Over the past 10 years since the Belt and Road Initiative was put forward, it has fully realized the transformation from concept to action, from vision to reality, and formed a good situation of smooth flow of things, political harmony and people's harmony, mutual benefit and win-win development. It has become a popular international public product and platform for international cooperation. As the highest priority and the most distinctive label for the joint construction of the "Belt and Road", infrastructure connectivity plays a prominent role in the construction of the international trade corridor.

China Europe Express is an important part of infrastructure connectivity in Eurasia. In the current turbulent world, it has built a safe and smooth production and supply chain lifeline for China Europe economic and trade exchanges. By the end of February this year, more than 85000 China EU trains had been launched, connecting 25 countries and 217 cities in China and Europe. In 2023 alone, 17000 trains would be launched, sending 1.9 million TEUs, up 6% and 18% respectively from the same period.

However, this golden channel of international logistics was not always smooth in the initial stage of construction. Due to the large number of co construction countries and the non-uniform technical standards implemented, some countries have wide track spacing and some have narrow track spacing, which leads to the need for infrastructure transformation to ensure the passage of trains; At the beginning of opening to traffic, the train was faced with insufficient use of transport capacity. The huge initial investment, long transformation time and early profit problems have become the excuse for some western media to satirize and stigmatize China. They claimed that the China Europe Express "lost money and earned a lot of money", thus distorting the fallacy of "China's invasion of Europe". However, for more than 10 years, the number of China Europe regular trains, the number of countries and cities connected, and the number of goods delivered have maintained a rapid growth every year, bringing more and more opportunities for logistics, commerce, manufacturing, and other industries in countries along the line, and letting the rumors go away.

At present, the regional situation is complex and changeable, and conflicts continue, which highlights the high cost performance and high stability of China Europe Express. The Red Sea is an important shipping channel on the global shipping lines, especially for East Asia Europe trade. Last year, after the outbreak of a new round of Palestinian Israeli conflict, the Hussain armed forces frequently launched attacks in the Red Sea waters to show their support for Palestine. The United States and other countries subsequently launched retaliatory attacks against the targets of the Hussain armed forces. The regional situation has suddenly heated up, causing international shipping companies to be forced to interrupt the Red Sea routes and bypass the Cape of Good Hope in Africa, which has resulted in a significant increase in time and freight costs.

According to the latest report of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development in February this year, since November last year, the shipping fees from Shanghai to Europe via the Suez Canal have increased by about three times. CITIC Futures estimates that, compared with the Suez Canal, the voyage time from East Asia to Europe and from East Asia to the Mediterranean Sea will increase by 26% and 51% respectively by bypassing the Cape of Good Hope, and the longest voyage time from the Cape of Good Hope may be up to 45 days. As a result, the efficiency advantage of China Europe Express over sea transportation is further expanded, and the freight is much lower. Singapore's Lianhe Morning Post quoted industry insiders as saying that after the outbreak of the Red Sea crisis, the freight demand for China Europe trains has increased by 100%. Moreover, even though the railway container freight from Chongqing to Europe has increased by about 20% due to the change of supply and demand, it is still about 30% cheaper than the current sea freight.

A few days ago, China Railway Group announced that from January to February this year, 2928 China Europe trains had been operated and 317000 TEUs of goods had been delivered, up 9% and 10% respectively year on year. Against the background of the situation of the Red Sea seriously hampering maritime transport, China EU trains have significantly increased their frequency and capacity, which undoubtedly has played an indelible role in stabilizing China EU economic and trade exchanges, especially in controlling inflation in Europe.

The prominent strategic value of China Europe Express has also changed the attitude of the Western media, which has always been biased against it. The US Foreign Policy magazine pointed out that "the Belt and Road Initiative represents what every country should do for its own interests: establish as many supply channels as possible. This can not only hedge against unforeseen supply disruptions, but also enhance its connectivity and influence. The Red Sea crisis proves that China is ahead."

The success of the China Europe Express proves once again that the Chinese plan of "developing economy and infrastructure first" has important practical value. "The Silk Road must first have a road, where people can travel and things can flow smoothly." President Xi Jinping used the story of "Yugong moving mountains" to explain to the world the relationship between jointly building the "Belt and Road" and connectivity, and clearly put forward that "infrastructure connectivity is the foundation for cooperation and development". This concept goes beyond some western economists' one-sided view of infrastructure construction with short-term investment return ratio, and opens a window of opportunity for building a more dynamic, inclusive and open new world.

The "Belt and Road" initiative is based on "hard connectivity". Through the construction of ports, railways, roads, bridges and other new land and sea routes, it has brought countries around the world closer and facilitated investment, trade and people to people and cultural exchanges. More importantly, in the context of geopolitical games and conflicts, the fruitful results of the "Belt and Road" initiative, as well as the concept of "joint consultation, joint construction and sharing" contained therein, have increasingly important strategic significance and era value for stabilizing the global industrial chain supply chain and promoting global economic recovery and prosperity.

Editor: Qi Yue