Silk Road plans offer opportunities to EU

More than one year after President Xi Jinping announced China's megaplan to better connect the Asia-Pacific region with Europe and Africa by land and sea, the world has become familiar with the concepts of the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road. Perhaps 2015 is the best year for countries to act locally to enrich the "pragmatic recipe" offered by China to sustain global economic development in the Asia-Pacific region and beyond.

The modern Silk Road could cover a wider area than the historic one. But the expansion of the Silk Road should not be the only aim of the planners; they should also build a low-carbon and overall eco-friendly economic belt.

Chinese leaders are expected to meet with their European Union counterparts twice this year. Their first meeting is likely to be held in Brussels soon and the other is scheduled for the latter part of the year in Beijing. The second half of the year will also see the Italian city of Milan host the 2015 World Expo and Turkey playing host to the G20 summit. And all these meetings are bound to discuss better connection, infrastructure construction and the Silk Road initiatives.