Transcript of Vice Foreign Minister Le Yucheng's Exclusive Interview with the Financial Times

　　2018年9月10日，外交部副部长乐玉成接受英国《金融时报》亚洲版总编吉密欧专访。以下为文字实录：

　　吉密欧（吉）：关于“一带一路”和马歇尔计划的关系。想必您也多次听说这种类比。虽然中国政府强调“一带一路”倡议不能同马歇尔计划相提并论，但许多人还是坚持有类似之处。“一带一路”倡议同样涉及大规模基础设施投资，同样有助于改善中国在全世界的形象，也是和平时期实施的计划。它们难道没有类似之处吗？

On 10 September 2018, Vice Foreign Minister Le Yucheng sat down with Jamil Anderlini, the Asia Editor of the Financial Times, for an exclusive interview. The following is the full transcript:

Jamil Anderlini: This idea of the Marshall plan, you hear this over and over. The government in Beijing says the Belt and Road Initiative shouldn't be compared to the Marshall plan. But many people still say it's similar. It's a lot of spending on infrastructure and it helps improve the image of China around the world. It's all done in peacetime. So isn't there some similarities? Or not.

　　乐玉成（乐）：我觉得两者之间可以说有一点相似，比如在推动基础设施建设方面，或者都是和平时期的倡议或计划。但是二者本质上完全不同。首先，从历史经纬看，“一带一路”与马歇尔计划相比，既古老又年轻。说古老，是因为它传承了2000年的丝绸之路精神，是古代“丝绸之路”的现代版。说年轻，是因为它诞生于21世纪的全球化时代，是开放合作的产物。

　　其次，马歇尔计划是冷战时代美苏争霸的产物，带有明显的意识形态、地缘政治色彩，而“一带一路”是经济合作倡议、互联互通倡议。

Le Yucheng: It may appear that the two initiatives have something in common, as they are both about investment in infrastructure in peacetime. But other than that, they cannot be more different. First, time-line wise, the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is older and also younger than the Marshall Plan. Older because it draws inspiration from the spirit of the ancient Silk Road with over 2000 years of history, hence the modern version of the Silk Road. It is younger than the Marshall plan, because it was conceived in the 21st century, an era of globalization, and born out of opening-up and cooperation.

Secondly, the Marshall Plan was introduced during the Cold War dominated by rivalry between the United States and the former Soviet Union. Therefore it had clear geopolitical and ideological goals. The BRI, on the other hand, focuses on economic cooperation and connectivity.