The Wall Street Journal- BEIJING—Chinese President Xi Jinping said Saturday that China will contribute $40 billion to its new Silk Road Fund designed to improve trade and transport links in Asia, according to the official Xinhua news agency.

The announcement of how much money China will invest in the new fund comes on top of a $50 billion Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank that China established last month with 20 other nations. Mr. Xi said this past week that the bank and the new Silk Road Fund would help to finance China’s plans to develop a “Silk Road Economic Belt” and a “21st Century Maritime Silk Road.”

The “Economic Belt” is a network of highways, railways and other critical infrastructure linking China to Central and South Asia, the Mideast and Europe. The maritime route entails building or expanding ports and industrial parks in Asia, the Mideast, Africa and Europe.

Together, analysts have said, the plans are designed to put China at the center of Asian trade and transport and secure more opportunities for major Chinese construction and engineering firms.

The goal of the Silk Road Fund is to “break the connectivity bottleneck” in Asia, Xinhua quoted Mr. Xi as telling a meeting in Beijing that included the leaders of Bangladesh, Cambodia, Laos, Mongolia, Myanmar, Pakistan and Tajikistan.

Mr. Xi said that the Silk Road Fund would be open and welcomed investors from Asia and beyond to take part, according to Xinhua.

Some Western officials have expressed concern that these new financing mechanisms for China’s plans could undermine governance standards at existing lending institutions like the World Bank and the Asia Development Bank. The U.S. lobbied some countries against joining the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank before its launch.

Mr. Xi said this past week that the new bank and Silk Road Fund would “complement, not substitute” existing lending institutions.

Improving regional transport and trade infrastructure is a major theme of a meeting of Asia- Pacific nations that began this week in Beijing and will conclude Monday and Tuesday with a summit attended by Mr. Xi, U.S. President Barack Obama and the leaders of 19 other economies.