China has vowed to strengthen intercontinental connectivity and aviation transportation capabilities, aiming to build world-class aviation enterprises and air hubs by 2050.
The Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) and the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), jointly issued guidelines on promoting the construction of international aviation hubs, which plan three stages of development goals for the construction.
The functional system of international aviation hubs will be basically established by 2025, and fully established by 2035, said the guidelines.
By 2050, a number of world-class aviation companies and world-class aviation hubs will be built, and the functional system of international aviation hubs will be further improved, supporting China's development into a first-class aviation power with strong safeguarding capabilities, public satisfaction, and competitiveness.
Meanwhile, the guidelines have also clearly defined the key tasks for promoting the construction of international hubs.
"Efforts will be made to enhance the intercontinental connectivity and global radiation capabilities of international aviation hubs such as Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou, to improve domestic-to-international and international-to-international transit capabilities. The aim is to build core hubs that connect destinations nationwide and integrate the domestic air transport network with international air transport corridors," said Zhang Qing, director of the Development and Planning Department of the CAAC.
The guidelines also propose to accelerate the construction of international aviation hubs in cities such as Chengdu, Shenzhen, Kunming, Xi'an, Chongqing, Urumqi, and Harbin.
Combined with the functional definition of these cities, it aims to build an international route network with regional advantages.
China to build world-class aviation hubs, companies by 2050
China and other member states of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), pledged to enhance sustainable development cooperation at a Thursday conference in Tianjin, ahead of this year's SCO summit.
As the rotating chair for this year, China is to host the SCO summit in Tianjin this autumn. The China-SCO Conference on Industrial Cooperation for Sustainable Development is one of the activities organized during a promotion event from Wednesday to Friday. It aims to promote cooperation in fields like infrastructure, energy, mining and petrifaction.
Nearly 400 guests, including government officials and enterprises from SCO member states attended the opening session.
"In 2024, China's trade volume with SCO member states, observer states and dialogue partners reached a record high of 890 billion U.S. dollars, accounting for about 14.4 percent of China's total foreign trade volume, fully demonstrating the tremendous vitality and broad prospects of trade development within the region," said Ling Ji, vice minister of commerce and deputy China international trade representative, at the conference.
As China has extensive experience in promoting sustainable development, attendees from SCO member states expressed hope to strengthen cooperation with China across various sectors, said SCO Deputy Secretary General Sohail Khan.
"China plays a very, very important, significant role in sustainable development, as I said, so we are expecting that in the sustainable development context, all member states have lot to gain and learn from China on its achievements in various areas, like agricultural industries, energy, high tech, information technology, and robot AI," he said.
By the end of 2024, China's investment stocks in SCO member states, observer states and dialogue partners have exceeded 140 billion U.S. dollars, with the total value of contracts signed by Chinese enterprises in these countries exceeding one trillion U.S. dollars and the completed turnover surpassing 680 billion U.S. dollars.
In 2024, about 19,000 China-Europe freight train ran through the SCO region, marking a year-on-year increase of 10.7 percent and significantly promoting regional connectivity and economic development.
China, SCO member states pledge deeper sustainable development cooperation
