On the Cross-border E-commerce Development Strategy in the Context of the Belt and Road Initiative

Du Yonghong＊

On the Cross-border E-commerce Development Strategy in the Context of the Belt and Road Initiative

Du Yonghong＊

As the “Internet +” action plan proceeds, e-commerce further integrates traditional sectors and increasingly promotes development.In the context of the Belt and Road Initiative, Chinese cross-border e-commerce, through channel expansion and market share increase, is taking the lead in trade and investment development, and facilitating labor division & coordination,resource & product sharing, as well as opening new markets.To promote the long-term economic development of countries along the Belt and Road,a series of development strategies have been designed, which concern constructing an “online silk road” for cross-border e-commerce, building new trade passages and bridges, innovating traditional trade models, and gathering a trade development momentum.

the Belt and Road, e-commerce, cross-border e-commerce, international trade

In March 2015, Vision and Actions on Jointly Building a Silk Road Economic Belt and 21st-Century Maritime Silk Road was jointly issued by the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Commerce, which marked the Belt and Road Initiative entering the crucial implementation phase.The Belt and Road is an extension of the ancient Silk Road.Combining multilateral mechanisms with regional cooperation among participating countries, this initiative aims to forge a community to promote peace,economic development, political communications and cultural exchanges.The Belt and Road Initiative is conducive to the all-round in-depth communication and cooperation between China and its neighboring countries.It is in line with the fundamental interests of the international community and highlights the common ideal and harmonious pursuit of humankind.As an effective exploration of international cooperation and global innovative governance, the Belt and Road Initiative will inject more vigor into the cause of world peace and development(Lu, 2015).

As the Belt and Road Initiative further advances,China will gradually build a trade passage covering more than 100 ports across 60-plus countries and continue to promote Chinese cross-border e-commerce to the international market.

1.Cross-border e-commerce and the Belt and Road Initiative

1.1 Cross-border e-commerce

Cross-border e-commerce is an international commerce model which relies on an e-commerce platform to make transactions and payments,delivers goods and services through cross-border logistics.This commerce model features online transactions (Jin & Lin, 2015).By innovating the traditional model of international trade development,cross-border e-commerce can facilitate economic integration and trade globalization, expand overseas marketing channels, enhance brand competitiveness,and increase international market share.

1.1.1 Cross-border e-commerce accelerates foreign trade development

Through the cross-border e-commerce platform,domestic producers and service providers can directly sell their goods and services to foreign retailers or end-consumers.This means they can have the middle stages significantly reduced,expand their client base and transaction scope, and streamline and facilitate small-scale international businesses.In this way, they can expect to lower the threshold and costs of international trade and accelerate the flow of information, logistics and capital.The promotion of cross-border e-commerce will further enhance China’s influence on global trade, effectively integrate and optimize the allocation of social resources such as manpower,materials and capital, fully explore international market potential, and increase import-export trade to benefit relevant Chinese enterprises with more added value.

1.1.2 Cross-border e-commerce brings “Made in China” to global markets with new vigor

Although China is known as a “workshop of the world,” many Chinese factories are in fact nothing but OEMs of international brands.Cross-border e-commerce provides a platform for these OEMs to directly serve their consumers and get out of the predicament where “good quality cannot generate good products, good products cannot be sold at a good price.” Now, they can give full play to their manufacturing advantage and create their own brand(i.e.OBM) to bring new vigor to “Made in China.”In short, cross-border e-commerce helps Chinese SMEs re-shape their international industry chain,transform their export patterns, promote “Made in China” in the overseas market, and shift from“Made in China” to “Made by China,” “Designed by China” and “Marketed by China”(Cheng, 2014).

1.1.3 Cross-border e-commerce gradually brings the driving effect of foreign trade into play

Via advanced telecommunication technology and network information systems, cross-border e-commerce provides all-round and multi-layered interactive trade services for producers, traders and consumers in different countries.By pushing through the limitations facing multiple parties in a traditional transaction, cross-border e-commerce allows rapid flow of information, goods and logistics,and interconnection among countries.Cross-border e-commerce brings the driving effect of international trade into play, facilitates rational allocations of multilateral resources, and generates mutual benefits and win-win outcomes for parties concerned.In the meantime, it also helps China increase foreign trade,adjust foreign trade structures, optimize industry chains, and enhance cooperation and coordination among relevant authorities.

