Pragmatism can lead Silk Roads to success

The Silk Road Economic Belt and 21st Century Maritime Silk Road initiatives of President Xi Jinping are aimed at promoting regional economic cooperation. Being supplementary to the existing world economic order, the initiatives will help boost regional economic cooperation and development through infrastructure construction based on China's successful experiences over the past decades.

The "Belt and Road Initiatives" are the first independent concept put forward by China for international economic cooperation. They are particularly important in the context of the International Monetary Fund's failed efforts to push forward infrastructure investment.

Given their popularity among some Southeast, South, Central and West Asian countries, the initiatives, if well implemented, will become a vital component of the established international system. The advance of China's westward economic cooperation is also expected to lower the risk of direct conflicts between China and the United States in the Pacific and help Beijing follow its "peaceful development" strategy.