The Belt and Road Initiative was first put forward by China's President Xi Jinping in 2013 in Kazakhstan, calling for regional integration to create a cohesive economic area through the building of infrastructure, trade growth, and promotion of cultural exchanges. 

While overseas projects have always been the center of attention, China's various localities are now seeking to leverage the BRI as a way to build momentum for local development. As for how the initiative affects reform and benefits China, Professor Zhao Lei from the Institute for International Strategic Studies of the Central Party School of the Communist Party of China talked about two relevant aspects with Robert Lawrence Kuhn.

Zhao Lei said, at first, Chinese cities should open up more and attract talent they need in the process of developing the BRI.

As one of the five countries in Central Asia, Kazakhstan is a landlocked country bordering northwestern China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, and is geographically near China's northwest provinces of Shaanxi, Gansu, and Qinghai, which lag behind in reform and opening-up due to a dearth of opportunities, robust financial infrastructure and sound services. Yet with the BRI, these relatively underdeveloped areas have ushered in the spring for reform and opening-up in the new era.

Second, more importance should be attached to the growth of private enterprises, which are like "fresh troops" with state-owned ones being vanguards. In the past five years, to some extent, state-owned enterprises have made strong gains, but without the participation of private counterparts, it is highly likely that the initiative will not obtain the expected results.