CHINA President Xi Jinping’s vision for a 21st century Maritime Silk Road is set to spawn many new infrastucture linkages and strengthen greater economic and social exchanges between the Asian giant and its Asean counterparts.
If the plan materialises, besides China, countries along the new Silk Road belt, including Malaysia, stand to benefit substantially in many fronts. It will mark the materialisation of a global infrastructure to promote trade, economic, cultural and people exchanges via the new Silk road that will be financed through the Marine Silk Road Investment Management Fund and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank. Apart from the New Silk Road initiative covering Central and South Asia, China has also offered US$20bil in infrastructure loans to Asean countries.