To enhance the study and implementation of the essentials of General Secretary Xis remarks on “the earnest promotion of publicity, proactive communication of the substantive achievements in the development of the Belt and Road, reinforcement of the academic research, theoretical support, and construction of the discourse system of Belt and Road, Shanghai Party Institute held the Release Conference for Chinese Academic Translation Project of the National Social Science Foundation of China (NSSFC) and the Seminar on Enhancing the Construction of the Belt and Road Discourse System in the New Era on June 8^th, 2018.

Shen Wei, Executive Vice President of Shanghai Party Institute of CPC and Deputy Director of Shanghai Research Center of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, attended and addressed the event. The release conference and the seminar were respectively chaired by Guo Qingsong, Vice President of Shanghai Party Institute of CPC and Deputy Director and Secretary General of Shanghai Research Center of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era and Xu Yihua, Director of Fudan Department of International Politics, Director of Fudan Research Center of Religions and National Security of China and Deputy Director of Shanghai CPPCC Ethnic and Religions Committee. The attendees covered representatives from the National Development and Reform Commission, China Foreign Languages Publishing Administration, Fudan University, East China Normal University, Shanghai Party Institute of CPC, Publicity Department of CPC Shanghai Municipal Party Committee, the Office for the Belt and Road Promotion Group of Shanghai Municipality, Shanghai Municipal Development and Reform Commission, Shanghai Municipal Commission of Commerce, World Scientific Publishing Co. (Singapore), Shanghai Peoples Publishing House, Faurecia China Investments Co., Ltd. and other Party and government divisions, academic institutions, corporations and publishing houses, and more than 50 theoretical talented minds from higher schools, research institutes and Party institutes.

Shen Wei indicated that General Secretary Xi first put forward the initiative of building a community of shared future for mankind in 2013 and suggested to promote the development of Belt and Road as an important vehicle for the cause. At the 19^th National Congress of CPC, the establishment of a community of shared future for mankind was approved as one of the fourteen basic general plans and the promotion of Belt and Road was written into the new Constitution of the Communist Party of China. General Secretary Xi proposed it as a Chinese philosophy and solution to human development and future of the world and a critical part of his thought. With extensive and profound international influence, it is becoming a clear banner of China in leading the era and the progress of human civilization. Shanghai Party Institute of CPC regards the progress in its education and training, research, policy-making consultation and publicity of the Belt and Road strategy as an important part of its study and research of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era (Xi Jinping Thought). As a beachhead, Shanghai has taken on a critical mission in the national strategy of Belt and Road and discovered many golden opportunities for its own development while rendering its service to the strategy. Comrade Li Qiang, Secretary of CPC Shanghai Municipal Committee, has made an explicit call for the enhancement of our understanding of the Belt and Road Initiative, reinforced accountability and greater role in rendering service to the development of the Belt and Road Initiative. The achievements release conference and seminar today stood as a direct response to General Secretary Xis remarks and Secretary Lis call. In the new era, Shanghai Party Institute of CPC will continue the promotion of its courses, research and consultancy on the Belt and Road Initiative, make more solid achievements and contribution to cadre training, academic research, theoretical support and discourse system development as a Party institute.

Guo Qingsong also noted that the current world order was undergoing dramatic changes and the world was in a phase of great changes, development and adjustment. As China enters a new era, the world is also ushering in a great era. The new era needs new actions and the great era needs great actions. By establishing a platform for exchanges among government departments, academic circles, corporations, publishing houses and media agencies, the seminar has helped build consensus on the development of Belt and Road and contributed to the academic research of and practical collaborations on the initiative in the new era.

At the release conference, Dr. Zou Lei from our institute released the achievements of the NSFC Chinese Academic Translation Project presided by himself. In May of 2018, The Political Economy of China’s Belt and Road Initiative was officially published by World Scientific Publishing Co. as the first English version of a Chinese book on the Belt and Road Initiative published by a major foreign publisher. The original edition (published in February 2015) was the first monograph on the Belt and Road Initiative in the world and was well-received in academic circles and among the public. Based on the new English edition, he provided a few insights into the way to equilibrate the academic research and publicity of the Belt and Road Initiative, to outline the achievements in the current collaborations and model of practices, to appropriately assess and deal with various security risks, and to respond to the negative opinions on the initiative, etc.

Professor Feng Shaolei, Director of the Center for Development of Neighboring Countries and Collaborative Innovation, East China Normal University, said that global publicity of the book would help enhance the understanding of international community, involved countries and global readers on the Belt and Road Initiative, clear up their misunderstandings and serve as knowledge support for the further advance of the cause. He also stressed that research on the initiative in the future would be needed to evolve from factual description into more profound exploration of theories and ideas.

At the seminar, experts had fervent discussions about a number of issues, including how to enhance the development of Belt and Road in the new era, how to better narrate the story of the initiative, how Shanghai can play a better role as the beachhead, the tie between the Belt and Road and China International Import Expo, and how multinationals can participate in the initiative. The experts believed that there was a growing consensus on the interpretation of the Belt and Road Initiative at home and abroad while discrepancies in perspective, degree of involvement and role resulted in the discursive gaps between internal and external publicity, the official voice and external scholars, and interpretation home and abroad. In the future, as the development of the Belt and Road is further enhanced, China will need to offer strong academic support as a great power. The experts also believed that it would be necessary to accurately assess the new circumstances and missions of the Belt and Road in the new phase of full implementation and enhance the development in a quality and high-level manner. A better springboard for the initiative in the new era is the systematic initiation of full collaborations with countries concerned, which will also be a good access framework for businesses. As Shanghai is building itself into a beachhead for the Belt and Road Initiative with its free trade pilot zone as the vehicle for its institutional innovation, with economic and trade cooperation as the sally port, with financial services as its support, with infrastructure development as its priority, with cultural exchanges and personnel training as a bridge, and with cooperation with its sister cities and multinationals in the world as a springboard. As n grand event of expo, trade fare and forum, China International Import Expo serves as an optimal platform for the development of the Belt and Road. During the process of globalization, Chinese businesses can take advantage of the existing overseas networks of multinationals and reinvest overseas to complement their domestic investment and reduce and mitigate their investment risks.

The release conference and seminar were co-hosted by Shanghai Research Center of Xi Jinping Thought and Shanghai Party Institute, and organized by Fudan Research Center of Religions and the National Security of China, a higher school think tank in Shanghai.