China kicked off Tuesday a two-day international forum on its signature Belt and Road global infrastructure initiative in Beijing, with representatives from over 140 countries, to mark achievements over the past decade to connect nations along the ancient Silk Road trade routes.
The forum has drawn leaders including Russian President Vladimir Putin and Indonesian President Joko Widodo, with virtually no high-level participation from major Western countries. Putin is on his first visit to China since Russia's invasion of Ukraine started in February last year.
At a CEO conference involving business leaders, Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng said economic and trade cooperation between China and its Belt and Road partners has "achieved new progress and breakthroughs."
He noted that over the past decade, the total volume of trade in goods between China and participants of the infrastructure initiative has reached $19.1 trillion, with an average annual growth rate of 6.4 percent.
Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee vowed at the conference to provide Belt and Road economies with services in such areas as financing and risk management and invited business leaders to set up offices in the territory, saying it serves as "a key link" for the initiative, according to Hong Kong media.
Chinese President Xi Jinping is set to deliver a keynote speech Wednesday, to be followed by an address of Putin. The conference will discuss such topics as green development and the digital economy.
China hosted similar Belt and Road summits in 2017 and 2019.
Critics of Xi's mega infrastructure project often point out the scheme has drawn recipient nations into a Chinese debt trap, with developing countries saddled with huge debts that allow Beijing to leverage control over them.
Italy, the only Group of Seven major industrial nation to be part of the project, reportedly intends to exit the scheme as it has not reaped the economic benefits it expected through joining.
On the sidelines of the event, Xi and Putin are expected to talk Wednesday about the fierce fighting taking place between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas among other issues.
Western nations, including the United States and Japan, have been wary of closer ties between Russia and China, which has opposed sanctions on Moscow over the Ukraine war.
In March, Xi visited Moscow and agreed with Putin to deepen the two countries' partnership, days after the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for the Russian leader for allegedly overseeing the war crime of forcible deportation of Ukrainian children.
China is not a member of the ICC so it is not obliged to arrest Putin.
Since Japan's release of treated radioactive water from the crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant that started in late August, China has banned imports of seafood from Japan. Russia said Monday it had joined China in imposing temporary restrictive measures.
Related coverage:
Ukraine's Bucha seeks ties with Hiroshima after Russian massacre
Russia restricts Japan seafood imports amid Fukushima water release
G7 "unequivocally" condemns Hamas attack on Israel as markets wary
