Three positives of the Silk Road Economic Belt

The Third Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee proposed to expand the opening of the inland borders to the west and promote the construction of the Silk Road Economic Belt, including Shaanxi, Gansu, Qinghai, Ningxia, and the five northwestern provinces of Xinjiang and Chongqing, Sichuan, Yunnan, and four southwestern Guangxi provinces and cities. It is an organic combination of the country’s western development strategy and the expansion of its opening strategy. It is a new growth pole under the new normal of macroeconomics and an important strategic opportunity for the rapid economic and social development and coordinated regional economic development in the western region. For the textile industry, it is also a rare historical opportunity to restructure the new impetus for industrial development and explore a diversified market.

First, it will help the textile industry to enrich the international market structure and diversify trade risks. The European Union, the United States, Japan, and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) are the four major international markets for textile and apparel exports from China. From January to August 2014, total exports totaled US$110.83 billion, accounting for 55.8% of the total exports of the industry, of which the United States and Japan accounted for more than 1/3 of their exports. While ASEAN mainly exports through the sea, the geopolitical crisis has become more and more important. From January to August, China’s export growth to Japan and ASEAN decreased by 7.8% and 40.1% year-on-year. The Silk Road Economic Belt opens up a strategic direction for textiles and apparel exports in China. On the one hand, for the consumption needs of neighboring countries such as Russia and the five Central Asian countries, we produce textile products and clothing that are suitable for use in the land and open up through inland transportation through landlocked roads. The construction of a diversified market structure for the trade routes to Central Asia and the European continent; on the other hand, it can change the passive situation of over-reliance on the markets of the United States, Japan, and ASEAN, and reduce the impact that the United States may have on the international competitiveness of China's textile industry. Reduce trade risks.

Second, it will help the textile industry to speed up regional restructuring and optimize industrial layout. Due to the slowdown in macroeconomic growth and the actual difficulties encountered in the process of undertaking the transfer in the central and western regions, the adjustment of the regional industrial structure has slowed down. From January to August 2014, the growth rate of newly started projects in the central and western regions was -5.8%, which was lower than the growth rate of the eastern region by 7.6 percentage points, 13.6 percentage points lower than the same period of last year, accounting for 29.3% of the total newly-started projects in the country, compared with the same period of last year. Decline 1.5%. The slowdown mainly comes from the central region. The growth rate of investment in the western region and the profit rate of corporate sales are all ranked first, which indicates that the industry’s investment confidence in the western region has surpassed that of the central region, with the improvement of infrastructure and industrial systems and the continuous exploration of domestic demand potential. The western region is gradually possessing industrial and market conditions for effective undertaking of transfer, and the construction of the Silk Road Economic Belt has given the western region the opportunity to accelerate the transfer and transfer of investment precisely because of the continuous improvement of transport logistics and economic and trade conditions, as well as various kinds of investment confidence. To boost the favorable policies for the construction of economic cooperation belts, the western region has fully qualified to convert the advantages of natural materials such as cotton, wool, hemp and silk into industrial advantages, strengthen joint development with the eastern and central regions, and undertake scientific and efficient industrial geese-type transfer, so that The competitive advantage of the entire industry chain of the textile industry has remained stable in China for a long time.

Third, it will help the textile industry to better play the role of the civilian production industry and boost Xinjiang's development of the textile and clothing industry. The second work conference of Xinjiang Central Committee put forward that development should be implemented in the people's livelihood and benefits the local economy. The textile and clothing industry, compared with other industries, has the ability to attract employment, invest less, and has quick results. Cluster-based development can also stimulate local SMEs. Growing up, it is of practical significance for Xinjiang to develop the textile and clothing industry to promote employment and achieve long-term peace and stability. Xinjiang is the core area of ​​the Silk Road Economic Belt. Under the background of strengthening bilateral trade, bilateral investment, and exchanges and cooperation, with the advantages of cotton resources and geographical advantages, it is possible to carry out innovative cotton-growing techniques in Pakistan, Central Asia, and five countries. The cooperation and exchanges in cotton efficiency and other aspects improve the raw material protection of the industry. At the same time, it also provides historical opportunities for China’s textile industry to “go global” investment, which will help better use of two types of resources and activate two markets.