A two-day summit of world leaders in Beijing ended Monday with promises and high hopes that the Belt and Road Initiative will be the beginning of the building of a better world.
China’s national news agency Xinhua reported the initiative was first envisioned by Chinese President Xi Jinping in 2013 to create a new platform for international cooperation.
Nearly four years later, the plan came to a crucial juncture this past weekend with the Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation.
Xinhua quoted Xi as saying the summit ended on a positive note and that "all are united behind the initiative, and on course for the shared future of mankind."
"Through the initiative, we hope we can find new driving forces for growth, create a new platform for global development, and re-balance economic globalization," Xi said.
China has rallied support from around the world to champion globalization and multilateralism, said Xinhua.
"We reached the consensus, set the way forward, and outlined an action plan," Xi told reporters.
According to Xinhua, 68 countries and international organizations signed cooperation deals with China to carry forward the Belt and Road. Many were signed during the forum.
An outcomes list of more than 270 items was formulated at the Leaders Roundtable of the forum, setting the way forward, Xinhua stated.
"We reaffirm our shared commitment to build open economy, ensure free and inclusive trade, oppose all forms of protectionism," the outcomes document stated.
"We endeavor to promote a universal, rules-based, open, non-discriminatory and equitable multilateral trading system with WTO at its core."
World leaders will gather again to gauge the progress in 2019.
AFP meanwhile reported that the Chinese president now stands in stark contrast to U.S President Donald Trump whose pursuit of "America First" policies on trade and foreign relations has given China the chance to reshape the global and political landscape in its favor.
"He (Xi) is very anxious to move as early as possible to take advantage of the vacuum created by Donald Trump and show that China has the capacity to be a rule maker," AFP quoted China’s political analyst Willy Lam as saying.
But Xi's Silk Road plan has raised concerns that he is seeking to expand China's economic and political ambitions abroad rather than open up his own country to further trade and investment.
"Hopefully (One Belt, One Road) is not a one-way street but two-way," said European Union Chamber of Commerce in China President Joerg Wuttke recently, stated AFP.
"I hope China is not just reaching out to the world but actually embracing the world and opening up to foreign trade," he was quoted as saying.
The China-bankrolled project involves a massive network of ports, railways, roads and industrial parks spanning some 65 countries across Asia, Africa and Europe.
Xi has pledged an extra $124 billion USD for the plan, on top of the $890 billion $USD already earmarked by the China Development Bank for some 900 projects, AFP reported.
India meanwhile skipped the summit as it voiced displeasure at the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, a Belt and Road project aimed at linking northwestern China to the Arabian Sea.
The route cuts through Gilgit and Baltistan in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, a disputed territory that India claims is illegally occupied.