Wu Baiyi said the epidemic has brought more uncertainties to world economic growth, and the new "double cycle" development pattern will develop in coordination with the "BRI" construction and become a strong driving force for the economic recovery of countries and regions along the Belt and Road.

Realize the economic transformation with domestic demand as the main driving force

The Fifth Plenary Session of the 19th CPC Central Committee adopted the Proposal of the CPC Central Committee on Formulating the Fourteenth Five-Year Plan for National Economic and Social Development and the Vision Goals for the Year 2035, which clearly pointed out that we should accelerate the construction of a new development pattern with "the domestic cycle as the main body and the domestic and international 'double cycles' mutually reinforcing".

China's Belt and Road Network: The world is undergoing profound changes unseen in a century. What is the meaning of the new development pattern of "Double Cycle"?

Wu Baiyi: The proposal of the new development pattern of "double cycle" is based on three considerations. First, international trade protectionism is on the rise and economic globalization is running into a negative trend, which has a negative impact on global cooperation. Second, to deal with the United States and other Western countries in the economic and trade field to China's increasing pressure; Third, in the current complex international environment, China should take proactive measures to realize the economic transformation with domestic demand as the main driving force.
China's Belt and Road Network: "Accelerating the construction of a domestic cycle as the main body", what will be the impact on the world economy?

Wu Baiyi: With the epidemic sweeping the world and trade protectionism and unilateralism prevailing, the prospect of the world economy is like a roller coaster ride. As a mainstay of the world economy, China is aware of the complexity and uncertainty of the external environment and needs to rely on itself to achieve economic transformation driven mainly by domestic demand.

By giving full play to the advantages of the size of the domestic market, China will realize the transformation towards a major economic power based on purchasing power. If one person in China buys an apple, that would be a huge number for an apple producing country in Europe. The Chinese eat an extra banana a day from the Philippines and import a lot of it. But China doesn't have enough people to buy these imported fruits every day, so we need to make people rich, so that they can buy bananas, nuts, cherries, olive oil, so that the consumption driven by China's domestic demand will contribute a lot to the world economy. This has played a role in shaping the outside world and promoted the positive development of globalization.

We will not pursue a closed domestic cycle and continue to pursue high-quality opening-up
Despite the impact of the epidemic, the Third China International Import Expo (CIIE) was held on November 5, 2020 in Shanghai National Convention and Exhibition Center as scheduled. This year, enterprises from all over the world are optimistic about the Chinese market and actively participate in the Expo. Among them, more than 500 enterprises from 47 "BRI" countries participated in the Expo. The relevant person in charge of China International Import Expo Bureau said that the third session of the Expo has achieved a great increase in the transaction and procurement results. According to a year, the accumulative intention of the transaction reached 72.62 billion US dollars, 2.1% more than the previous session.

China's Belt and Road Network: Some people believe that China will pay more attention to the domestic market and weaken cooperation with countries along the "BRI" after the new development pattern of "double cycle" is proposed. What's your opinion?

Wu Baiyi: The new pattern of development is not a closed domestic cycle, but an open domestic and international "double cycle". Over the past 40 years and more, China has embarked on the track of socialist market economy step by step. From the initial stage of opening-up, China has now, as General Secretary Xi Jinping put it, achieved a higher level of opening-up with the highest international standards. In this process, China has gained huge benefits and ensured its national security and the rapid development of society and economy. Therefore, even in the current complex international environment, China will not close its door, but will be more open.

For example, not long ago, in the face of the severe global epidemic, Shanghai successfully held the third Expo through a combination of online and offline channels. Through its own development, China will realize spillover effects and serve as an anchor and propeller for the world economy. This is our determination.

Since the "BRI" initiative was put forward in 2013, China has been strengthening opening-up and further promoting cooperation with developing countries and other emerging markets. The construction of "BRI" emphasizes extensive consultation, joint construction and shared benefits. Going forward, we will promote higher quality, more intelligent and more appealing consultation, joint contribution and shared benefits.

Strengthening weak spots plays the role of stabilizers

According to China's national railway group co., LTD., central European trains operation is over 2020 columns, as of November 5, 10180, once again set a new record, shipping container 927000 teu, up 54% from a year earlier, tongda 21 countries and 92 cities of Europe, strategic channel role more highlights, to maintain supply chain security and stability of the international industry chain provides a strong support. By the end of November 2020, more than 32,000 freight trains had run between China and Europe.

China's Belt and Road Network: How to promote high-quality construction of "BRI" in the context of the new development pattern of "Double Circulation"?

Wu Baiyi: During the epidemic period, international air transport and maritime transport were greatly impacted. However, the China-Europe Railway Express, as the flagship project of "BRI" cooperation, went against the trend and played a vital role in maintaining the connectivity between Asia and Europe.

 Under the new development pattern of "double cycle", the steady development of "BRI" can help countries and regions along the Belt and Road get out of the pressure brought about by the epidemic as soon as possible and help them resume work and production.

On the other hand, we need to recognize that there are many challenges in promoting the smooth circulation of foreign countries. We need to identify the bottlenecks and make up for the weaknesses. For example, China has achieved a very high level of transportation connectivity in the past few decades as it has developed massive infrastructure projects. When domestic goods are transported to European countries and regions through China-Europe freight trains, they need large-scale distribution and transshipment. However, the railway system of these countries is different from that of China, and the transshipment and distribution capacity is also uneven. In addition, because different countries do not achieve a high degree of integration in the system, there will be a "bottleneck" phenomenon, one is from the quantity of "bottleneck", the other is from the technology and standards of "bottleneck". In addition, there are still some problems, including lack of funds, whether the air trunk and branch lines of foreign station cities can achieve seamless connection, etc. These are all issues that need to be urgently solved in terms of system, volume, standard and innovation of China and countries along the Belt and Road in the next step of promoting high-quality development of "BRI".

Although the epidemic has added uncertainty to the global economic development, in the future, countries in the world will be increasingly close, highly interdependent and interactive. The Belt and Road cooperation, as an upgraded version of globalization, will serve as a stabilizer and accelerator for the future development of the world economy.