China invests $ 51b in Belt, Road nations

► Political issues remain an obstacle to economic cooperation: analyst

China had invested $ 51.1 billion in countries within the Belt and Road initiative since 2013, and investment from those countries to China was nearly $ 3.4 billion, according to a report released at a seminar held in Xi’an, Shaanxi Province on Monday.

The report, published by the Renmin University of China ( RUC), said China invested about $ 6.9 billion in the first half of 2016, most of which went to Singapore, Malaysia, Laos and Russia. And trade between China and countries along the route in 2016 reached $ 3.1 trillion, or 26 percent of China’s foreign trade volume.

It also said coordinating development strategies has begun with many countries along the route, including Kazakhstan and Russia, the Xinhua News Agency reported.

The initiative, which is about win- win cooperation and common development, could better serve the economic interests of participating countries than the World Trade Organization ( WTO), despite WTO’s compensation plan for its member countries, Zheng Xinye, associate dean of School of Economics at Renmin University of China, told the Global Times on Monday.

“Political issues remain an obstacle to economic cooperation between China and other countries, leading to a lack of mutual trust,” said Wang Yuzhu, a re- search fellow at the National Institute of International Strategy of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

Wang noted that we should reflect on what some in the academy are saying, that some Association of Southeast Asian Nations countries are turning to the US over security issues while relying on China for economic support, adding that he believes that strengthening economic ties and economic interests would help resolve disputes by offering more opportunities for communication.

Liu Qibao, head of the Publicity Department of Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, attended the seminar, said the initiative has made significant progress over the past three years, yielding results far beyond ex- pectations. Liu added countries along the route should show mutual respect and trust, as well as cooperate to build a “green, healthy, intelligent and peaceful” Silk Road, calling for enhanced economic and people- to- people exchanges in implementing the initiative, said Xinhua.

People- to- people exchanges help strengthen understanding among different countries and promote co- prosperity, Sergei Ignatev, an expert from the Primakov National Research Institute of World Economy and International Relations at the Russian Academy of Sciences, said at the seminar.

Sergei noted that, in the long run, the Belt and Road initiative would enhance China’s economic and political influence in Central Asia.