For the last several years or so， Western media and mainstream politicians have chosen to largely ignore the Belt and Road Initiative， which Chinese President Xi Jinping proposed in 2013. The initiative， consisting of the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st-Century Maritime Silk Road， effi ciently addresses the infrastructure needs of developing countries， which the West simply pretended not to exist.
But， at a certain point it dawned on the Western establishment that China was not only building an enormous amount of railway lines， ports， bridges， power plants and industrial parks in Asia， Africa and even in parts of Europe， but that the prospect of poverty alleviation offered by China instilled an unprecedented spirit of optimism.
China’s vision
China impressed the world by lifting more than 700 million people out of poverty over the last 40 years， constructing the world’s best high-speed train network and becoming a leading space nation. It has now offered to share this experience with countries which were heretofore relegated to be the “Third World.”
Leaders of these countries suddenly demanded to be treated equally by the West， rather than simply the recipients of development aid， which would mostly vanish in the pockets of non-governmental organizations.
In an obvious coordinated fashion， many leading think tanks on both sides of the Atlantic produced lengthy studies based around a foreseeable theme. They cited that the motivation for the Belt and Road Initiative was an ill-natured attempt by China to replace the “rules-based system，” actually the Anglo-American imperialism， with Chinese imperialism and lure participating countries into a “debt trap.” They also noted that China is built on an authoritarian system and that there would be a competition of systems between the “liberal， open and social market economy” and the “state-controlled economy of China.”
Ironically， it was the same neoliberal critics who enthusiastically welcomed China into the World Trade Organization in 2001， sure that China would adopt the Western model of democracy and neoliberal economics.
Convinced of their own political and cultural superiority， these circles thought it to be a waste of their precious time to pay attention to such revolutionary concepts as a community with a shared future for humanity， presented by Xi and other Chinese leaders in hundreds of conferences and international gatherings to political leaders from all over the world.
