China to play unifier, innovator role with 'Belt and Road'

PARIS - China's "Belt and Road" project has mirrored the Asian country as one of the word's pioneers who will now "play its unifier and innovator role", said a French politician.

In a written interview with Xinhua, Jean-Pierre Raffarin, former Prime Minister, noted the Chinese project to revive old trade routes was "the only major new and global project. The role of leaders is often to develop projects".

"In a meeting last year in Boao Forum for Asia (BFA), Chinese President Xi Jinping told me 'Be sure that in the 21st century, no country can succeed solo'. The whole world has understood this message with over seventy countries having been engaged in the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB). A community of interest is created," Raffarin said.

In addition, multinational investment projects were being studied in all areas including industrial, financial, agricultural, scientific fields in a way to bolster "more relevant and important multi-national investment", according to the French conservative.

"China claims its rights but assumes its duties for world peace," said the head of foreign affairs and defense committee in the Senate, adding that Paris and Beijing shared a common approach to global governance and win-win solutions to multilateral international cooperation.

"Our destiny is common because the world disorders weaken the nations. By better understanding each other and respecting differences and by analysing all the threats, a common destiny will be formed," Raffarin told Xinhua.

Raffarin praised the "excellent relations" between China and Europe, arguing that China had helped the euro area when it faced financial troubles. "It is in the difficulties that we know the quality," he added.

In a context of global crisis coupled with challenges to shift to more "inclusive" growth, "China will continue to be one of the main engines of the world economy", according to him.