In his report on March 17, 2015, at the recently concluded NPC session, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang linked the New Silk Road with China’s domestic economic development strategy and said, “We will integrate the development of the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road with the development and opening up of related regions. We will promote development of the new Eurasian Continental Bridge as well as major coastal and border ports which serve as hubs for the Belt or the Road”.The Global Times on March 10, 2015, said “China’s ‘One Belt, One Road’ initiative could offer a new growth engine for the country’s economy as it enters a ‘new normal’ of slower yet more balanced growth”. Chan King-wai, Chairman of the Hong Kong China Chamber of Commerce, was quoted (Global Times, March 10). as saying that “this will involve increasing exports of China’s capital and transferring overcapacity in sectors such as iron, steel and cement” along the route. Surveying Chinese economists during the two sessions, Xinhua positioned the New Silk Road as a new driver of economic growth.
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