The Pinglu Canal, a flagship project under China's western land-sea corridor initiative, opened to navigation on September 16th in Nanning, as reported by China News Service. This 134.2-kilometer maritime thoroughfare connects the Xijiang River shipping artery with the Beibu Gulf, creating the shortest water route between China's southwestern hinterland and the ASEAN market.

As the first canal since the founding of New China to be planned and constructed at the national level, the Pinglu Canal starts from Pingtang River mouth in the Xijin Reservoir area of Hengzhou, Nanning, and extends southward through Luwu Town in Lingshan County, Qinzhou, following the Qinjiang River directly into the Beibu Gulf. This transforms the southwestern waterway corridor from a circuitous detour into a direct route, realizing a vision first proposed by Sun Yat-sen over a century ago in his "Strategies for Nation-Building." The completion of this century-defining infrastructure project not only rewrites the geographic logic of western China's access to the sea but also establishes an efficient and cost-effective economic corridor between China and ASEAN. Dongfeng Liuzhou Motor's products were the first cargo to set sail through the new passage.

"With the river-sea intermodal connection now in place, the shipping distance for southwestern cargo to reach the ocean is reduced by more than 560 kilometers, which is a direct competitive advantage for our export operations," said Xie Jiasheng, deputy general manager of import and export at Dongfeng Liuzhou Motor Company. He indicated that the company will integrate the Pinglu Canal into its standard export logistics framework to bring more "Guangxi smart manufacturing" to global markets. Meanwhile, Yang Fanglai, chairman of Huaihua International Land Port Development Company in Hunan, noted that bulk cargo logistics costs are expected to drop by 18% to 30%, while container unit transport costs could fall by 18% to 22% following the canal's opening. "The Pinglu Canal represents a major opportunity for Huaihua International Land Port to reduce costs and improve efficiency, and it is a critical moment for reshaping our logistics landscape," he added.

The canal is now linking a broader network of regions and markets. Provinces including Chongqing, Sichuan, Yunnan, and Guizhou have connected to the waterway through rail-water intermodal transport, with multiple cities launching direct river-rail-sea freight trains to ASEAN destinations. The China-Laos Railway now operates in synergy with the canal, enabling landlocked countries like Laos to access the sea via this new channel. Several ASEAN ambassadors and diplomatic envoys have recently conducted intensive inspections of the canal, expressing strong interest in expanding bilateral trade. The canal is also generating a significant "magnet effect" for investment. France's SNF Group is building a paper chemical project in Liujing Industrial Park in Nanning, located approximately 50 kilometers from the canal's starting point, targeting the site as its largest production base in southern China. The group has also positioned Nanning as a supply chain hub to serve the broader ASEAN market. To date, nearly 200 leading enterprises have established operations in Guangxi to explore ASEAN opportunities.

Guangxi is now building a high-standard economic belt along the Pinglu Canal, developing a "leaf-vein" pattern of sea-oriented industry that encompasses non-ferrous and critical metal materials, modern green chemicals, artificial intelligence and next-generation information technology, as well as new energy vehicles and batteries. These sectors are set to form cross-regional and cross-border industrial and supply chains with ASEAN partners. As China's first fully digitalized, lifecycle-managed intelligent canal, the Pinglu waterway also opens new avenues for cooperation between China and ASEAN in emerging fields such as the digital economy and green smart shipping. This "water expressway" is increasingly becoming a win-win bond of mutual empowerment and shared prosperity in China-ASEAN collaboration.