BRI, China’s global infrastructure strategy has focussed on connectivity, notably physical connectivity through infrastructure development, which has also been instrumental in rebalancing the economic inequality across the region, he told Xinhua in a recent interview.

“It is no overstatement that BRI has reshaped the global landscape of infrastructure connectivity through more than 3,000 projects in some 150 countries partaking in Belt and Road cooperation across the world,” he said.

According to a 2019 World Bank study, BRI was expected to add real income gains of between 1.2% and 3.4% for the participating nations, Ong noted.

“Not only would the Belt and Road cooperation continue to expand, but it is well positioned to embark on a new phase of high-quality development, primarily in the sectors of digital and green economy.

“More ‘small but beautiful’ projects are likely to characterise the BRI turf, as the initiative ushers in the second decade,” he said, adding that all these would contribute to transforming the lifestyle of many societies in the interest of humanity.

He said that Beijing, in pursuing a digital and green economy, can work to focus more on capacity-building through technology collaboration.

“Given that the BRI partners from the developing Global South are in dire need of homegrown innovation, but are mostly strait-jacketed by their scarcity of funds and inadequate technology know-how, China’s technological empowerment through cooperation makes it an ideal choice to fill the void, ” he said.

In addition, he said China, the world’s largest manufacturer of solar panels, wind turbines, batteries, and electric vehicles, is well-positioned to bring low-carbon technologies to emerging markets and developing economies (EMDEs).

“The potential market demand is known to be enormous. What matters more to the EMDEs is the capacity-building that China can bring along with the green BRI implementation,” he added.