French President Emmanuel Macron said China and Europe should work together on Beijing's "Belt and Road" initiative, the project intended to build a modern-day "Silk Road" which Macron said could not be "one-way."

Speaking Monday to an audience of businessmen, academics and students in the city of Xian, the eastern departure point of the ancient route, Macron said the Silk Roads “were never only Chinese," adding that "By definition, these roads can only be shared. If they are roads, they cannot be one-way."

The Belt and Road project, unveiled in 2013, is aimed at connecting China by land and sea to Southeast Asia, Pakistan, Central Asia, and beyond to the Middle East, Europe and Africa.