Commerce ministry says relations achieve strong foundation
Exports by China to countries and regions that are part of the "One Belt, One Road" (OBOR) initiative increased 1.9 percent year-on-year in the first half of 2015, accounting for 27.6 percent of the nation's total sales abroad, data from the Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) revealed on Tuesday.
The OBOR initiative refers to the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, both of which were launched by President Xi Jinping in 2013.
Exports to these economies approached $295.77 billion in the period, while imports from these markets dropped 20.9 percent to $189.6 billion, accounting for 23.4 percent of total imports in the first half, the MOFCOM said.
Economic and trade cooperation between China and the countries and regions along the paths of the OBOR achieved a strong foundation and active improvement during this period, according to the MOFCOM.
Declining demand for primary products drove China to reduce its imports from economies along the routes, Bai Ming, a research fellow at the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation, told the Global Times on Tuesday. Bai noted that the slowdown in China's economy would be the main factor behind the trade imbalances with these countries.
An increase in trade and investment flows is one of the priorities of the OBOR initiative, so an improvement in China's imports from those countries is likely in due time, Bai stressed.
In the first six months, China made outbound direct investment (ODI) in markets along the OBOR that reached $7.05 billion, a 22 percent increase from the previous year, taking up 15.3 percent of China's total non-financial ODI, according to the MOFCOM.
A majority of the investment flowed to Singapore, Indonesia, Laos, Russia, Kazakhstan and Thailand.
Sound cooperation between China and economies along the OBOR would lead more enterprises to expand into the international markets, which is in line with China's reform and opening-up policy and will drive the economic development of the country in the long run, Xu Gao, chief economist with Everbright Securities, told the Global Times on Tuesday.
It's possible to maintain 7 percent GDP growth in the second half of the year, and the government should do more to stabilize the domestic stock market, Xu said.
