China's Xi lauds Belt and Road achievements, maps out way forward

Chinese President Xi Jinping opened the Belt and Road Forum in Beijing on Wednesday declaring that "blueprints turned into real projects" during the decade since he launched his initiative to build global infrastructure and energy networks. Representatives of more than 130 countries, largely from the Global South, attended the forum including more than two dozen heads of state, of whom the most prominent was Xi's "dear friend" Russian President Vladimir Putin. Addressing more than 1,000 Chinese and foreign delegates assembled in an ornate conference room in the Great Hall of the People west of Tiananmen Square, Xi said his flagship…