Chongqing - Southwest China's Chongqing has continuously expanded the New International Land-sea Trade Corridor (ILSTC), garnering global attention. On March 4, Bridging News hosted a live discussion on the ILSTC, gathering a Myanmar media, a Vietnamese expert, and a Singaporean enterprise.

Participants discussed corridor growth, explored partnerships, and provided unique perspectives, stressing mutual benefits between China and ASEAN nations from this initiative.

ILSTC will reach "hard connectivity," "soft connectivity," and "heart-to-heart connection."

Bella Miao, a research associate specializing in international relations at the Chongqing Academy of Social Sciences, highlighted that the ILSTC serves as an open channel for western China to foster regional connections and international cooperation with ASEAN countries and others, linking closely with the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).

Miao highlighted ILSTC's role in cutting transportation time and costs between China and ASEAN. This facilitates cross-border trade and investment, benefiting from ongoing economic growth and integration.

She said on the livestream, "Since China and ASEAN established dialogue relations in 1991, the two sides have always respected each other, treated each other as equals, and embarked on a path of win-win cooperation." 

Additionally, Miao clarified ILSTC's alignment with the BRI's "three links" concept. The corridor aims for "hard connectivity" through infrastructure, "soft connectivity" via rule harmonization, and "heart-to-heart connection" by fostering people-to-people ties among project countries.

Economic benefits extend to Singapore, Vietnam, and Myanmar 

During the livestream, Bridging News host Chen Zhan shared a variety of reports on ILSTC. She showcased photos and videos from ASEAN countries and moderated online discussions with Singapore, Vietnam, and Myanmar guests.

The first online guest was Xu Jinsong, Founder & CEO of Innowave Tech, an industrial AI company from Singapore. He shared that the ILSTC has streamlined the supply chain processes, offering a quicker and more cost-effective solution for collaboration between China and Singapore.

As a participant from Singapore in last year's Smart China Expo, he remarked on Chongqing's significance as a major industrial hub and Singapore's global leadership in manufacturing. With the ILSTC acting as a bridge, he is optimistic about expanding cooperation in additional sectors in the future.

Dr. Tran Thi Thuy, a researcher from the Institute of Chinese Studies at the Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences, joined the livestream. Focusing on logistics, she used numbers to show how the ILSTC has enhanced efficiency. 

For instance, the transit time from Chongqing to Ho Chi Minh City they decreased from 15 days by sea to just four days by railway. Moreover, expedited customs services have incentivized increased participation from shippers, thereby stimulating industrial growth along the corridor.

Henry Kun, a reporter from Asia Flare Media Group, participated in the discussion. He stressed the ILSTC's role in opening up international market opportunities for small and medium-sized enterprises in Myanmar, which not only drives economic and industrial advancement in ASEAN but also supports local job creation.

Myanmar is an important hub connecting China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). It is also a key connecting point of the 21st-century Maritime Silk Road and the Silk Road Economic Belt.

The current China-Myanmar intermodal transportation framework has two major routes. The Chongqing-Ruili/Wanding-Yangguang road-rail intermodal transportation reaches over ten Myanmar cities, including Naypyidaw and Mandalay. Meanwhile, the Chongqing-Myanmar-Indian Ocean road-sea route extends Myanmar's maritime reach into the Middle East, East Africa, and Europe through the Persian Gulf and Suez Canal.