China's New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor has promoted the opening up and development of western China over the past five years and created new opportunities for countries participating in the Belt and Road Initiative.
With its operational hub based in southwest China's Chongqing Municipality, this trade corridor connects global ports via railways, sea routes and highways through southern Chinese provincial regions such as Guangxi and Yunnan.
In August 2019, China's top economic planner National Development and Reform Commission issued a plan to promote the construction of the corridor, marking the elevation of the program from local exploration to a national strategy.
From 2019 to 2023, the annual freight volume through the project, also known as the new western land-sea corridor, from Chongqing increased by 50 percent, 45 percent, 54 percent, 32 percent and 21 percent year on year, respectively.
Over the past five years, the variety of goods transported via the trade corridor has expanded to over 1,100 types, covering a wide range of categories, including electronic products, vehicles and components, machinery, small household appliances and food.
The trade corridor has now achieved a near balance between inbound and outbound shipments.
Relying on the fast and efficient corridor, specialty products from western China, such as goji berry juice and red wine from Ningxia, oranges from Chongqing and tea from Guizhou, have become new growth drivers for local foreign trade.
Additionally, the export of new energy vehicles from these western regions has accelerated, with local auto enterprises establishing factories in Southeast Asian countries.
Meanwhile, Southeast Asian specialty products like Thai durians and Vietnamese basa fish are entering the Chinese market more quickly through the corridor.
"Fruits from Southeast Asia can arrive in Chongqing within 10 days by railway operated via the trade corridor, saving at least five days compared to traditional routes and reducing costs by more than 30 percent. The New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor has evolved from an isolated "route" into a dense network. The variety of goods transported through this corridor has increased from over 80 types to more than 1,160," said Chen Liangshuang, an official with the New Land-Sea Corridor Operation Co., Ltd.
Moreover, the corridor has expanded its reach to 523 ports in 124 countries and regions from 166 ports in 71 countries and regions registered five years ago, and more than 30,000 China-Europe freight trains have operated via the trade corridor.
In the first half of 2024, Chongqing handled 120,000 TEUs of freight volume via the corridor, up 54 percent compared to 2023, with a total value of some 23.2 billion yuan (about 3.29 billion U.S. dollars).
"Goods worth a total of over 23.2 billion yuan (about 3.29 billion U.S. dollars) were delivered (in the first half of this year), marking a growth of 89 percent year on year. An increasing number of high-value-added goods, such as laptops, general machinery and seafood, are being circulated through the corridor to facilitate the domestic and international dual circulation systems. Innovative measures, including the import and customs transfer of chrome ore, the 'China-Laos-Thailand-Malaysia' rail transport channels, as well as multiple rail-river-sea multi-modal transport, have significantly enhanced the transport efficiency of goods and strongly promoted the high-quality development of trade," said Liu Yizhen, deputy general manager of New Land-Sea Corridor Operation Co., Ltd.
China's New Int'l Land-Sea Trade Corridor further boosts opening-up
China's New Int'l Land-Sea Trade Corridor further boosts opening-up
Senior officials from various departments of the Chinese government said the just-concluded Central Economic Work Conference has provided a roadmap for economic work next year, vowing to actively implement policies to maintain steady economic growth.
The annual meeting was held in Beijing from Wednesday to Thursday as Chinese leaders decided priorities for the economic work in 2025. Chinese President Xi Jinping reviewed the country's economic work in 2024, analyzed the current economic situation, and arranged next year's economic work in his speech.
More proactive and impactful macro policies should be implemented to sustain the upward trend of the economy, the meeting said.
"We will implement a more proactive fiscal policy, increase the issuance of ultra-long-term special government bonds and the use of local government special bonds. In the next step, we will focus on refining and improving various policies and measures so that they can be implemented to produce effects as early as possible," said Wang Jianfan, director of the Budget Department under the Ministry of Finance.
"The People's Bank of China will implement a moderately loose monetary policy, reduce reserve requirements and interest rates as needed, and maintain ample liquidity to ensure the amount of social financing and the money supply increase in line with the expected targets for economic growth and overall price levels. We will promote a steady decline in the overall social financing costs, create a favorable interest rate environment, and support the expansion of consumption and investment," said Zou Lan, director of the Monetary Policy Department with the People's Bank of China.
The meeting has assigned nine key tasks for economic work next year, including vigorously boosting consumption, improving the investment efficiency, driving the development of new quality productive forces with sci-tech innovation, and further expanding high-standard opening up.
The officials are determined to rise to challenges and make due contribution to fulfill the goals and tasks in the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-2025) with high quality and lay a solid foundation for a good start to the 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-2030).
"We will continue to implement the consumer goods trade-in measures, actively develop the debut economy, expand service consumption, hold promotion events creatively, deepen the development of international consumption centers, improve the modern trade and distribution system, innovate and diversify consumption scenarios, so as to make positive contributions to the sustained recovery of the economy," said Li Gang, director of the Consumption Promotion Department of the Ministry of Commerce.
"We will focus on the key task of achieving new-type industrialization, and push for the comprehensive upgrading and transformation of traditional industries, the growth of emerging industries, and the forward-looking deployment of future industries. We will promote the implementation of the action plan for the digital transformation of the manufacturing industry, foster the growth of advanced manufacturing industry clusters, accelerate the construction of a modern industrial system featuring advanced manufacturing as its backbone," said Yao Jun, director of the Planning Department with the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.
"The Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development will vigorously implement urban renewal to effectively unleash investment and consumption potential. We will comprehensively promote the construction of high-quality houses, communities, neighborhoods and districts to make new contributions to sustained economic recovery and growth, constantly improving people's living standards, and maintaining social harmony and stability," said Zhang Xuetao, director of the Housing Information Management Center under the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development.
"We will implement plans to support employment in key areas, key industries, rural and urban communities, and small and micro enterprises. We will also study and introduce more policies to reduce the burden on enterprises, stabilize employment, and create more job opportunities, with the aim of achieving high-quality and full employment," said Song Xin, deputy director of the Employment Promotion Department under the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security.
Chinese officials vow to push through concrete measures for sustained economic growth in 2025
