In the first three quarters of this year, total trade between China and ASEAN 
has reached RMB 4.7 trillion, an increase of 15.2%, accounting for 15.1% of 
China's total foreign trade. Among which, export to ASEAN has climbed 22% to 
RMB 2.73 trillion, an import from ASEAN is RMB 1.97 trillion, a rise of 6.9%. 
Obviously, China and ASEAN are each other's largest trading partners.

With the entry into force of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership 
(RCEP), trade and investment cooperation between China and ASEAN are ushering 
in an ever-increasing number of opportunities. There is no doubt that total 
trade between China and ASEAN will continue to expand rapidly in the future. 
Moreover, China is devoting unprecedented efforts to prepare for this 
development by constructing a canal, the Pinglu Canal, in the Guangxi Zhuang 
Autonomous Region neighboring the ASEAN bloc, with the intention to expedite 
the transportation of goods between China and ASEAN.

The construction of the Pinglu Canal, planned with a total length of about 135 
kilometers and anticipated to cost an estimated total investment exceeding RMB 
72 billion, has already commenced in August this year. It is scheduled to open 
to navigation in four years and is designed to handle 5,000-ton ships. The 
Pinglu Canal starts from county-level Hengzhou City of Nanning City, and enters 
Beibu Gulf via Qinjiang River in Lingshan County of Qinzhou City, according to 
Pinglu Canal Group Co., Ltd.

According to Wu Peng, an expert in the planning and design of the Pinglu Canal 
project, "The Pinglu Canal will be a pioneering feat in the history of canal 
construction in China, as it is the largest canal of its kind. Inland ships can 
sail directly to seaport. Upon completion, it will become a very busy canal 
noted for a large volume of freights, large-tonnage ships and a large number of 
vessels."

In the past, for goods from southwest China to go to the sea by waterway, 
options were either via the Yangtze River or the Xijiang River, but a river 
running southward to the sea was nonexistent. The estuary of Yangtze River is 
in eastern China, more than 2,000 kilometers away from the southwestern 
municipality of Chongqing, while the estuary of the Xijiang River is in 
Guangzhou in southeastern China. These two conduits of gaining access to the 
sea are both extremely time-consuming.

"The Pinglu Canal will open up a new channel for the main stream of the Xijiang 
River to enter the sea in the shortest distance. Through the Pinglu Canal, the 
inland river voyage of goods going from the southwestern region to the sea will 
be shortened by more than 560 kilometers compared with that through Guangzhou." 
Chen Hongqi, Secretary of the CPC Committee of the Transportation Department of 
Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, said that when the canal is completed, the 
southwestern and northwestern regions of China will be bolstered by the 
shortest, most economical and most convenient passage to the sea.

According to analysis from industry insiders, the Pinglu Canal will open up a 
new sea-entry avenue of the Xijiang Golden Waterway, forming a river-sea 
circulation waterway channel that will effectively connect with the development 
of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, promote the continuous 
deepening of Guangxi's and southwestern China's economic and trade cooperation 
with ASEAN and RCEP countries, and better integrate Guangxi and the 
southwestern region of China into the building of a China-ASEAN community of 
common destiny.

When the project is completed, the new canal will not only facilitate 
China-ASEAN trade, but will also bring forth tremendous opportunities for 
Guangxi, where the canal is located. At present, locations everywhere along the 
canal have begun to deploy more production factors and near-port industries 
around the project and in coastal ports. After the canal becomes navigable, 
these supporting industries along the route will form a huge competitive 
advantage.

As the starting point of the Pinglu Canal, Nanning, the capital of Guangxi 
Zhuang autonomous region, is planning the construction of the Nanning East New 
Town, taking the initiative to integrate into the Pinglu Canal economic belt, 
cultivating advantageous near-port industrial clusters, and vigorously 
establishing a new energy vehicle and spare parts manufacturing base to serve 
the ASEAN market, with the vision to develop the Nanning East New Town into a 
"model industry park for seaward economic development".

"Upon completion, the canal will bring forth immense opportunities to Guangxi, 
and foster the formation of an all-round opening-up structure characterized by 
interconnectivity both at home and abroad, linkage between land and sea, and 
complementariness between east and west. The project will profoundly change the 
industrial layout, economic and social development structure of Guangxi, and 
propel Guangxi to accelerate its transformation into a Beibu Gulf international 
gateway port and international hub seaport," said Ouyang Bin, a member of the 
CPC Committee of the Transportation Department of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous 
Region.

Source: Pinglu Canal Group Co., Ltd.