Aerial photo taken on Sept. 1, 2019 shows the China-Maldives Friendship Bridge in Maldives. The China-Maldives Friendship Bridge, the first cross-sea bridge in the Maldives built by a Chinese company connecting the Maldivian capital of Male with neighboring Hulhule Island, was inaugurated on Aug. 30, 2018 and put into use on Sept. 7, 2018. The 2-km-long bridge is an iconic project of the Maldives and China in co-building the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road. The bridge makes it possible for locals and tourists to travel between the two islands within five minutes. In one year, the bridge has brought great convenience for local people in their daily life. (Photo by Wang Mingliang/Xinhua)
-- 21st Century Maritime Silk Road
Formed during the Qin and Han Dynasties (221 BC-AD 220), the Maritime Silk Road has always played an important role in economic and cultural exchanges and integration between East and West. And Southeast Asia has always been a nexus of this interaction. On the occasion of the 10th Anniversary of the China-ASEAN Strategic Partnership, China proposed jointly building a 21st Century Maritime Silk Road on October 3, 2013. The initiative aims to boost China-ASEAN maritime cooperation and forge closer ties in a community of a shared future. It calls for joint efforts across the region and beyond.
Starting with the launch of individual projects that are expected to help spur a wider range of cooperative activities, it envisions a network of interconnected markets linking the ASEAN, South Asia, West Asia, North Africa, and Europe, and a strategic partnership for the South China Sea and the Pacific and Indian oceans.
Attendees participate in a forum in Fuzhou, capital of southeast China's Fujian Province, Dec. 11, 2017. The Maritime Silk Road Forum on Arts Development was held here during the 3rd Maritime Silk Road International Arts Festival on Monday. (Xinhua/Lin Shanchuan)
-- The main routes of the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road:
Quanzhou--Fuzhou--Guangzhou--Haikou--Beihai--Hanoi--Jakarta--Colombo--Calcutta--Nairobi--Athens--Venice
-- The 21st Century Maritime Silk Road passess through 23 countries and regions:
The Republic of Korea, Japan, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam, Cambodia, Singapore, Philippines, Myanmar, Brunei, India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Egypt, United Arab Emirates, Kenya, Tanzania, Greece, Italy
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