Embarking on the new development stage, China has put forward a number of major infrastructure projects in the 14th Five-Year Plan. The new land-sea trade corridor in the western part of the country is one of them. Recently, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council has unveiled guidelines on developing a comprehensive transport network, specifying efforts to beef up transport infrastructures and construct the new land-sea trade corridor in the western region so as to form a reciprocal east-west thoroughfare of opening-up in China.
However, there are still questions. How to deepen western regions' development? How to integrate into the new paradigm of domestic circulation as the mainstay while domestic circulation and international circulation reinforcing each other? In this year's two sessions, deputies of the National People's Congress, members of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, and experts from Chongqing Municipality, Sichuan Province, Guizhou Province, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region and Hunan Province air their opinions about the new land-sea trade corridor, galvanizing new growth drivers and speeding up opening up.
Chongqing: integration
The “Belt and Road” completes the circle of logistics in western China via ILSTC. (iChongqing file photo)
The first express train on the new land-sea corridor, departing from Qinzhou of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region with 600 tons of food products ingredients on board, arrived in Rongchang District of Chongqing on July 31, 2020. That marks Rongchang District's inclusion into the western Chongqing and southern Sichuan rail network and the greater Southeast Asian market at large.
"By accessing into the new corridor, Rongchang District will make the best use of the corridor and make its due contribution to the new development paradigm of integration and opening-up," said Cao Qingyao, an NPC deputy and Secretary of Rongchang District Party Committee.
At the 2021 two sessions, Cao Qingyao calls for free trade zone policies for Chengdu-Chongqing economic circle, building new highlands for opening up within inland regions. Meanwhile, he suggests using the opportunity given by signing the RCEP to accelerate the free flow of commodities, technologies, and investment to and from overseas. In this way, the global trade of greater scale and openness can be achieved, and the development of an open economy can attain higher quality.
Sichuan: extra efforts
ILSTC has higher efficiency, shorter duration, and lower cost. (iChongqing file photo)
"More efforts should be dedicated to the transportation of Sichuan," said Luo Jiaming, an NPC deputy and head of the Department of Transportation of Sichuan Province. He believes that the focus should be on infrastructure to fasten the New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor (ILSTC). According to Luo, Sichuan has issued the implementation of building ILSTC and 2020 Key Work Points, emphasizing the importance of shoring up weak links and coordinating the development of all kinds of transportation to optimize the transportation and logistics system.
In 2020, Chen Fang, a CPPCC member and chairman of the Sichuan Federation of Industry and Commerce, led a team to visit Chongqing and Guangxi. He believes the role of ILSTC as a compound logistic channel has become increasingly significant in driving international cooperation on the supply chain. Therefore, it is necessary to make joint efforts to solve problems such as the high cost of comprehensive logistics.
Guizhou: interactive cooperation platform
The description for the route of ILSTC. (iChongqing file photo)
"On the eve of Spring Festival, President Xi Jinping paid visits to some officials in Guizhou and stressed that Guizhou should stick to high-quality development in general and make innovations in Western Development Strategy in the new era. This means the focus is on forming new development patterns and actively participating in the building of ILSTC. His remarks have clarified the direction and injected great motivation for the open and high-quality development of Guizhou," said Zhang Deqin, the NPC deputy and member of the Party Committee of Guizhou Modern Logistics Industry Group and vice president of the group.
He says their company will take the opportunities given by building dual circulation patterns for development and ILSTC to improve weak links in infrastructure and contribute to developing the open economy in the southwest inland regions of China.
In October 2020, the Guiyang land port logistics hub was listed as one of the national logistics hubs to be built. This will equip Guizhou with a modern logistics system that combines channel, hub, and network, promoting a development pattern with the domestic circulation being the main body and the dual circulation of China and abroad reinforcing each other.
Guangxi: ports and services
"Guangxi highly values and fully supports the construction of ILSTC and will continue to do so in 2021," said Guan Li, an NPC deputy and director of the Department of Finance of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. On the one hand, it will support the development of Beibu Gulf International Gateway Port, and work hard to take the lead in the growth of throughput capacities, make breakthroughs in rail-sea intermodal transport, further fasten the building of ports and airports, continue to upgrade the shipping logistics network and improve the business environment.
Jiang Hesheng, a CPPCC member and director of Guangxi Oceanic Administration, proposed building Hunan-Guangxi-Xianghai economic corridor. He suggests including the corridor in the ILSTC. In this way, Guangxi can serve as a bond to strengthen communication and coordination with western China. Through the ILSTC inter-provincial joint conference on consultation and cooperation, Hunan province can be included in the ILSTC cooperation mechanism to enforce the docking of Hunan trade logistics channels, western China, and the ASEAN countries.
Hunan: new opportunity
According to Liu Xiangyang, director of the National Development and Reform Commission of Huaihua City, during the 14th Five-Year Plan period, Huaihua will center on building the gateway cities that link up to the ILSTC, which were endowed by the provincial Party committee and the provincial government. It will also accelerate the building of logistics hub city, largely engage in implementing the strategy of "Building and actively participate in the construction of ILSTC.
Next, guided by the 14th Five-year Plan for Huaihua city, Huaihua Traffic Construction Investment Company is planning to build Huaihua international (ASEAN) logistics park. The park is estimated to cover around 2,500 mu (166.67 hectares), consisting of the railway port, the bonded area, the quarantine and inspection zone, the cold chain zone, and the warehouse logistics intermodality zone. Once finished, this park will become the core logistics platform linking Guangxi, Beibu Gulf Port, and ASEAN.