1.2 The influence of the Belt and Road Initiative on China’s cross-border e-commerce development

The Belt and Road Initiative aims to realize economic interconnections, advance trade and investment facilitation, and gradually build and expand an open economic community featuring win-win outcomes, multi-facet balance, safe transactions and high efficiency.It also strives to accelerate industrial investments, economic & trade cooperation, energy finance, cultural exchanges,forge multiple open corridors and maritime strategic supports for international economic sharing and cooperation, and bring about a new phase of allaround two-way opening-up with links running eastward and westward over land and sea (Wang,2015).

1.2.1 Remove the trade barriers step by step

The advancement of the Belt and Road Initiative will further help to remove trade barriers, build a free trade negotiation mechanism for countries along the Belt and Road, and improve regulations and rules on cross-border e-commerce.This initiative will also guide the Chinese Internet sector towards orderly development, take the lead in the transformation of China’s economic structure, and define the development direction for traditional enterprises engaged in cross-border e-commerce.

1.2.2 Optimization of customs clearance for cross-border e-commerce

Under the guidance of the Belt and Road Initiative, China will implement an identification mechanism for enterprises engaged in a cross-border e-commerce business, enable the interconnection between exchange settlement and tax reimbursement at e-ports and other related services like cross-border e-commerce platform, cross-border logistics and e-payments, introduce sort management of customs clearances and (pre-stage and post-stage) port supervision and improve customs services.

1.2.3 Advancement of cross-border logistics

In China, most large-scale logistics enterprises aim to expand into overseas markets.However,the complexity of cross-border logistics prevents them from a comprehensive deployment.During the process of the Belt and Road Initiative implementation, the Chinese government will gradually introduce corresponding policies,formulate process specifications and service quality standards for the Chinese logistics sector, encourage domestic enterprises to establish warehousing bases overseas, cooperate with large international express delivery enterprises in cargo distribution, and help cross-border logistics and distribution enterprises to improve service quality and efficiency.

2.Latest development of crossborder e-commerce

2.1 Overview of cross-border e-commerce development

Cross-border e-commerce has become an innovative model of international trade and commerce.Global trade covers a variety of international economic sectors, ranging from cargo delivery, convention & exhibition, tourism and finance to technical services.Cross-border e-commerce has innovated the traditional international commerce model, accelerated the flow of information, capital and logistics between trading parties, and transformed both online and offline trading models.

At present, B2B remains the primary model of cross-border e-commerce.This covers all e-commerce models, such as B2B, B2C, B2G,C2C and C2B.In response to the ever-changing needs of the international markets, new commerce models are continuously being introduced.The Internet has become a main channel for enterprises to seek business opportunities.By providing mass information, the Internet helps enterprises both in China and abroad to establish trading partnerships.In such a context, B2B remains the primary model of cross-border e-commerce.

Laws and regulations on cross-border e-commerce have been continuously updated.In 1981, the European Union issued Guidelines of Trade Data Interchange (GTDI).Since then, more framework agreements, laws and regulations concerning e-commerce and international trade have been introduced by different international organizations and countries.In 2010, WTO Doha Round Negotiations was trapped in a dilemma.To “save the day,” United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) issued Draft Procedural Rules for Online Dispute Resolution for Cross-Border Electronic Commerce, which has now gained extensive recognition from countries across the world.On the other hand, the introduction of the Electronic Signature Law of the PRC provides legal support for e-commerce development.With a succession of countries in North America and Europe Union signing to join in, this law ensures the healthy development of China’s cross-border e-commerce.

Cross-border e-commerce is at a golden stage of rapid development.Benefiting from a well-developed e-commerce environment, some countries and regions (such as the USA, EU, Japan,South Korea and Singapore) are now enjoying a cross-border e-commerce boom.By contrast, for emerging economies like China, Russia, Chile and Brazil, their cross-border e-commerce-related policy support, technical facilities and applications are still under construction.For the majority of countries and regions, cross-border e-commerce remains quite a new concept and is at an early development stage, in which parties concerned are trying to imitate others and catch up.According to a forecast report issued by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), cross-border e-commerce was expected to contribute some 1/3 of the total 2016 global trade volume.Hence it can be concluded that current global cross-border e-commerce features unbalanced development but has a great growth potential and abundant business opportunities.

