BEIJING, Nov. 11 (Xinhua) — China’s Belt and Road initiative, highlighted during President Xi Jinping’s visit to Vietnam and Singapore last week, is set to boost bilateral ties and facilitate trade and investment between China and Southeast Asian nations.
The deepening cooperation on the Belt and Road with the two countries, major members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and key areas along the routes, will expand and upgrade China-ASEAN economic relations, analysts said.
The Belt and Road was proposed by China in 2013 as a trade and infrastructure network. It will connect Asia to Europe and Africa through the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road.
During Xi’s three-day trip, China and Vietnam reached consensus on expanding cooperation within the framework of the initiative and Vietnam’s “Two Corridors and One Economic Circle” plan, as well as on production capacity cooperation.
In a 20-point statement, China and Singapore agreed to cooperate in Belt and Road construction, trade, city planning, education and customs, among others.
Song Hong, researcher with the Institute of World Economics and Politics, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said the Belt and Road will generate fresh opportunities and infrastructure cooperation that will boost integration of China and ASEAN economies.
Sharing a land border of over 1,000 km, China and Vietnam have been in close contact on infrastructure cooperation with new express roads and railways starting operations almost every year.
A joint communique issued Friday said the two countries have reached an agreement on a feasibility study of the Hanoi-Lao Cai-Hai Phong Railway in northern Vietnam.
New railways in Vietnam are only part of the infrastructure improvement in Southeast Asia as China promotes the ambitious Trans-Asian Railway that will connect Laos, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam.
“Thanks to improved infrastructure, logistics are cheaper and faster, along the routes,” Huo Jianguo, former president of the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation.
Echoing his remarks, Song recognized brightening prospects of China-ASEAN cooperation and cited fresh opportunities in capital-intensive industries, like energy, cement and steel, and labor-intensive sectors including textiles and garments.
“Those industries are mature in China, will help the industrial upgrade of ASEAN members and are the best choice for cooperation,” Song said.
China and Vietnam also signed a number of cooperation documents covering such fields as party-to-party exchanges, transportation, production capacity, railway, energy, finance and local affairs.
More than 1,000 km away from Vietnam, Singapore is also a significant link in the Maritime Silk Road.
When meeting Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, Xi said the two sides will promote a third government-to-government project this time in Chongqing, southwest China, and explore cooperation between the enterprises in third markets.
Zhao Lei, associate professor of the Institute for International Strategic Studies at the Party School of the Central Committee of the CPC, expects Singapore will deepen Belt and Road cooperation and build a fourth project in China’s western regions in the future.
Singapore has been a major source of foreign investment in China. Between 1990 and 2014, its cumulative investment in China totaled 72.3 billion U.S. dollars.
The two leaders agreed to redefine China-Singapore ties as a partnership of all-round cooperation keeping with the times during Xi’s visit to the city-state.
Belt and Road cooperation will help upgrades to China-ASEAN Free Trade Area (FTA) and integration of Asian-Pacific region.
Thanks to the FTA, since 2010, China has become ASEAN’s largest trading partner, while ASEAN is China’s third largest trading partner. Trade between China and ASEAN increased 8.23 percent year on year to 480 billion U. S. dollars in 2014.
Given growing economic ties, the two sides are seeking for an FTA upgrade and have seen steady progress after negotiations in goods and service trade, investment and technological cooperation.
“The FTA upgrade is actually the implementation of the Belt and Road construction,” Song said.
Huo said China welcomes countries along the routes to actively participate into the process. Enditem
Tag Archives: Belt and Road
China, Vietnam agree on feasibility study of railway project
HANOI, Nov. 6 (Greenpost) — China and Vietnam reached an agreement on studying the feasibility of a railway program during Chinese President Xi Jinping’s state visit to the country.
The two countries signed a document on studying the feasibility of the railway project connecting Hanoi-Lao Cai-Hai Phong in northern Vietnam, according to a joint communique issued on Friday.
China and Vietnam have been in close contact on infrastructure cooperation projects and the deal can also be regarded as a model for win-win cooperation between the two countries as they have called for an alignment between China’s Belt and Road initiative and Vietnam’s “Two Corridors and One Economic Circle” plan.
The Belt and Road initiative, namely the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, was unveiled by the Chinese President in 2013 with the aim of reviving the ancient trade routes. Enditem
Source Xinhua
Editor Xuefei Chen Axelsson
China’s gold firms advised to “dig gold” along “Belt and Road”
TIANJIN, Oct. 28 (Greenpost) — Despite challenges including slowing economy, sluggish prices, environment and resources worries and fiercer competition, China’s gold enterprises should seize the opportunities brought about by the “Belt and Road” initiative to tap international markets for higher-level development, experts suggest at the recent 2015 China Mining conference.
The “Belt and Road” initiative is a golden opportunity for domestic gold industry, they say.
It is reported that countries along the “Belt and Road” initiative boast gold reserves totaling about 21,000 metric tons (tonnes), accounting for 41.5 percent of the world’s total. In 2014, gold output in those countries amounted to about 1,116 tonnes, accounting for 35.6 percent of the world’s total. Gold jewelry consumption in those countries stood at 2,025 tonnes, representing 82.4 percent of the global consumption and demand for physical gold investment amounted to 778 tonnes, accounting for 77 percent of the world’ total.
As one of the largest gold consumers of the world, gold enterprises in China, with relatively strong advantages in exploration and mining technologies, can contribute to those producers in countries along the “Belt and Road”.
