, but also have a profound influence on the concept and practice of international relations.

The article is edited and translated from 《丝绸之路经济带在欧亚大陆全面推进（国际论坛）》,source: People's Daily, author: Qi Ya'ou