Focus on A Better Future

By Hu Biliang

While the novel coronavirus disease（COVID-19） pandemic has dealt a heavy blow to the global economy， China reported its fi rst economic decline since 1992 when the quarterly GDP data was published.

In the first three months， the Chinese economy contracted 6.8 percent compared with last year， with major economic indicators showing different levels of decline. Retail sales of consumer goods fell 19 percent， fi xed assets investment 16.1 percent， and imports and exports of goods 6.4 percent.

Standing in stark contrast with the decrease of overall trade in goods， Chinas imports and exports with other participants of the Belt and Road Initiative recorded a growth of 3.2 percent over a year earlier. Among them， Chinas trade with members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations （ASEAN） and Russia increased 6.1 percent and 5.7 percent， respectively. ASEAN has overtaken the EU and the U.S. to become Chinas largest trading partner. Proposed by China in 2013， the initiative， consisting of the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st-Century Maritime Silk Road， aims to build a trade and infrastructure network connecting Asia with Europe and Africa along and beyond the ancient Silk Road trade routes.

The China-Europe freight trains made a total of 1，941 trips and transported 174，000 20-foot equivalent units of goods in the first quarter， up 15 percent and 18 percent year on year， respectively. This contributed signif icantly to the trade growth， because most of the countries connected with the China-Europe freight train service are participants of the Belt and Road Initiative. More importantly， the supply chains between China and these countries have basically remained undisrupted through the trains.

Though Chinas overseas non-financial investment decreased 3.9 percent in the first quarter in U.S. dollar terms， investment in 52 Belt and Road participating countries surged 11.7 percent， accounting for 17.3 percent of the countrys total outbound direct investment， 2.4 percentage points higher than the same period last year.