The BRI is not only about the "hard connectivity" of infrastructure, but also the "soft alignment" of rules, standards and markets, as well as the "dynamic circulation" of high-end factors such as capital, technology, talents and data. As a key mechanism for promoting regional coordinated development and deepening industrial integration, two-way investment has become the core driver for BRI cooperation to move from "project-based cooperation" to "ecosystem co-construction". According to incomplete statistics, from 2021 to the first half of 2025, the cumulative two-way investment between China and BRI partner countries exceeded 240 billion US dollars. Among them, China's direct investment in partner countries exceeded 160 billion US dollars, and investment from partner countries into China exceeded 80 billion US dollars, forming a net capital outflow of about 80 billion US dollars within the BRI framework. This not only demonstrates the strong driving effect of Chinese capital on the development of partner countries, but also reflects the strong attractiveness of the Chinese market to global capital, vividly interpreting the mutually beneficial and win-win nature of "interdependence".
General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out that "opening up is an important driving force for the progress of human civilization and an inevitable path for world prosperity and development". Expanding two-way investment and cooperation is not a one-way output, but two-way empowerment; it is not a zero-sum game, but symbiotic development. We should take institutional opening up as the guide, build a more transparent, stable and predictable investment environment, and promote the two-way flow and in-depth integration of capital, technology, standards and management models in a wider scope and deeper level.
Currently, the global industrial and supply chains are accelerating their restructuring, and international investment rules are evolving towards higher standards. China has taken the initiative to align with high-standard international economic and trade rules, building a trinity institutional opening-up system of "policy communication + rule mutual recognition + risk co-control" by improving the negative list management system for BRI investment and cooperation, promoting the classified and hierarchical flow of cross-border data, and improving the coordinated intellectual property protection mechanism.
In specific practice, we have promoted the establishment of a multi-level investment and financing platform that coordinates policy-based finance and market-oriented capital for the BRI, guiding social capital to participate in infrastructure construction and industrial upgrading in partner countries. We have explored the "two-country, two-park cross-border pairing" model, establishing a cooperative mechanism for paired parks featuring industrial interconnection, facility connectivity and policy reciprocity, making the China-Belarus Industrial Park and the China-Egypt TEDA Suez Economic and Trade Cooperation Zone demonstration platforms for two-way investment. We have innovated cross-border trade and investment facilitation measures such as "foreign exchange connectivity, data connectivity and customs connectivity" to improve investment efficiency and reduce transaction costs. Institutional opening up has gradually promoted rule alignment, providing institutional guarantees for optimizing the allocation of regional factors. It has not only opened up the "last mile" of two-way investment, but also made the BRI an "efficient allocation belt" for global factor resources.
To jointly build the BRI with high quality, we must promote the upgrading of investment cooperation from "resource-driven" to "innovation-driven". We adhere to scientific and technological cooperation as the leader, accelerate the construction of the "Digital Silk Road" and "Green Silk Road", and promote joint R&D and industrialization of cutting-edge fields such as artificial intelligence, new energy and biomedicine. By establishing special scientific and technological innovation cooperation funds, supporting the construction of joint laboratories, technology transfer centers and offshore incubation bases, we have built a full-chain cross-border collaborative system of "original research - pilot scale - industrial application - global promotion".
At the same time, finance is the lifeblood of two-way investment. We have actively built a diversified investment and financing system, promoting the coordination of development finance, commercial finance and cooperation funds. We have innovated financial tools such as integrated "investment-construction-operation" models, REITs and green bonds, guiding more funds to flow into high-tech, low-carbon transformation, people's livelihood services and other fields, and realizing a virtuous cycle of "capital empowering industry, industry feeding back technology, and technology enhancing value".
Standards are the technical language of international cooperation and a key support for the soft connectivity of two-way investment systems. China has actively worked with partner countries to formulate standards and norms in fields such as the digital economy, green infrastructure and smart cities, promoting the internationalization of Chinese standards and enhancing institutional discourse power in global governance. By building regional BRI arbitration and mediation platforms, exploring a multi-resolution mechanism connecting litigation, arbitration and mediation, we have gradually improved the transparency of the law-based business environment. Relying on international conventions and bilateral judicial cooperation, we have optimized the efficiency of foreign law retrieval and award enforcement, providing more predictable access, operation and exit guarantees for investors from all countries.
History tells us that closure leads to no way out, and isolation cannot achieve success. Facing the future, we should take "mutual commitment" as the core concept, adhere to the equal emphasis on "bringing in" and "going out", and promote the BRI from "connecting the world" to "empowering the world". By expanding two-way investment and cooperation space and deepening pragmatic cooperation in emerging fields such as green low-carbon, digital economy and industrial chain coordination, China will work with other countries to build a new ecosystem of global development cooperation that is open, inclusive, collaborative and innovative, and mutually beneficial. We will consolidate the foundation for high-quality development through higher-level opening up and contribute more Chinese wisdom and strength to building a Community with a Shared Future for Mankind.
