China to create US$40 billion Silk Road Fund to upgrade Asia links

China will put US$40 billion (HK$310 billion) into a Silk Road Fund to improve infrastructure links across the Asia-Pacific, President Xi Jinping announced yesterday.

Addressing the leaders of Bangladesh, Cambodia, Laos, Mongolia, Myanmar, Pakistan and Tajikistan at a meeting in Beijing on Asia-Pacific development, Xi said the fund's goal was to "break the connectivity bottleneck" in the region.

Analysts said the fund was intended to serve as a challenge to the United States' renewed focus on Asia.

Xi said the fund would be used to provide investment and financing for infrastructure and resources, and to boost industrial and financial cooperation to forge better links between countries along the "new Silk Road". It is part of Beijing's strategy for an economic bloc to revive trade along the route between China and the Mediterranean.

The fund will be "open" to active participation by investors from both within and outside of Asia, and "such a framework accommodates the needs of various countries and covers both land and sea-related projects", Xinhua quoted Xi as saying.

Representatives of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific and the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation also attended the meeting.