HANOI, July 2 (Xinhua) -- The China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative is a strategy of global significance, said a Vietnamese expert.
In an interview with Xinhua on the occasion of the 95th founding anniversary of the Communist Party of China (CPC), Do Tien Sam, editor-in-chief of the China Research Journal published by the Institute for Chinese Studies at the Vietnam Academy of Social Science, said the global significance of the initiative lies in its feature of connecting the continents of Asia, Europe and Africa.
The Belt and Road Initiative, which comprises the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, was introduced in 2013, with the aim of building a trade and infrastructure network along the ancient Silk Road routes.
According to Sam, in politics, if successfully implemented, the idea of the Belt and Road will help contribute to realizing China's goals of the building of a moderately prosperous society in all respects by 2021 and building a prosperous, strong, democratic, culturally advanced and harmonious modern socialist country by 2049.
"In the economic area, the ideas will help increase connectivity between China and other countries, especially in infrastructure, trade exchanges, people-to-people exchanges, and culture among other areas," the expert told Xinhua.
"Externally, when China, as the world's second-largest economy, succeed in implementing the initiative, countries along the Belt and Road will benefit in economic development from infrastructure connectivity, which helps narrow the development gap between regions in a country or between countries," said Sam.
Talking about opportunities that China has, the expert said the global economic and financial crisis itself can bring about opportunities for China to contribute to the recovery of the world economy.
However, challenges that China is facing include internal difficulties in countries along the Belt and Road, including ethnic and religious conflicts and terrorism.
"If China is unable to settle these problems effectively, the implementation of the initiative will be difficult," the expert said.
Meanwhile, if the ideas are carried out successfully, "China will make immeasurable contributions to the world," said Sam.
"Politically, it will make the world more stable. Economically, China will become the world's development motivation. Culturally, China will help diversify world culture. All in all, the Chinese national image and soft power will be enhanced."