2.2 Latest development of Chinese crossborder e-commerce

At present, Chinese cross-border e-commerce exhibits three major development trends.First, the trading volume of Chinese cross-border e-commerce witnesses a sustained growth and contributes a growing share to China’s total export-import volume.Second, Chinese cross-border e-commerce focuses on export business and positions import business in a supporting role, with both developing rapidly.Third, while relying primarily on the B2B model, Chinese cross-border e-commerce also tries to develop other models such as B2C.To boost cross-border e-commerce development, the Chinese government keeps enhancing support to this segment and strives to forge a favorable business environment and an essentially endogenous driver①Data analysis of Chinese cross-border e-commerce market scale 2014-2016.Retrieved from http://www.chinabgao．com/k/216795kuajingdianshang/19094.html, 2015-08-29..

2.2.1 Guiding cross-border e-commerce development with national policy

In recent years, the Central Government and relevant governments at all levels have formulated a number of regulations and rules on cross-border e-commerce supervision, covering such services as customs, inspection and quarantine, taxation,and foreign exchange.The introduction of these regulations and rules is to ensure the sustained development of cross-border e-commerce.In March 2016, the Ministry of Finance, the General Administration of Customs and the State Administration of Taxation jointly released the Tax Policies on Cross-border E-commerce Retail Imports, specifying the principles on the tax reform of cross-border e-commerce retail imports.In April 2016, the General Administration of Customs released the Notice on the Supervision of Crossborder E-commerce Retail Imports and Exports,building a government-supervised basic legal framework covering multiple services such as customs clearance, taxation, cross-border logistics and business management.

2.2.2 Building service platforms for cross-border e-commerce

There are already a number of cross-border e-commerce platforms in operation, among which are Alibaba, DHgate.com, Light in the Box and Made-in-China.com.They offer onestop comprehensive services (for example product promotion and business matching) to SMEs.Major e-commerce players like Tmall.com, JD.com and NetEase have launched their overseas e-commerce platforms.Third-party payment platforms like Alipay and PayPal offer convenient global e-payment services.Logistics tycoons such as SF-Express and EMS both in China and abroad wasted no time in building overseas warehousing bases and actively providing speedy distribution and delivery services for cross-border e-commerce enterprises.

2.2.3 Enabling Guangdong and Zhejiang to take the lead

When it comes to the regional distribution structure of cross-border e-commerce, Guangdong,Zhejiang, Beijing and Shanghai respectively account for 28%, 15%, 14% and 13% and enjoy a combined market share of over 70%.In Guangdong Province,there are millions of people engaged in cross-border e-commerce.Guangdong is the starting point of the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road and has set up the Nansha New Area (Guangdong Free-Trade Zone).Thanks to that, it has developed into a cross-border e-commerce cluster.Zhejiang has been known for its advanced manufacturing industries, abundant commodity supplies, active commodity trading, as well as rapidly developing logistical services.With the establishment of cross-border e-commerce parks in cities like Hangzhou and Ningbo, Zhejiang has formed a scaled effect for cross-border e-commerce development.

2.2.4 Promoting cross-border e-commerce in multiple sectors

According to the statistics disclosed by TRJCN.com, of all the Chinese sectors covered by crossborder e-commerce, the information sector accounts for the largest share of the total trading volume(37%), followed by the foreign trade sector (22%).By contrast, the combined share of professional services (household supplies, agriculture, forestry,animal husbandry & fisheries, light industry & food,garment & textiles) remains small (5%-7%).Even so, those services enjoy a substantial development potential and exhibit a noticeable growth trend.The development of cross-border e-commerce may be imbalanced in those sectors, but invariably features a strong growth momentum.This indicates that traditional sectors in China are trying to innovate their commerce models.

Chinese cross-border e-commerce is now approaching the “Red Sea Market,” with its business volume experiencing a rapid increase.Top e-commerce enterprises are swarming into the cross-border e-commerce segment and many more traditional foreign trade enterprises and manufacturers, as well as domestic brands,are preparing to enter this segment.Under such circumstances, the market competition is turning white-hot.

3.Development bottleneck of crossborder e-commerce

Since the financial crisis in 2008, China’s foreign trade has been on the wane.In 2015, however, the total import-export volume of Chinese cross-border e-commerce increased by over 30%, indicating a great chance for cross-border e-commerce to become a key segment for import-export expansion.It is worth mentioning that Chinese cross-border e-commerce, though witnessing an explosive increase, is far from well developed.There are still many constraints hindering this business from further development, among which are incomplete supporting policies and systems, inefficient crossborder logistics & payment and unsound credit systems.

