President Xi JinPing of China and Valdimir Putin of Russia reaffirmed a commitment to the joint One Belt one Road/Eurasian Economic Union at the close of their June 25th summit in Beijing. China's 'One Belt One Road Initiative,' (OBOR) also known as The Silk Road Economic Belt or the 21st-century Maritime Silk Road, is a geopolitical-ly focused development initiative with significant international economic significance. Perceived as part of efforts aimed at redirecting the country's domestic overcapacity, this initiative looks to further establish a cohesive integration of Asia, Africa and Europe through deepened diplomatic, commercial and financial cooperation, as well as improved infrastructural development. Often viewed as China's counterpart to the Tran-Pacific Partnership initiated by the United States, the major economic focus of OBOR relies on the development of an unblocked road and rail network between China and Europe to facilitate increased trade. The plan involves more than 60 countries, representing a third of the world's total economy and more than half the global population, and when compared to the uphill climb the TPP faces, looks to be a key factor in deciding on the future shape of commercial trade influence in the Asia Pacific region.
Initially proposed in September of 2013 at a conference in Kazakshstan, the One Belt One Road plan has gained significant backing and cooperation through 2015 during which China released an action plan detailing principles, a framework, and cooperation priorities and mechanisms of the Belt and Road Initiative. By the beginning of 2016, operation had been initiated, drawing upon the significant financial backing of an infrastructure fund valued at $40 billion USD from the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIB). In addition, Chinese enterprises have invested a total of $14 billion USD in countries along the route, with the possibility of increasing local job growth by over 60,000 jobs.
Developments associated with the OBOR are set to have rippling impacts on numerous aspects of China's economic transformation: from exports to services and domestic consumption, to consumer electronics and e-commerce. In particular, China's rapidly growing tech industry is set to benefit from the increased trade and infrastructure developments from the OBOR. As a result, many of the major tech companies of China have an opportunity to take advantage of the facilitation of further international business venues, including the phone company Xiaomi, the online market place Alibaba(NYSE: BABA), and the internet company Tencent(SEHK: 700). The impact of this trade initiative is not reserved for Chinese companies and is set to touch major American corporations with significant operations on Asian or European soil. Accompanied by an 18 percent increase in Nike sales in China through 2015 and an 87 percent year-over-year growth of revenue from iPhone sales through the fourth quarter in Greater China, American companies such as Nike (NYSE: NKE) and Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) have an opportunity to re-imagine sustained growth throughout Asia with the continued expansion of China's global development initiative, despite the projected saturation of consumer demand in domestic China.