People's Daily chime: Defamating Sino foreign port cooperation is creating obstacles for common development of enterprises | promoting | global | Belt and Road | United States | China | cooperation | ports

China's port cooperation with relevant countries operates under the sunshine, openly and honestly. Advise some malicious individuals in the United States to stop abusing national security concepts, stop hyping up baseless "China's investment in global port threats", and put an end to the black hands that disrupt normal commercial cooperation between other countries

In recent years, as the cooperation in the joint construction of the "the Belt and Road" continues to deepen and materialize, Chinese enterprises have actively participated in the construction and operation of national ports, which not only strongly promotes local employment, infrastructure improvement and economic development, but also benefits countries with excellent maritime transport services. However, some people in the United States are wearing colored glasses to observe cooperation between Chinese and foreign ports, fabricating and exaggerating the "threat theory of Chinese investment in global ports", hyping that these ports "are more likely to provide support for the Chinese navy" and "are obvious geopolitical risks". These unfounded accusations politicize, ideologize, and securitize normal business cooperation, essentially in order to maintain the so-called "competitive advantage" of the United States and smear and unjustly suppress Chinese enterprises.

Ocean transportation is the most important mode of transportation in international trade. According to statistics from the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, approximately 80% of global trade in goods is achieved through sea transportation. Ports are comprehensive transportation hubs, and their infrastructure and supporting facilities, as well as operational management maturity, play a crucial role in the development of the national economy, especially the marine economy. Every maritime country attaches great importance to port construction and development, and regards it as an important engine for promoting trade and economic development. They will carefully and selectively choose their partners. Some people in the United States, based solely on statistics on China's ownership of global ports, believe that China's investment in nearly a hundred ports worldwide has ulterior motives, claiming that China's global port expansion has "achieved important military functions.". They turn a blind eye to the business logic of two-way choice and mutual benefit, but stick to zero sum game thinking and make malicious speculations.

The cooperation between Chinese and foreign ports brings important development opportunities to the host country. Over the years, Chinese enterprises have actively participated in the investment, construction and operation of ports in the "the Belt and Road" countries, bringing good economic and social benefits. China and Sri Lanka jointly built the "the Belt and Road" key cooperation project and Colombo Port City in Sri Lanka, which was rated by Forbes magazine as one of the "five new cities affecting the future". PricewaterhouseCoopers assessed that the project will attract more than 9.7 billion US dollars of foreign direct investment for Sri Lanka in the process of development and operation, and create more than 400000 high-quality jobs for the local people; China has supported the construction of the Phnom Penh Port Container Terminal in Cambodia, helping it become a major port for the import and export of goods in Cambodia, promoting the export of agricultural products such as rice, and creating huge economic benefits; Antigua and Barbuda's St. John's Port has been constructed using preferential loans from the Chinese side, greatly improving transportation capacity and efficiency, achieving the country's long-standing goal of building a regional shipping center, promoting economic diversification and sustainable development; By introducing advanced management technology and experience from the Chinese side, the annual container throughput of Piraeus Port in Greece has exceeded 5 million TEUs, making it the largest port in the Mediterranean... Relevant countries generally believe that cooperation between Chinese and foreign ports not only teaches people to fish but also teaches people to fish, promoting the coordinated development of regional economy centered on ports and the overall development of the host country.

On the basis of respecting the wishes of relevant countries, China conducts practical cooperation in the field of ports and other infrastructure, never interferes in the internal affairs of other countries, never targets third parties, and never poses a security threat to any country. Recently, the acquisition of equity in the container terminal of Hamburg Port in Germany by Chinese companies has completed delivery, becoming a benchmark for the continuous deepening of Sino German economic and trade cooperation. The United States is also a beneficiary country for Chinese companies participating in overseas port construction. Boston Port in the United States and its partner COSCO Group have expanded practical cooperation, not only retaining the original 9000 job opportunities in the port, but also creating a total of 400000 job opportunities, which has been praised by the port authority as a "perfect example of US China economic and trade cooperation.". Some people in the United States criticize and even obstruct the normal port cooperation between China and other countries that jointly build the "the Belt and Road". They are just trying to win the hearts of gentlemen. It should be reminded that the United States has established strategic outposts around the world, with over 800 military bases overseas and 313 around China alone, with hegemonic tentacles spread throughout the world.

China's port cooperation with relevant countries operates under the sunshine, openly and honestly. Some people in the United States smear the cooperation between Chinese and foreign ports, which will only bring shadows and create obstacles for win-win cooperation and common development among countries. China will continue to strengthen the docking of high-quality joint construction of the "the Belt and Road" with the development strategies and regional cooperation initiatives of various countries, accelerate the construction of port infrastructure and regional international logistics channels, and jointly pave the "the Belt and Road" development road for the benefit of the world wider and farther. I advise these malicious individuals to stop abusing the concept of national security, stop hyping up baseless "China's investment in global port threats", and put an end to the black hands that disrupt normal commercial cooperation between other countries.