China opened a vital waterway on Wednesday, giving its landlocked southwestern areas a shortcut to the coast and overseas markets, as the country moves to further strengthen its trade relations with regional neighbors, particularly those in Southeast Asia.
The Pinglu Canal, built in the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region at a cost of 72.7 billion yuan ($10.8 billion), stretches for 134.2 kilometers from the Xijin reservoir in the county-level city of Hengzhou to the Qinzhou Port in the Beibu Gulf. It is the first waterway built in the country to connect a river system directly to the sea since the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949.
The canal shortens the inland waterway journeys of goods from southwestern China by more than 560 km compared with traditional routes through ports in Guangdong province. It is expected to reduce overall logistics expenses and save more than 5 billion yuan in transportation costs each year.
Vice-Premier Ding Xuexiang, who attended the canal's opening ceremony, called for making full use of the new waterway to develop a first-class international gateway port in the Beibu Gulf and support further opening-up of China's western region. (....)