‘No bottleneck in implementation of CPEC’

BEIJING: China rejected reports that there is any bottleneck in the implementation of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) or the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).

Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said at a news briefing that the projects are going on smoothly.

"I wonder how such conclusion was drawn and what basis and evidence of it," Hua replied when asked to comment on the media reports that BRI projects were bogged down with problems in Pakistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Indonesia, Thailand, Laos and Singapore.

It is pertinent to mention President Xi Jinping's ambitious project 'BRI', which includes China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), has been included in the Constitution of the ruling Communist Party of China in the just concluded once-in-a-five-year Congress. According to officials, the Chinese firms so far have invested USD 560 billion overseas under the BRI since 2013 and paid over USD 100 billion in taxes and created millions of jobs.

The spokesperson further added, “The main objective of BRI is to synergize the development strategies of various countries through stronger international cooperation so as to give full play to each other's competitive strengths for win-win development.

Over the past four years and so, the building of the Belt and Road has progressed smoothly with fruitful outcomes and won extensive agreement and support from the international community. A growing number of countries have engaged in the cooperation and many projects have begun generating tangible benefits to the people of the relevant countries.

The economic and trade cooperation along the Belt and Road has gained prominent achievements with smooth progress and a number of major cooperation projects are speeding up in their implementation.

The report of the 19th CPC National Congress made important plans for promoting the international cooperation of the BRI and the building of the Belt and Road has been written into the CPC constitution, which fully demonstrates China's determination of and confidence in firmly promoting the international cooperation of the Belt and Road Initiative.

China will continue to deepen the mutually beneficial cooperation with relevant parties with the principle of wide consultation, joint contribution and shared benefits and in the Silk Road spirit of peace and cooperation, openness and inclusiveness, mutual learning and mutual benefit. This will never waver or change.”