Since it began operating in December 2021, the China-Laos Railway, a flagship Belt and Road cooperation project, has brought great benefits to the people of Laos and opened up a new path for the nation's development and prosperity.

"Laos and China joined hands to build the railway, develop and deepen our friendship, and also developed our economy in Laos, especially cargo transportation," said Pansay Yiayengva, a conductor at the railway station in the Lao capital Vientiane.

Bearing in mind that "no person or country can thrive in isolation," China champions an open economy and promotes balanced, inclusive and sustainable growth to enable the world to share development opportunities.

Pledging efforts to promote the building of a community with a shared future for mankind, Chinese President Xi Jinping said China's development benefits the world and China cannot develop in isolation from the rest of the world, when addressing the closing meeting of the first session of the 14th National People's Congress on March 13.

Win-win cooperation

The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) proposed by Xi in 2013 has become one of the most popular international platforms for global cooperation.

Within the BRI's framework, Indonesia's intercity Jakarta-Bandung High-Speed Railway, the first of its kind in the ASEAN region, has started trial operations.

Also, Cambodia's first-ever Phnom Penh-Sihanoukville Expressway, Croatia's Peljesac Bridge and Pakistan's Karot Hydropower project are in operation.

"I hope there will be more opportunities to cooperate with China," said former Croatian President Ivo Josipovic.

Besides, China has established various platforms to reach overseas companies, such as the China International Import Expo (CIIE), the China International Consumer Products Expo and the China International Fair for Trade in Services.

Data from the Ministry of Commerce shows that at last November's CIIE, tentative deals worth $73.52 billion were reached for one-year purchases of goods and services, up 3.9 percent year on year.

The fifth CIIE attracted enterprises from 127 countries and regions, as well as 69 national governments and international organizations.

At the CIIE, Xi announced a series of measures, including advancing the construction of pilot free trade zones and the Hainan Free Trade Port, further trimming the negative lists for foreign investment, and expanding the liberation of telecommunications, healthcare and other sectors.

"Today, the CIIE has become a showcase of China's new development paradigm, a platform for high-standard opening up, and a public good for the whole world," Xi said at the opening ceremony of the fifth CIIE.

For a better world

On various occasions in the past decade, the Chinese president has underlined joint efforts to forge a new model of international relations, which features mutual respect, equity and justice, and win-win cooperation, and building a community with a shared future for mankind.

China has been working together with the rest of the world to safeguard true multilateralism, maintain stable global supply chains, facilitate free trade and investment, and pursue green and low-carbon development.

China's vision is "based on the desire for broad, inclusive international cooperation," said Oleg Timofeev, an associate professor at the Peoples' Friendship University of Russia.

China is a major troop contributor and the second-largest financial contributor to UN peacekeeping operations, and has set up an 8,000-strong peacekeeping standby force.

What's more, China is helping many African countries, such as Mozambique, develop modern agriculture with the help of the China-developed BeiDou Navigation Satellite System and unmanned equipment.

At the opening ceremony of CPC in Dialogue with World Political Parties High-Level Meeting on March 15, Xi proposed the Global Civilization Initiative, calling for respect for diversity of civilizations, advocating the common values of humanity, highly valuing the inheritance and innovation of civilizations, and jointly advocating robust international people-to-people exchanges and cooperation. 

As Xi said at the opening ceremony of the B20 Summit in 2016, "All countries, big or small, strong or weak, rich or poor, must treat each other as equals. We need to help each other achieve sound development as we work to ensure our own development. The world will be a better place only when everyone is better off."