Belt and Road Initiative: China ups investment despite coronavirus and doubters
- Beijing’s backing of landmark scheme is increasing, foreign minister tells forum
- The digital Silk Road is up for special attention as China and partners work together on e-commerce, digital traffic corridors and information ports
Wang said Beijing would further promote fast tracks to ease the exchange of personnel and goods with belt and road partners to counteract the impact of the pandemic and also maintain supply chain security.
“Many [belt and road] projects have kept running without laying off employees during the Covid-19 pandemic on the premise of strictly controlling the epidemic situation. A number of new projects have been launched,” Wang said on Friday at the 2020 Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation in Beijing.
“Amid the world economic recession, China’s overall investment in [the belt and road] has not dropped. Instead, it has shown a contrary trend of growth.”
He said the country’s outbound direct investment along the belt and road route rose 30 per cent in the first three quarters of this year, up from 2019.
