Japan symposium lauds Belt and Road on 10th anniversary

China has signed over 200 BRI co-building agreements with 152 countries and 32 international organizations, alongside third-party market cooperation agreements with 14 countries, said Chinese Ambassador to Japan Wu Jianghao.

Over the past decade, China's imports and exports with countries involved in the BRI have reached a total of $19.1 trillion, while China's bilateral investments with BRI countries have exceeded $380 billion, including over $240 billion in outbound direct investments from China, Wu said.

The BRI primarily focuses on addressing fundamental development issues commonly faced by developing countries, including inadequate infrastructure, lagging industrial development, a lack of funds and technology, and insufficient human resources, he said.

It plays a crucial role in creating new development engines, enhancing self-reliance, and addressing regional and global development imbalances, he noted.

"The Belt and Road Initiative is a long-term, cross-border, and systemic project and is considered a century-long endeavor. The first decade is just the beginning. China will continue to incorporate the initiative into its foreign policy and external cooperation plans, using it as a top-level design to promote higher quality and broader-ranging development in more fields and areas," Wu said.

"China hopes that Japan will have a more objective and rational view of the Belt and Road Initiative, free from geopolitical biases. China welcomes more Japanese companies to engage in deeper cooperation with a more proactive attitude regarding BRI," he said.