CHINA on Wednesday opened theUSD 10.75 PingluCanal, creatinganewmaritimegateway for the country’s southwestern hinterland and providing a shorter route to deepen trade with Southeast Asia particularly with ASEAN region. The canal forms part of the New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor, a strategic route linking China’s inland provinces with ASEAN and other global markets. It is also the first riverto-seacanalprojectplannedand coordinated at the national level since the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949. The waterway is particularlysignificant forsouthwestern China, which has historically lagged behind the more prosperous eastern coastal regions and faced higher costs in transporting goods to seaports.

 

Coal, ore, grain, new-energy materials and automobile parts from the region will now have a moredirectroute tointernational markets,state-run‘Xinhua’news agency reported. China’s trade with ASEAN surpassed USD one trillion for the first time last year. In the first seven months of 2026,bilateral tradereachedUSD 744.41 billion, up 24.7 per cent year on year and accounting for 21.8 per cent of China’s total foreign trade during the period. Designed to accommodate vessels of up to 5,000 tonnes, the canal cuts more than 560 km from the inland waterway journey between southwest China and the sea compared with traditional routes through ports in Guangdong Province.