China Strives to Strengthen Global Infrastructure Construction and Build a Harmonious World
By Li Wuzhou
The 7th BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) and the 15th Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summits were held from July 8 to 10, 2015 in Ufa, Russia.
The BRICS group passed the BRICS Economic Partnership Strategy prioritizing trade and investment cooperation and identified eight key fields of future cooperation, including manufacturing, energy, and finance.
At the SCO summit, Chinese President Xi Jinping put forward a four-point proposal on regional interconnectivity cooperation. First, in the next few years, China will promote the completion of 4,000 kilometers of railway and over 10,000 kilometers of highway, forming an interconnected transportation layout within the region. Second, China will push forward the building of industrial parks in every member state to stimulate overall economic growth. Third, the country will provide financing support to the region’s key projects. Fourth, China is carrying out a three-year plan for the SCO member states to train 2,000 personnel, and will continue to provide technical assistance and help them enhance capacity building.
The achievements of the two summits reflect the demands of all parties and the consensus reached on strengthening infrastructure construction.
A good number of developing countries, including the member states of BRICS and SCO, have urgent infrastructure construction demands. Some need to rebuild roads, bridges, and power stations destroyed during wars. Others are in need of industrial parks to facilitate their economic development. Besides, power stations and grids need to be upgraded and expanded for better energy supply in some countries, while others desperately need Internet and telecommunications support. In addition, developed countries need to tackle aging infrastructure and are investing more in both maintenance and reconstruction.
Over the last three decades, China has developed rich experience, mature technologies, and companies and personnel abundantly experienced in infrastructure construction. It is also capable of manufacturing large equipment and has ample financial resources. Hans Schulz, vice president for the Private Sector and Non-Sovereign Guaranteed Operation of the Inter-American Development Bank, recently pointed out that China has invested far more than any other country in infrastructure construction. “We have seen that Chinese engineering and construction companies have the capabilities to undertake global infrastructure projects,” Schulz said.
In the meantime, China is taking part in increasingly more investment and construction in overseas infrastructure projects. Given the tight capital supply in the global market, investment from China is playing a stronger role in driving the world’s economy. The New Development Bank and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank are remarkable innovations that have set up a multilateral financing system for investment in infrastructure in emerging markets. Moreover, the Belt and Road Initiatives not only enable China to venture into global infrastructure construction and international production capacity cooperation, but also create opportunities for countries along the route to upgrade their infrastructure.
In 2014, the value of China’s newly contracted projects overseas stood at US $191.8 billion and the turnover was US $142.4 billion. With business expanding to over 190 countries and regions, China’s infrastructure constructions encompass railways, electric power, telecommunications, building materials, and engineering machinery. Asia and Africa remain the major destinations of Chinese project contractors. The value of new contracts takes up 85 percent of the country’s overall contracted projects overseas. Cooperation with Central and Eastern Europe and Latin America are also in progress. In the meantime, Chinese enterprises endeavor to make breakthroughs in medium to high-end markets in Europe and the U.S. by means of mergers, acquisitions and investment.
China is willing to enhance connectivity among countries and regions, and propel exchanges of people, goods and capital to fulfill the goal of integrated markets, multi-tiered financial network, connectivity by land, air and sea, and greater cultural exchanges. The country is making efforts to build a harmonious world of mutual benefit and common prosperity!
