Trust is the foundation for Belt and Road cooperation

When President Xi Jinping outlined China's to-do list at the Second Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation in Beijing on Friday, many foreign listeners started taking notes.

People familiar with China's domestic agenda may marvel at the extent to which its domestic policy discourse - ranging from innovation, green development and sustainability to anti-corruption and transparency - has captured such a global audience.

But it is hard for foreign participants not to be grabbed by the relevance that Xi's proposals have to their respective nations, whether that be improving people's livelihoods or cultivating growth drivers. Interestingly, what sounds domestic to China sounds global to other countries, and vice versa. Because what China has been doing since the late 1970s - opening its door wider to foreign investment, welcoming foreign trade and strengthening intellectual property protection - has over the years acquired increasingly more global significance.