3.1 An urgent need of comprehensive reform in the customs clearance management system

Cross-border e-commerce features rich variety,large business volumes and small per transaction values.As this segment further grows, more complaints from enterprises and consumers are highlighted, such as slow settlement of exchange and complicated tax reimbursement procedures.Such complaints are prone to cast doubt on customs supervision.Pilot reform of customs clearance facilitation in cross-border e-commerce is now proceeding.Still, the planned “single-window”e-port system is yet to take shape and there are too many decentralized supervision authorities.Therefore, China has an urgent need to reform its customs clearance management, improve customs clearance services and raise its efficiency.In doing so, China can expect to solve the slow settlement of exchange and complicated tax reimbursement procedures facing cross-border e-commerce and further lower the transaction costs in this segment.

3.2 Certain risks in cross-border e-payments

Cross-border payment is a key step to facilitate cross-border e-commerce.As it involves money transfer, cross-border payment is not without risk.During the transmission process, payment information may be partially or entirely lost due to system failures or information troubles.Besides,relevant payment information may be hacked for illegal purposes, causing losses to parties concerned.Common payment risks include leaks of ID information, bank accounts and mobile verification codes.Such leaks, accounting for over 80% of the total cross-border payment risks, can lead to criminal acts such as account compromise and fraud.Given that, a sophisticated prevention mechanism against Internet fraud should be established to prevent the abovementioned personal information leakage and credit card fraud.Also, the prevention mechanism is the key to the reduction of cross-border transaction risks.

3.3 Supervision difficulties caused by fragmented cross-border logistics

Cross-border logistics features a huge amount of fragmented work.As cross-border e-commerce keeps growing, the existing cross-border logistics model, troubled by incomplete infrastructure and an irrational logistics management system, cannot satisfy the needs of cross-border e-commerce development.Moreover, due to insufficient supervision, there are numerous counterfeit and substandard goods in cross-border online shopping.For tax evasion and avoidance purposes,a variety of means have emerged one after another,including overseas purchasing agencies, concealed declarations, as well as “breaking up an item into duty-free units.” Worse still, cross-border logistics can be used by criminals to commit illegal activities like smuggling weapons and drugs.Thus, it can be seen that cross-border logistics has no shortage of potential safety hazards.

3.4 Cross-border e-commerce credit systems need further improvement

The virtuality of e-commerce can generate credit risks, which undermine cross-border e-commerce development.Some unscrupulous merchants disclose false information, sell counterfeit and substandard goods, infringe upon intellectual property, and engage in illegal businesses on e-commerce platforms, inviting numerous complaints from overseas victims and severely damaging the image of Chinese crossborder e-commerce.Due to significant differences in cultures, laws and regulations among countries and regions, no unified international credit system or internationally recognized credit management mechanism has been established by the international community.Given that, there is an urgent need to establish and improve a cross-border and crosscultural credit system to regulate the complicated markets of cross-border e-commerce.

4.The formulation of a crossborder e-commerce strategy in the context of the Belt and Road Initiative

As the “Internet +” action plan proceeds,e-commerce further integrates traditional sectors and promotes joint development.In the context of the Belt and Road Initiative, cross-border e-commerce has become an important means to boost international trade.The development of crossborder e-commerce can benefit the trading contacts among countries along the “Belt and Road” with quality comprehensive services such as customs clearance, commodity inspection & quarantine,settlement of exchanges, tax reimbursement.

4.1 Building a regional e-commerce platform for countries along the Belt and Road

Guided by open and inclusive concepts, the Belt and Road Initiative aims to build a win-win community under new rules.Adhering to the spirit of opening-up and regional cooperation, China hopes to rely on the Belt and Road Initiative to push forward the construction and improvement of an international governance system.

More specifically, it strives to forge a regional cross-border trading platform which is open &transparent, market-oriented and attractive to all stakeholders.Through the Belt and Road Initiative,this regional cross-border platform can facilitate cooperation in areas like policy, trade, investment and finance and form a systematic and strategic economic framework.In the meantime, it can help SMEs in countries along the Belt and Road to engage in regional trade flow, financial cooperation and financing.While protecting consumer privacy,national security and business secrets, this platform also allows regional cross-border flow of information and data.It creates a multilateral business model to facilitate win-win enterprise cooperation, optimizes the allocation of multilateral resources, and offers more access to the international market.Crossborder e-commerce plays an increasingly critical role in upgrading international trade structures and boosting international trade growth.

