Initiative provides a platform that all may benefit from

It seems suspicion is unavoidable for China: One moment it was accused of being a "free-rider" for allegedly doing too little; another moment it is being suspected, by the same people, of harboring ulterior motives for trying to fulfill what is expected of it as a "responsible power".

President Xi Jinping's keynote speech at the opening of the Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation, the most comprehensive elaboration of China's Belt and Road Initiative so far, answered many questions, including those about its intentions.

As was evident through Xi's remarks, the initiative is fundamentally different from the 1940s' Marshall Plan or the European Recovery Program, or today's Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement - indeed any recent regional development projects. It is distinctive in that, unlike most similar designs for cooperation, it has never been intended to be "members only".