Fintech’s Lessons for Belt and Road

Jan 29-2019   

The One Belt One Road initiative was not without controversies and doubts, most of which were baseless, according to NSD Deputy Dean and Professor Huang Yiping in his commentary for Chinese media Caijing.com. But they did reflect our penchant to over-emphasize ‘China Story’ and under-emphasize the true meaning of ‘Win-win Cooperation’ in communication with international communities. Chinese fintech companies such as Ant Financial and WeChat Pay might have some inspiring lessons to offer, he said. These companies had built successful partnerships and operations in countries along the Belt and Road and beyond, bringing advanced technologies to truly benefit local residents and economies. And that was done without much direct involvement of the government. Ant Financial opted for strategic investments in a low-profile fashion, i.e. taking minority share and providing technological support. India’s Paytm benefited from this kind of cooperation with Ant Financial and saw its users number soar to over 200 million within a year. Prof. Huang said that ‘China Story’ should be realized through actions – just like the way world-leading Chinese companies won hearts of international partners - and that it’s sensible to downplay political factors and focus on benefiting local residents. The government should be there to assist and not to diminate, he said.