What is the Health Silk Road?
The Health Silk Road is a new approach for global public health governance, proposed by China, under the umbrella of its Belt and Road Initiative. China’s leader, President Xi Jinping, discussed the Health Silk Road during a conversation with Italy’s Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte on March 16, as way to assist that country in its difficult fight against COVID-19, although the plan has long been on Xi’s mind. President Xi first broached the topic of a Health Silk Road to the World Health Organization some years ago.
To fully understand the scope of what the Health Silk Road could encompass, it’s important to first understand China’s Belt and Road Initiative. China’s Belt and Road Initiative is a massive, international investment and development program that builds on the traditional land and maritime routes that once comprised the ancient Silk Road, which started when the Han Dynasty officially opened China to trade with the West in 130 B.C.
Reimagined for the 21st century, China has dubbed its plan the Silk Road Economic Belt, for the overland segments, and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road for the shipping routes. China first proposed the Belt and Road Initiative in 2013. Since then, at least 60 countries around the globe have signed on to support the unprecedented initiative.
So far, the Belt and Road Initiative has focused on infrastructure investments, including building ports, railroads, and highways, with plans to build 50 special economic zones around the world. But China imagines the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) to be much more inclusive than just a trade and investment program. The BRI also aims to achieve deeper cross-cultural understanding through people-to-people engagement, diplomatic exchanges, and cultural events. China has already established 81 education institutions and projects as well as 35 cultural centers in countries along the Belt and Road. Educational exchanges, film festivals, and tourism development are other important aspects of the BRI.
With the ongoing pandemic wreaking havoc across the globe, China has highlighted a new health component to the BRI that is especially timely. While China works to speed up its rollout of this new facet of the initiative, it’s still unclear exactly what the Health Silk Road will shape up to be. But by looking at China’s efforts to aid the global fight against coronavirus, the possibilities begin to take shape.
China has offered medical equipment and assistance to at least 89 nations, since COVID-19 started spreading around the globe. From Latin America to Africa and Europe, China’s aid and assistance has touched the far corners of the world. China has donated masks to countries in Africa and sent teams of doctors to hard hit areas in Italy, even though China had barely finished battling its own outbreak in Wuhan, where the deadly virus is thought to have started.
Most recently, on Wednesday, China sent more than 2,000 COVID-19 test kits to Syria, whose population is especially vulnerable as that country continues to be mired in civil war. Also this week, a group of Chinese experts were dispatched to Kazakhstan, to give advice to public health officials about how the country can limit the spread of infections among health care workers.
In stark contrast with the United States, where President Donald Trump has entered public spats with U.S.-based companies like 3M, urging them to put American lives first, a Chinese commerce official announced China “has not and will not restrict exports of supplies needed to fight the novel coronavirus pandemic.” China is working to both speed up its exports, and crack down on counterfeit products.
While President Trump reevaluates the U.S.’s financial commitment to the World Health Organization at this most critical time, China is looking to double down on its commitment to international public health by supporting a new initiative, the Health Silk Road, knowings its assistance is direly needed around the world.