Wang Wen

(Executive Vice Dean, Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies, Renmin University)

Author

Wang Wen is Executive Vice Dean and Professor at Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies, Renmin University; and Executive Director of the World Socialism Research Center under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. Mr. Wang is an contributor to finance.sina.com.cn and Guancha.cn. He graduated successively from Lanzhou University, the Hong Kong Baptist University, Nanjing University, Johns Hopkins University, and Peking University. He joined Global Times after completing his master's study, and worked as Reporter, News Editor, History Editor, Opinion Editor, Editorial Drafter, head of the paper's opinion column, and editorial board member (responsible for the opinion column). Mr. Wang was the winner of the 2011 China News Award. He has translated, edited, co-authored and written 14 books including Theories of World Governance: A Study of the History of Ideas, International Relations in Political Thought, and A Truth-Speaking China. Mr. Wang left the media circle in early 2013, created a new type of think tank called the Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies and became the Executive Vice Dean of the organization. Renmin University President Chen Yulu holds the position of Dean of the institute. The institute is known to be quite active in China.

Abstract

The Silk Road and the regions along its way is the cradle for almost all major religions and ancient civilizations. In history, Silk Road is a main economic artery running through Asia, Europe and Africa. It is also a major corridor for human migrations and cross-border exchanges. The Silk Road and its surrounding area contributes 55 percent to the global GDP, makes up 70 percent of the total population, and accounts for 75 percent of the total proven energy reserves.As China's monopoly on silk broke and maritime technology progressed after the Middle Ages, the importance of the Silk Road was on the decline. In September 2013, Chinese President Xi Jinping raised the concept of Silk Road Economic Belt for a cultural renaissance.Once the blueprint is put into a reality, it will improve people's wellbeing in underdeveloped areas and will be of great significance to human development in the 21st century.Now, a new cooperation model should be established among countries along the Silk Road Economic Belt; economic interdependence and political mutual trust should be further strengthened; different strategic targets should be coordinated; the legal framework and mechanism should be improved to forge cooperation; and efforts should be made in eliminating non-traditional threats like drug trade and terrorism. Under such circumstances, it's urgent to set up an exchange platform to facilitate the construction of the Silk Road Economic Belt. The economic belt is comprised of five parts – northwest China-Central Asia, Central Asia-Russia-Europe, Central Asia-West Asia-North Africa, east and Central China-East Asia, and southwest China-Southeast Asia-India.For China, the exchange platform for the Silk Road Economic Belt will help address the problems in industrialization, urbanization, IT application and agricultural modernization, help break the bottleneck in transportation, logistics and human resources, send out early warnings for regional imbalance and instability. For the international community, it will alleviate the pressures caused by America's return to the Asia-Pacific region, and strengthen China's strategic cooperative relations with Russia and Central Asia by promoting economic and trade partnerships, information services, exhibitions and negotiations. With increased exchanges in the region, China is bound to achieve win-win cooperation in trade and commerce, gain mutual trust in security strategy, further push forward the revival of China, and realize the Chinese dream.