EPS Sees Data Hidden in One Belt and One Road

2015-07-20 source: EPS Data Platform

What is "One Belt and One Road"

The "One Belt and One Road" is a proposal put forward by President Xi Jinping during his visits to Kazakhstan in September and Indonesia in October 2013. It refers to the New Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road (hereinafter referred to as the Belt and Road). It works to build a community of shared interests, destiny and responsibility featuring mutual political trust, economic integration and cultural inclusiveness, based on peace and cooperation, openness and inclusiveness, mutual learning and mutual benefit.

The Silk Road Economic Belt will link China with Europe through Central and Western Asia. Specifically, it will bring together China, Central Asia, Russia and Europe (the Baltic); link China with the Persian Gulf and the Mediterranean Sea through Central Asia and West Asia; connect China with Southeast Asia, South Asia and the Indian Ocean. It focuses on building a new Eurasian Land Bridge and developing China-Mongolia-Russia, China-Central Asia-West Asia and China-Indochina Peninsula economic corridors.

The 21st-Century Maritime Silk Road will connect China with Southeast Asian countries, Africa and Europe. More precisely, it is designed to stretch from China's coast to Europe through the South China Sea and the Indian Ocean in one route, and from China's coast through the South China Sea to the South Pacific in the other. It focuses on building smooth, secure and efficient transport routes connecting major sea ports.

Countries along the Belt and Road

The Belt and Road, as the longest economic corridor, runs through the continents of Asia, Europe and Africa, connecting the vibrant Asia-Pacific Economic Circle at one end and developed European Economic Circle at the other. It covers over 60 percent of the world population and nearly 30 percent of the global economic aggregate. It includes not only the relatively poorer nations in Central Asia, but also nations struggling to turn their economies around and improve their international trade like India, Kenya and Greece. More than 60 countries will benefit from the initiative. What's more, the spin-off impact will exert a profound influence on the global economy.

Cooperation Priorities

The Belt and Road aims at boosting international cooperation and joint development throughout Eurasia. To be specific, they need to improve the region's infrastructure, and put in place a secure and efficient network of land, sea and air passages, lifting their connectivity to a higher level; further enhance trade and investment facilitation, establish a network of free trade areas that meet high standards, maintain closer economic ties, and deepen political trust; enhance cultural exchanges; encourage different civilizations to learn from each other and flourish together; and promote mutual understanding, peace and friendship among people of all countries.

The Belt and Road aims at boosting international cooperation and joint development throughout Eurasia. To guide the effort, Xi identified five specific goals: promoting policy coordination, facilities connectivity, unimpeded trade, financial integration and people-to-people exchanges.This study focuses on the facilities connectivity and unimpeded trade.

Facilities Connectivity

Facilities connectivity is a priority area for implementing the Initiative. It consist of a network of railways, highways and other forms of infrastructure, as well as oil and gas pipelines, power grids, Internet networks and aviation routes connecting all sub-regions of Asia as well as Asia, Europe and Africa. To be more specific,

1.With regard to transport infrastructure construction, we should focus on the key passageways and projects, and give priority to linking up unconnected road sections to improve road network connectivity. We should push forward port infrastructure construction, build smooth land-water transportation channels; increase sea routes and the number of voyages, and enhance information technology cooperation in maritime logistics. We should also expand and build platforms and mechanisms for comprehensive civil aviation cooperation, and quicken our pace in improving aviation infrastructure.

2.We should promote cooperation in the connectivity of energy infrastructure, work in concert to ensure the security of oil and gas pipelines and other transport routes, build cross-border power-supply networks and power-transmission routes.

3.We should jointly advance the construction of cross-border optical cables and other communications trunk line networks, plan transcontinental submarine optical cable projects and improve spatial (satellite) information passageways to strengthen the international communications connectivity to create the Information Silk Road.

Many of the countries mentioned have traditionally close trade and investment relations with China, which means deepening the cooperation and strengthening the connectivity, especially in terms of building infrastructure and other development projects will benefit all. For example, we could export China's technologies and production capacity in oversupplied areas such as steel manufacturing.

 

Unimpeded Trade

1.We should expand trading areas, improve trade structure and promote trade balance. We should make innovations in our forms of trade, and develop cross-border e-commerce and other modern business models. We should integrate investment and trade, and promote trade through investment.

