＂Belt Road＂ Initiative to foster China's cross-border E-commerce sector

Cross-border E-commerce will be the most prominent segment of the Internet industry that will benefit from the "Belt Road" Initiative.

By linking China with southeast Asia, south Asia, west Asia, Europe and other regions, the "Belt and Road" Initiative creates a great number of opportunities for economic, trade, and cultural exchanges between China, in particular central and west China and related countries.

The most suitable way that can also maximize economic returns of these economic, trade, and cultural exchanges was the Internet, said Sun Mengzi, business director for southwest China with Analysys, a leading big data analysis products and service provider in China.

To be precise, the biggest chance for businesses related to and situated in the "Silk Road Economic Belt" lay in cross-border E-commerce, highlighted Sun. But Chinese companies should not blindly dig gold under the theme as running cross-border E-commerce business involves many business sections such as production, tax reporting, and overseas marketing channels.

Despite the burgeoning cross-border E-commerce sector brings equal opportunities for Chinese firms, not all companies related to the "Belt and Road" initiative are encouraged to run cross-border E-commerce business and exporting such characteristic products in the Silk Road Economic Belt as farm produces, traditional Chinese medicines, ornamental flowers and trees, textiles, daily necessities, precision parts, and intangible cultural products is suggested.

However, as the European market has strict inspection and testing standards for China's farm produces, exporting farm produce to the Europe market is very difficult and under such circumstances, deep processing of farm produce and improvement in plantation standards were advised, added Sun.

For industrial products, better production technique and brand construction were feasible ways of enhancing their competitiveness. If west China-based Chinese producers can seize the chance brought by the "Belt and Road" Initiative, cross-border E-commerce can be a promising business for them given the apparent advantages in human resource in central and west China.