China opens Pinglu Canal to cut 560km off trade route to Asean

NANNING, Sept 24 — China opened the Pinglu Canal recently, giving its landlocked south-west a shortcut to the coast and overseas markets, particularly those in the Association of South-east Asian Nations (Asean), the country’s largest trading partner.

Built at a cost of 72.7 billion yuan (about RM43.8 billion), the 134.2-kilometer canal runs from Hengzhou, a county-level city in south China’s Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, to the Beibu Gulf, the closest maritime outlet for much of south-west China.

The canal stretches along the New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor, a strategic trade route connecting China’s inland regions with Asean and other global markets.

It is the first river-to-sea canal project planned and coordinated at the national level since the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949.