BEIJING, Sept. 23 (Xinhua) -- Using the newly opened Pinglu Canal, a cargo ship carrying potassium fertilizer from Laos arrived at a plant in south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region five to seven days sooner than using traditional routes.
Using the same canal, 3.1 tonnes of Guangxi specialty tea arrived in Vietnam in a much shorter time, cutting hundreds of kilometers off the journey and eliminating multiple transfer, waiting and loading procedures.
The 134.2-kilometer canal, stretching from Hengzhou in Guangxi to the Beibu Gulf, opened on Sept. 16. It is the closest maritime outlet for much of southwest China.
"Steel and machinery equipment from southwest China including Yunnan, Guizhou, Sichuan and Chongqing can now reach ASEAN markets more easily through the Pinglu Canal, while ASEAN products can also flow more efficiently into China's vast domestic market," said Du Jianjun, chairman of China Railway Eryuan Engineering Group.
For instance, the new waterway will significantly cut logistics costs for Thai goods entering China -- including computers, fruits and rubber products -- allowing them to reach consumers in southwestern China faster than ever before. Philippine exporters of fresh fruit and seafood with short shelf lives stand to benefit too, as the canal cuts transit times and improves delivery efficiency.
The Pinglu Canal will help further boost trade growth between ASEAN and China, said Ngeow Chow Bing, director of the Institute of China Studies at University of Malaya.
China and ASEAN have been each other's largest trading partner for years. Bilateral trade surpassed 1 trillion U.S. dollars for the first time in 2025, reaching 1.05 trillion U.S. dollars. In the first eight months of this year, bilateral trade totaled 862.75 billion U.S. dollars, up 25.6 percent year on year.
On the very day the canal opened, a cargo ship carrying knock-down (KD) vehicle kits from Dongfeng Liuzhou Motor passed through the waterway bound for an assembly line in Cambodia.
Describing the canal as a golden corridor, Liu Xiaoping, an executive of Dongfeng Liuzhou, said the company will incorporate the canal into its regular export logistics system.
Official data showed intermediate goods now account for two thirds of bilateral trade between China and ASEAN. The two sides are moving beyond simple "buying and selling" to building shared industrial ecosystems.
As intermediate goods and processed products move more efficiently, China's relationship with ASEAN is shifting toward a production partnership, said Zhou Yamin, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, noting that the change will significantly promote regional economic integration.
Experts said the canal's long-term significance lies not just in what it transports, but in what it will attract in the future. As logistics costs fall, new investment is expected to flow into industries related to the canal, including warehousing, processing, cold chain and industrial parks. Capital, technology, talent and labor from southwestern China and ASEAN will converge to spur growth and generate new employment.
The canal's opening comes at a moment of steady development of the China-ASEAN Free Trade Area (FTA).
The Version 1.0 of the FTA was fully established in 2010, with zero tariffs on more than 90 percent of goods. A subsequent Version 2.0 protocol took full effect in 2019, expanding services and investment access. In October 2025, a 3.0 Upgrade Protocol was signed, extending cooperation into digital trade, green economy, standards and supply chains.
Against that backdrop, the Pinglu Canal is more than a feat of engineering. Experts said it is the physical expression of decades of deepening economic ties and the artery through which the next chapter of China-ASEAN win-win cooperation will flow. ■