Three-and-a-half years ago, President Xi Jinping set out his vision of a new Silk Road, a 21st-century reimagining of the historical trading roads that linked East and West, bringing spices and precious goods, knowledge of culture and scholarships to lands far apart. It was a civilising process, and it was a time when the kingdoms and empires of Asia knew that both the treasures of the counting house and the treasures of the mind are best enriched through commerce and discussion, rather than through war, and enforced and unequal treaties.
I am proud to be among the many heads of government and state and other world leaders gathering in Beijing for the Silk Road's present-day successor – President Xi's visionary "One Belt, One Road" initiative.
