MNI EXCLUSIVE:Firms, Regions, Could Join China's Belt And Road

By Iris Ouyang

     BEIJING (MNI) - China could encourage companies and regional

administrations to sign up for its Belt and Road infrastructure project if

national governments prove reluctant, Chinese experts told MNI.

     The Australian state of Victoria entered a Belt and Road Initiative

Memorandum of Understanding with Beijing last year, aiming to boost trade and

create jobs, noted Leung Hoi Ming, chairman of China Silk Road iValley Research

Institute, a think tank. This came despite reluctance from Australia's federal

government.

     While until recently whole countries have signed up for Belt and Road, with

Italy a recent high-profile example, Victoria's lead shows China can be

flexible, Leung said.

     "We can be creative on Europe," he said, adding how low Chinese production

costs could enhance European products and technology. If companies or regions

join Belt and Road, others could follow, including whole countries, once they

see the benefits.

     Chen Wenling, chief economist at the China Center for International

Economic Exchanges, a think tank managed by the National Development and Reform

Commission, agreed that corporations could take a greater role in Belt and Road.

     The Belt and Road Initiative, a brainchild of President Xi Jinping, was

launched in 2013 and aims to expand trade routes through large-scale transport

infrastructure projects spanning Eurasia and crossing into the Middle East and

Africa. The U.S. government has criticised the scheme as a tool to expand

China's global influence, which could fuel unsustainable debts in some

countries. But Chen, a former director of the Research Office of the State

Council, told MNI on the sidelines of the Second Belt and Road Forum in Beijing,

that China will increase monitoring and risk control of Belt and Road projects.

--MNI Beijing Bureau; +86 (10) 8532-5998; email: iris.ouyang@marketnews.com

--MNI London Bureau; tel: +44 203-586-2225; email: les.commons@marketnews.com

--MNI London Bureau; +44 203 865 3829; email: jason.webb@marketnews.com

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