The implementation of the initiative has brought about a new historic opportunity to China’s gold industry, said Song Xin, president of the China Gold Association (CGA) and General Manager of China National Gold Group Corporation. Measures rolled out by the Chinese authorities to transform economic growth pattern and adjust the economic structure have offered broad space for the industry’s growth. Implementation of “Internet Plus”, “Made in China 2025”, Equipment “Going Global”, and International Capacity Cooperation are all releasing reform bonus, with “Internet Plus” and Intelligent Manufacturing in particular to help the industry to make technological breakthroughs and innovate marketing models that can hugely promote the development of the industry, said analysts.
The Chinese authorities are also making efforts streamlining governance, delegating power downward, etc., which have increased approval efficiency and simplified procedures for gold mining projects. On gold import and export, the authorities also loosened restrictions on gold trading qualification by introducing a much more friendly version of gold import and export management methods. Enditem
Source Xinhua
Editor Xuefei Chen Axelsson
Cities alongside ‘Belt and Road’ set up cooperation alliance of cross-border e-commerce, logistics
LANZHOU, Sept. 9 (Xinhua) — Fifty-eight cities, organizations and corporations in the regions under China’s ‘Belt and Road’ initiatives have established an alliance for cross-border e-commerce companies to enhance the communication and cooperation.
Initiated by Lanzhou city of northwest China’s Gansu province, the alliance aims to boost the infrastructure construction of cross-border e-commerce and logistics passage among cities under the ‘Belt and Road’ initiatives, improve the intercity transport network construction, in a bid to facilitate economic and trade cooperation among the regions. Enditem
Top story: China,Belt & Road partners more cooperation on new energy
BEIJING, Aug. 13 (Greenpost) — The Sixth China (Gansu) International New Energy Expo held in China’s wind power base Jiuquan city of Gansu on August 8-9 drew 36 counties around the world to seek opportunities to cooperate with China on new energy development.
With energy self-sufficiency rate being at only 55 percent, Belarus hopes to bring in Chinese technology and investment to develop wind power, solar power and biomass energy to raise ratio of renewable energy in the energy structure, according to Belarusian First Deputy Energy Minister Leonid Shenets, reported China Securities Journal.
Pakistan is actively developing solar energy and plans to launch 3 GW solar PV power projects in 2016 for which Pakistan hopes to utilize Chinese new energy technology, according to State Minister for Water and Power Abid Sher Ali.
Several other countries of Central Asia, West Asia, South Asia, Africa, Oceania, as well as European Union have also expressed intent on cooperation with China on new energy development.
China’s new energy had stepped on fast development since 2005 and has topped the world in terms of wind power installed capacity, according to Liang Zhipeng, deputy director with department of new energy and renewable energy under the National Energy Administration (NEA), noting that China has ranked the second globally in terms of solar PV installed capacity. Chinese-made solar PV panels took up about 67 percent of the world’s total as of the end of 2014, Liang said.
The Belt and Road initiative has brought new cooperation opportunities for China and other countries worldwide on renewable energy development, said Wang Sicheng a researcher with the Energy Research Institute of the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), noting that more and more domestic new energy companies such as wind power enterprises will “go out” and explore international opportunities.
China had five wind turbine manufacturers export 189 wind turbines totally 368.75MW overseas in 2014, bringing total export capacity to 1.76125GW by the end of 2014, according to statistics by the Chinese Wind Energy Association. Enditem
Chinese companies ink more contracts along Belt and Road
BEIJING, July 21 (Xinhua) — Chinese companies signed 1,401 project contracts in countries along the Belt and Road in the first half of this year1, nearly half of combined overseas contract value, official data revealed.
The contracts were worth 37.6 billion U.S. dollars, up 16.7 percent year on year, and accounting for 43.3 percent of contracts in the period, Shen Danyang, the Ministry of Commerce (MOC) spokesman, said at a Tuesday press conference.
The Belt and Road refer to the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, proposed by China in 2013 with the goal of boosting trade between Asia and Europe. The network passes through more than 60 countries and regions, with a total population of 4.4 billion.
Chinese companies signed overseas project contracts worth 86.7 billion dollars in the first six months, representing an increase of 6.9 percent year on year, he said. Enditem
China Focus: China, ADB can tap “belt and road” potential
China Focus: China, ADB can tap “belt and road” potential
Stockholm, June 5(Greenpost)– The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and China can make use of the huge potential in infrastructure and energy along the belt and road, said ADB Vice President Zhang Wencai.
“Belt and road” refers to the Silk Road economic belt and the 21st century maritime Silk Road proposed by China in 2013 for improved cooperation between countries in Asia, Europe and Africa.
The belt and road will result in increased investment that will improve connectivity across Central Asia, Zhang said in an interview with Xinhua.
The ADB can work with China to translate the concept into concrete action through the Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation (CAREC) program, Zhang said.
The CAREC program is an ADB initiative launched in 2001 to promote regional cooperation in transport, energy and trade between its 10 members, including Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, China, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan.
“China can contribute to the economic corridor development in the CAREC region by sharing its experience in logistics, infrastructure, economic zones, spatial economic agglomeration, urbanization and public-private partnerships,” he said.
“Large investment needs for infrastructure in the region create large funding gaps,” he said.
All CAREC countries have substantial needs in energy development, Zhang added.
An ADB study in central Asia found that investment of about 36 billion U.S. dollars is needed before 2022 for power infrastructure in four countries.
“Given the large funding gap, China could look into co-financing with the ADB and other multilateral institutions in CAREC countries, and share its technical and management skills in large infrastructure projects,” he said. Enditem
Source Xinhua
Editor Xuefei Chen Axelsson
facebook: chenxuefei7
twitter: chenxuefei7@hotmail.com
0708261336