Belt and Road fosters new growth for Guangxi, ASEAN

The Belt and Road Initiative, or BRI, is expected to greatly expand ties between Guanxgi and ASEAN countries.

Under the initiative, more than 80 border economic and trade cooperation zones are under construction by China and other countries and regions, which will eventually provide jobs for over 100,000 local residents, according to official data. In addition, the cooperation zones represent key breakthroughs for international production capacity.

Qinzhou in South China's Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, and Kuantan in Malaysia, are both important node cities involved in the Belt and Road Initiative, and serve as key links for deepening cooperation between China and ASEAN. The two areas have set up twin parks: the China-Malaysia Qinzhou Industrial Park, and Malaysia-China Kuantan Industrial Park, both of which aim to promote mutually beneficial cooperation in trade, investment and capacity. 

Beibu Gulf ports in Guangxi handle a steady flow of goods. [Photo by Zhu Lili/Xinhua]

With the constant improvement of the development mechanism, international cooperation in production capacity has been deepened further, and the "twin industrial parks" of the two countries have become perfect platforms to export China's advanced capacity production, and bring in traditional competitive industries from Malaysia and ASEAN members, said Gao Pu, deputy director of the industrial park's management committee in Qinzhou.

International industrial parks, serving as models of cooperation, are expected to join China's leading production capacity with the advanced technologies of developed countries, and realize mutually beneficial outcomes, according to Zhai Kun, a professor in international relations at Peking University.

Liuzhou's Shanghai General Motors Wuling (SGMW), one of China's leading automobile manufacturers, has been actively involved in the Belt and Road Initiative in an effort to develop its overseas market. Its newly-built subsidiary in Indonesia started production in July 2017, with a capacity to produce 120,000 cars per year, creating more than 3,000 jobs, benefiting the country's automobile industry and its economic development as a whole, said Lian Chaochun, vice-general manager of SGMW.

Over the past few years, more and more agricultural enterprises in Guangxi have entered ASEAN markets. By the end of 2018, a total of 71 enterprises had invested in ASEAN countries, and set up three experimental agricultural science and technology stations in Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam.

The China-Malaysia Qinzhou Industrial Park in Guangxi's Qinzhou serves as a business incubator. [Photo/qip.gov.cn]

In addition, the New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor, connecting the Silk Road Economic Belt in the north and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road in the south, is accelerating capacity production cooperation between China and countries participating in the Belt and Road Initiative, bringing China and ASEAN states closer together.

Guangxi's Beibu Gulf ports, facing ASEAN members across the sea, make up a key hub along the Belt and Road. At present, shipping routes from the ports serve more than 200 ports located in around 100 countries.

Recent statistics reveal that 47 ports involved in the China-ASEAN Port Cities Cooperation Network, based in Qinzhou port, are currently under construction.

Along with the continued development of the Belt and Road, more and more countries and regions along the route are working together, and sharing the dividends of development and opening-up.

More countries are energetically pushing forward with industrialization and urbanization, and equipment, technology and funds are urgently needed in these areas; global cooperation in production capacity has great potential, said Wang Yuzhu, executive director of the China-ASEAN Research Institute of Guangxi University.