4.2 Building a cross-border e-commerce ecosystem

The purposes of building a comprehensive service platform for cross-border e-commerce are to enable rapid development of foreign trade,improve the transparency of customs clearance,integrate the services of finance, customs clearance,logistics, tax reimbursement and product quality control into an organic system, and combine these with a comprehensive cross-border e-commerce information platform to form a sound and complete value chain.

Via this comprehensive service platform for cross-border e-commerce, corresponding authorities can perform their regulatory duties and services concerning customs clearance, inspection &quarantine, taxation, and settlement of exchanges.The construction and operation of such a platform requires leadership and support of the government and should be done in the form of governmententerprise cooperation or through efforts of independent enterprise.This comprehensive service platform for cross-border e-commerce will perform data exchanges via a united online platform, with the data systems of government authorities responsible for legal operations such as customs clearance,inspection & quarantine, and taxation.It will enable seamless communications between cross-border e-commerce players and regulatory authorities, and help relevant authorities and customs officials to perform transparent customs clearance services and intelligent supervision for cross-border e-commerce.Furthermore, this comprehensive service platform,by integrating the business processes of various e-commerce platforms and logistics channels,can realize efficient operation of cross-border e-commerce business and thus build an eco-system for this segment from a macro perspective (See Fig.1).

4.3 Enhancing international coordination in cross-border e-commerce among countries along the Belt and Road

As a new international trade model, crossborder e-commerce is supposed to abide by relevant rules of international trade.China should enhance bilateral and multi-lateral cross-border e-commerce cooperation with countries along the Belt and Road,and realize interconnection with other economies in terms of customs clearance, document transmissions,exchange of goods, settlement of exchanges, and other related services.Meanwhile, it should also engage relevant manufacturers, foreign trade agencies, logistics enterprises, foreign trade-oriented comprehensive service providers and comprehensive service platforms for cross-border e-commerce to develop a sound and complete industry chain.

Fig.1 Cross-border e-commerce eco-system

The Chinese government should take the lead in establishing international economic and trading rules tailored to cross-border e-commerce.Such rules include some products’ inspection & quarantine standards and product quality standards.Apart from that, some well-developed international standards can be imported and directly adopted by the Chinese cross-border e-commerce segment so as to be better geared to foreign standards.Also, a standard system and a whole-process traceability system are expected to be built for the collection, exchange and storage of basic information concerning trade subjects and objects of cross-border e-commerce.In terms of credit systems construction, the Chinese government should promote the construction of a common credit system for cross-border e-commerce among countries along the Belt and Road.Such a credit system can offer services such as credit inquiries,quality certifications and credit guarantees.And a common inspection & quarantine system and a universal product traceability system are also needed to facilitate mutual recognition of product inspection& quarantine results among those countries.In addition, the Chinese government should also actively engage in formulating corresponding international rules concerning, but not limited to, import & export tariffs, enterprise identity authentications, postal passages, package release times, intellectual property protection, and fraud prevention (Zhang, 2015).

4.4 Improving the big data-based credit system for cross-border e-commerce

In this era of the Internet, customer experience,public recognition and service quality are the key for players in the fierce market competition of crossborder e-commerce.To promote better development of Chinese cross-border e-commerce, China should accelerate the construction and improvement of a credit evaluation system for cross-border e-commerce, improve credit environments both at home and abroad, and upgrade credit services and a related service system.It should build a mechanism, which is big data-based and comprises third-party credit platforms, for the collection and sharing of cross-border e-commerce information.Also, it should establish a credit system for crossborder e-commerce, which is dominated by the government, supported by parties concerned, and equipped with a unified standard (Wang & Zou,2015).China intends to introduce a credit rating system to cross-border e-commerce enterprises,offer guidance to cross-border consumers, issue integrity regulations on cross-border e-commerce,establish a special integrity fund, and introduce a mechanism of “seller’s compensation for counterfeit products” so as to endow trade subjects with a credit guarantee before a cross-border e-commerce transaction is conducted.