2.We should expand mutual investment areas. We should deepen cooperation in agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry and fisheries; promote cooperation inocean engineering technology, environmental protection industries, marine tourism and other fields; increase cooperation in the exploration and development of coal, oil, gas, metal minerals and other conventional energy sources; advance cooperation in hydropower, nuclear power, wind power, solar power and other clean, renewable energy sources; enhance cooperation in deep-processing technology, equipment and engineering services in the fields of energy and resources.

3.We should push forward cooperation in emerging industries. In accordance with the principles of mutual benefit andmutual complementarity,we should promote in-depth cooperation with other countries along the Belt and Road in new-generation information technology, biotechnology, new energy technology, new materials and other emerging industries, and establish entrepreneurial and investment cooperation mechanisms.

Removing the trade and investment barriers, and improving the speed and quality of the circulation of regional economy would fully release the potential for trade and investment of all countries along the Belt and Road.

Regions in Pursuing Opening-Up in China

Interaction and cooperation among the eastern, western and central regions in China will comprehensively improve the openness of Chinese economy.

Regions   in China	Provinces   /Regions	RelatedRegions along the Belt and Road	Priorities/Roles
Northwestern and northeastern   regions	Xinjiang	Central, South and West Asia	a window of westward opening-up; transportation, trade, logistic, science and culturecenter
	Gansu, Shaanxi, Ningxia, Qinghai,   Xi'an	Central, South and West Asia	strategic channels, trade and logistics hubs and key bases    for industrial and cultural exchanges
	Heilongjiang, Jilin, Liaoning	Russia	railwayconnecting Heilongjiang with Russia; an Eurasian high-speed transport corridor linking Beijing and Moscow
Southwestern region	Guangxi, Beibu Gulf Economic Zone   and the Pearl River-Xijiang Economic Zone	ASEAN region, South and Southeast Asia	the gateway connecting the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st-Century Maritime Silk Road; a pivot of  China's  opening-up to South and Southeast Asia

 

Regions   in China	Provinces   /Regions	RelatedRegions along  the Belt and Road	Priorities/Roles
Coastal regions	YangtzeRiver Delta, Pearl River Delta, Bohai Rim		a high level of openness, robust economic strengths and strong  catalytic role
	Fujian		a core area of the 21st-Century Maritime Silk Road
	Hainan		an international tourism island
	Shanghai, Tianjin, Ningbo,   Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Qingdao, Dalian, Xiamen, Haikou etc.		port construction; international hub airports
Inland regions	the middle reaches of the Yangtze       River, Harbin, Chengdu, Chongqing,   Henan, Zhengzhou etc.		leading areas of opening-up in the inland regions; "China-Europe  freight trains"; Chongqing as an important pivot for developing and opening up the western region

EPS: The Data Conveyor

EPS has a rich supply of databases covering a wide range of industries for you to study hot issues related to the "One Belt and One Road" initiative. The table below lists some useful databases, such as World Trade Database, World Energy Database, World Macro Economy Database, China Macro Economy Database, China Foreign Trade and Economic Database, China Regional Economy Database and so on, for your reference. Besides, EPS also provides many powerful tools for analyzing or visualizing the data, so that you could gain much more valuable information hidden in the data.

Introduction of Some Databases

Database	Source	Indicators
World Trade Database	United Nations Statistics Division	import, export, trade balance, total trade, etc.
World Energy Database	World Energy organizations	data in energy, production, consumption, etc.
World Macro Economy Database	International Monetary Fund	government revenue and expenditure, GDP, inflation, etc.
World Economy Development Database	World Bank	net foreign direct investment, net exports of goods and services, official exchange rate, etc.
China Macro Economic Database	National Bureau of Statistics	GDP, Consumer Price Index, etc.
China Foreign Trade and Economic   Database	China Customs, the Ministry of Commerce	import and export trade, foreign investment utilization and foreign cooperation of China
China Regional Economic   Databases	National Bureau of Statistics	all aspects of regional economic and social development in China

For more information in detail, welcome to visit our official website EPS. And feel free to contact us via Email if you need help.

Previous Article:  Data Updated in July 2015
Next Article:  China’s Economy Showed Moderate but Steady Growth