The Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation in Beijing is held at a most critical and opportune time when a strong anti-globalization wave in the form of trade protectionism and populism has swept parts of the developed world and the future and destiny of economic globalization is called into question. Here I would like to discuss with you three points on the topic of “Belt and Road Initiative and a New Phase of Economic Globalization”.

Europe and China are facing more common challenges than they would admit. The past decades have been accompanied by a fantastic ascent: After the destruction of our continent by Nazi rule and world war, the economic power of what is now the EU increased fivefold from $360bn (1960) to $16,229bn. China, formed in 1949, grew from $59bn to an astonishing $10,866bn. The dynamism and opening of world trade in particular made both players strong.