BRI helped lift millions out of poverty: Chinese FM

China’s Foreign Minister Qin Gang on Tuesday reiterated that the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) was a high-quality public good initiated by Beijing, “built by the parties involved, and shared by the world”, with over three-quarters of countries across the globe and 32 international organisations having joined it already. In his first appearance after assuming the office three months ago, Qin addressed a number of hot-button issues on the sidelines of the first session of the 14th National People’s Congress. The ongoing Ukraine crisis and festering tensions with the US remained the ominous backdrops of the tone-setting presser that outlined China’s multilateral cooperation efforts and assertive foreign policy agenda to counter what it dubbed ‘cold war style’ bloc politics and bullying. Striking a no-holds-barred tone, the foreign minister warned 'reckless' US risked 'catastrophic' conflict if ‘brakes’ were not hit and said the ties between the two countries should be guided by common interests, shared responsibilities and friendship between the two peoples, and “not US domestic politics and hysterical neo-McCarthyism”.