Relying on the general cross-border e-commerce layout of “one network, three databases and six platforms,” China should build and improve a databased credit system for cross-border e-commerce.The “one network” refers to a credit guarantee service network for cross-border e-commerce.The“three databases” respectively are the database of e-commerce market entities and their credit information, the database of e-commerce products and their quality information, and the database of e-commerce trading information (e-contracts,e-orders and e-invoices).The “six platforms” are third-party credit platforms respectively in charge of e-commerce entity information management,e-commerce product information traceability,e-seal management, e-contract & invoice release,comprehensive e-commerce customs clearance management & services, statistical monitoring, as well as e-commerce entity credit assessments, credit investigations and credit guarantees (Ouyang, 2016).

4.5 Promoting the development of crossborder e-commerce logistics

The improvement of cross-border logistics efficiency is in fact a matter of supply chain management.China should waste no time in building an association for cross-border e-commerce logistics cooperation within the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative, facilitating communications and coordination among social organizations, enterprises and cities in countries along the Belt and Road,constructing a multi-dimensional efficient platform for collaborative services, and relying on the development of cross-border logistics to accelerate regional economic growth.China should give full play to the logistics resource collaboration among countries along the Belt and Road to realize rapid matching of regional logistics markets, optimize the allocation of logistics resources, and upgrade logistics structure within the region covered by the Belt and Road Initiative.It should work together with its partners to popularize the application of new logistics technologies and equipment, accelerate technology and management innovation, further reduce logistics costs, and raise logistics efficiency.

Meanwhile, China should build overseas warehouses, promote the “centralized shipping and direct mail” model, and facilitate effective cooperation among logistics companies, sellers,cross-border e-commerce platforms and regulatory authorities.Those cross-border logistics companies,with inventory management capacity, can provide transaction information, and offer such services as product return, replenishment and exchange via a cross-border e-commerce platform.Also, by means of centralized shipping, they can increase their shipping volume to a substantial scale and thus significantly cut their per package costs concerning main-route transport and customs clearance.In doing so, they can generate a snowball effect,attracting more and more clients.

4.6 Shifting from “Made in China” to “Made by China”

To realize the “Chinese dream of great national rejuvenation,” China needs to further transform its economic growth pattern, and help traditional enterprises innovate their management thinking and develop cross-border e-commerce.China should continue to focus on the expansion of internal and external markets, conduct solid and thorough research in the basic theories of regional crossborder e-commerce, and help a group of Chinese enterprises to grow into transnational enterprises with global influence.

Brand awareness should be cultivated among Chinese enterprises.After all, to enhance product competitiveness and accomplish business transformation and upgrading, enterprises must implement a branding strategy.More specifically,they should abandon the existing “copycat” and homogeneous development route, turn to pursue product differentiation and variety, and gain foreign consumers’ trust with credible services and quality products.To this end, China should make full use of big data to guide cross-border e-commerce enterprises on their way to prosperity.First, by performing data mining on the mass information accumulated by various e-commerce platforms,China can help its enterprises to precisely access their targeted customers, produce the products needed by the market, and launch customized products based on customers’ pREFERENCES.In this way, it can enhance the overall competitiveness of Chinese enterprises in the international arena.Second, China should upgrade its “cloud marketing”services into a key precision marketing resource.In other words, it needs to deliver relevant product information precisely to targeted potential customers, and make use of big data technology and information advantage to strengthen its data miningbased precision marketing so as to bring about business innovations (Xu & Zhang, 2015).

As a connection channel of the Belt and Road Initiative, the Chinese cross-border e-commerce,through channel expansion and market share increase, is taking the lead in trade and investment development, and facilitating labor divisions&coordination, resource & product sharing, as well as market-opening among countries along the Belt and Road.This business strives to build new trade passages and bridges, innovate traditional trade development models, and gather a trade development momentum.It is expected to expand marketing channels for enterprises, enable Chinese products to “go global” with greater convenience, introduce quality foreign products and resources to China, and substantially expand imports to stimulate economic growth.Cross-border e-commerce can bring about a new “online window” open to the outside world to increase government-to-government and people-topeople exchanges among countries along the Belt and Road and promote their long-term economic growth.

(Translator: Wu Lingwei; Editor: Jia Fengrong)

This paper has been translated and reprinted with the permission of Reform of Economic System, No.6,2016.

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*Du Yonghong, professor, Center for Accounting and Auditing Informatics Research, Xijing University.

*Foundation item: This paper is included in “E-commerce and Trade Facilitation along the Silk Road Economic Belt” (13SC025),a research program sponsored by Shaanxi Provincial Social Sciences Fund.