Correcting misconceptions about the Silk Road initiatives

By Gao Cheng (chinadaily.com.cn)

Updated: 2015-03-10

In other words, the Marshall Plan mainly served the rich countries, while the "Belt and Road Initiatives" are aimed at helping developing countries.

Moreover, the Marshall Plan's economic assistance program was extended on the basis of political requirements and military cooperation, which led to a cross-Atlantic military alliance, whereas the "Belt and Road" initiatives are strictly economic in nature and cover areas such as basic infrastructure, trade, industrial capability, energy and finance.

Under the Marshall Plan, many of the Western economies that received US assistance formed an exclusive economic alliance, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. The US issued dollar loans to European states, which, in turn, used them to purchase American products. The ultimate beneficiary, therefore, was the US.

In contrast, the goal of China's "Belt and Road Initiatives" is mutual benefit. It aims to use its infrastructure building capability, capital funds and huge foreign reserves to meet the growing demands of economies along the land and sea Silk Roads. In this context, the initiatives are more about providing goods and services and less about forming any kind of exclusive economic alliance with other economies.

Besides, European countries had to accept the political conditions of the US and even adopt pro-Washington development policies to get American loans. They repaid those loans in kind, too, for they had to politically coordinate with the "containment" policy of the US toward the Soviet Union. Such conditions are not on China's agenda; it issues loans without any political conditions and seeks only mutual respect and understanding.

Although the "Belt and Road Initiatives" differ from the Marshall Plan in almost every aspect, China needs to respond to experts and media outlets that wrongly compare the two, because they could prompt the international community to misunderstand China's economic thrust. Beijing, therefore, should publicize the initiatives' salient features as thoroughly as possible.

The author is an associate researcher at the National Institute of International Strategy, affiliated to the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.