DgcityChina has signed Belt and Road cooperation documents with more than 150 countries and over 30 international organizations, covering roughly three-quarters of the world’s nations, a senior official at the country’s top economic planner said on Wednesday.
Liang Linchong, director-general of the Department of Regional Opening-up at the National Development and Reform Commission, announced the figure at a press conference in Beijing. It provides the clearest current measure of the diplomatic reach of the infrastructure and connectivity initiative President Xi Jinping first proposed in 2013.
A new report from the Xinhua Institute, released a day earlier, argued that the Belt and Road has become a pillar of an open world economy at a time of mounting protectionism. The report highlighted a connectivity framework of six economic corridors, six main routes and a network of ports, with flagship projects including the China-Europe Railway Express, the Jakarta-Bandung high-speed railway in Indonesia, the Mombasa-Nairobi railway in Kenya and the Chancay port in Peru now in operation.
The China-Europe Railway Express now links Chinese industrial cities with hundreds of destinations across Eurasia, offering an overland alternative to sea freight that gained importance after the war in Ukraine disrupted older routes. The Chancay port, built and largely operated by a Chinese company, has turned a small Peruvian coastal town into a potential hub for trade between South America and Asia.
The initiative still faces significant headwinds. Several participating countries have renegotiated debt terms on Chinese-built projects, Western governments have criticized what they call opaque lending and strategic dependence, and China’s own economic slowdown has constrained the scale of new overseas commitments. Beijing has responded by branding the next phase as small and beautiful projects focused on green energy, digital infrastructure and health.
A separate Belt and Road forum for international think tanks opened in the ancient city of Xi’an on Tuesday, with officials presenting the initiative as a platform for South-South cooperation rather than a geopolitical bloc.
The figures were released days before China hosts APEC leaders in Shenzhen, where Xi is expected to present the initiative as evidence that Beijing remains committed to free trade and global integration despite rising barriers elsewhere. Chinese officials are also using the run-up to the summit to announce new financing for cross-border projects and to court executives from multinational companies considering their exposure to the Chinese market.
