China's trade gets big boost from Initiative

Economies involved in the Belt and Road Initiative have taken on an increasingly important role in China's import and export sectors in the past two decades, a recent report showed.

Meanwhile, China has become the largest trade partner for 25 countries involved in the initiative, and the second- or third-largest trade partner for 19 of them, according to a report published on Wednesday by the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences.

Trade last year between China and five countries involved in the initiative including Malaysia, Vietnam, Thailand, Singapore and India exceeded $70 billion, indicating that China and these countries constitute a part of the global value chain system, according to the report.