"The Belt and Road Initiative is a very encouraging vision. Companies in Singapore welcome this initiative and they are very ready to help realize this vision," said Ann Sim, Senior Minister of the State of Singapore.
Sim said she can not think of a better example than the third government-to-government project between China and Singapore, or the Chongqing Connectivity Initiative (CCI), as a demonstration project within the framework of this initiative.
The CCI, after the launch of two government-led projects, the Suzhou Industrial Park in 1994 and the Tianjin Eco-City 2008 respectively, has demonstrated Singapore's support and dedication to the Belt and Road Initiative. It enhances the link between Chongqing and the rest of China, and with Southeast Asia in terms of transportation, finance and development of high technology.
"A strong connectivity is important for any country that is open to free trade," she said.
Portuguese Economy Minister Manuel Caldeira Cabral said his country is not only interested in Chinese investment in the energy and financial sectors, but also believes this investment has opened a door for China to reach deeper into Europe.
"Considering the special status and geographical position of Portugal, Chinese investment here also creates a platform for bringing the Belt and Road Initiative into Latin America and Africa," the minister was upbeat when talking about the strategy during the Boao forum.
GLOBALIZATION 2.0
The type of globalization is changing largely because of the rise of China and the "globalization 2.0" is more about investment, infrastructure and development rather than just trade in the old times, said Amitav Acharya, writer of the popular book "The End of American World Order" in a recent interview with Xinhua.
Acharya said that China's biggest push to globalization is construction of infrastructure. He invited attentions to the Belt and Road Initiative with the aim of building a trade and infrastructure network connecting Asia with Europe and Africa along ancient trade routes.
With an eye for a more inclusive, mutually beneficial and equitable globalization, China has invested 18.5 billion U.S. dollars in 56 economic and trade zones in countries along the routes.
The huge input has generated 1.1 billion dollars of tax and 180,000 jobs in host countries, Chinese Commerce Minister Zhong Shan said earlier this month.
"The Belt and Road Initiative is against narrow-minded protectionism and isolationism," said Sergei Luzyanin, director of the Far Eastern Studies Institute under the Russian Academy of Sciences. "We only had the Western European-American option of integration and economic development in the 1990s, now there is a new option from China."
Investments and advanced technologies from China will push for a gradual formation of the "Silk Road value chain," analysts said.
The large presence of Chinese companies, especially those with special advantages in high-speed railway construction, and nuclear power and communication engineering, will boost the industrialization and urbanization of the countries on routes of the initiative, they said.
