China and ASEAN Collaboratively Advancing High-Quality Development of the the Belt and Road Initiative: Values, Challenges, and Pathways

The ASEAN countries are a pivotal focus of the Belt and Road Initiative and serve as demonstration zones for its collaborative development. By promoting high-quality development of the Belt and Road Initiative, China and ASEAN countries can mitigate the risks posed by protectionism and unilateralism while advancing the construction of a closer China-ASEAN community with a shared future, addressing global challenges together. However, several main challenges arise in this process: the complex and evolving international situation, along with rising geopolitical risks, introduce uncertainty to regional cooperation; the need to reconstruct regional industrial and supply chains; lingering doubts among some ASEAN countries regarding the joint construction of the Belt and Road; new competition and pressures in infrastructure construction, trade, and investment cooperation; and domestic political instability, religious, and social complexities in some ASEAN countries, which negatively impact the implementation of cooperative projects. Moving forward, China and ASEAN countries should adhere to the “Eight Initiatives” for high-quality joint construction of the Belt and Road as their guiding principles, enhancing political mutual trust, strengthening interconnectivity cooperation mechanisms, and ensuring the continuous deepening and solidification of high-quality joint construction of the Belt and Road Initiative.