Foreign trade rises 19.6% in January

China's exports to markets along the Belt and Road Initiative, including Russia, Malaysia and India, surged in January, indicating that their ongoing industrialization and infrastructure development continued to stimulate economic exchanges with China, experts said on Wednesday.

Exports to the three countries grew 39.1 percent, 22.8 percent and 18.1 percent, respectively, on a year-on-year basis, according to the Ministry of Commerce.

Zhang Yunling, director of the academic division of international studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said from a global perspective, upgraded consumption, manufacturing capacity and infrastructure cooperation have become the biggest highlights of projects related to the trading route initiative.