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On the ancient Silk Road over 2,000 years ago, camels were seen as a means of transporting a majority of goods, while their role now has been replaced by fully-loaded trains. To date, there are three bridges linking Asia and Europe that have been set up for 3,000 regular trains, which pass through nearly 60 cities.
Six years ago, Chongqing-Xinjiang-Europe Railway Line (CXERL), the first of its kind connecting China with European countries, was opened in Chongqing, China. Now, it ranks first in terms of the number of regular trains — more than 1,000 — travelling along the route. With China-Singapore (Chongqing) Demonstration Initiative on Strategic Connectivity (CSCDISC) launched, Chongqing is energetically attempting to build a southward passageway — namely, Chongqing-Guangxi-Singapore Southward Passageway (CGSSP) — an extended part of CXERL, which leads to Singapore from Chongqing.
Sharing a common goal
Starting from Chongqing, China, the westward CXERL passes through Xinjiang’s Alataw Pass, a border site in northwest China, and eventually reaches Duisburg, Germany. Throughout the journey, mutual recognition has been realized in terms of customs clearance and supervision, and so has information sharing; meanwhile, once-for-all service applies to declaration, inspection and customs clearance. Since 2011, the number of regular trains travelling along the route accounted for nearly 45% of the total.
With the Belt and Road Initiative proposed in 2013, it is imperative to enhance connectivity between China and countries along the route. In such a circumstance, Chongqing, as a junction between the Belt and Road Initiative and the Yangtze River Economic Zone, focuses more on building itself into an international logistics hub and an important inland port in China and on strengthening its presence in ASEAN countries. In 2015, for instance, CSCDISC — the third inter-governmental project initiated by Singapore and China — was officially implemented in Chongqing, contributing to the construction of the southward passageway.
After completing a “Four-hour Circle of Transportation” fusing railway and air routes, Chongqing has shifted its focus to railway transportation, which is considered more stable and affordable than air transportation. Guangxi Beibu Gulf Economic Zone (GBGEZ) — adjacent to ASEAN — is the nearest access to the sea in southwest China, so it is regarded as an excellent place for Chongqing to connect itself with Singapore. Virtually, not only does building the passageway dovetail with Guangxi’s three development orientations — to be an international access towards ASEAN, a new strategic fulcrum to bolster the opening-up and development of southwestern and south-central China and a crucial gateway to make the Belt and Road organically linked — granted by the state, but also it is an integral requirement for upgrading the opening-up and development of GBGEZ. Furthermore, Chinese President Xi Jinping stressed that Guangxi should be committed to constructing ports in Beibu Gulf and to developing maritime economy on a facts-finding visit to Guangxi in April 2017. To reach this goal, we should strive to optimize the allocation of resources by highlighting marine industry, integrating sea-based and air-based routes and engaging with regions in the hinterland of China.
As for Singapore, an international shipping center, building a more efficient, diversified and open integrated transport system would evidently boost its economic development. It is a common goal for Chongqing, Guangxi and Singapore to build the passageway, thus making new breakthroughs in advancing the project.
A passageway with multiple dimensions
On May 10, 2017, the first regular train travelling along CGSSP, loaded with cargoes like high-grade household paper and motorcycle produced in Chongqing, was put into its trial operation. It took nearly 48 hours to travel from Chongqing to Qinzhou Port East Railway Station in Guangxi. With the customs clearance procedure completed, the train continued to steer for its destination — Singapore. As a matter of fact, the first train from Qinzhou to Chongqing had been put into trial run on April 28, 2017. Under the coordination of China Entry-Exit Inspection and Quarantine Bureau in Guangxi Qinzhou Free Trade Port Area, it takes only four days to complete the export formalities of cargoes from Chongqing. Chongqing, Guangxi and Singapore, according to the plan, will set up a joint venture to accelerate the building of an integrated logistics information system, so as to ensure that trains travelling along the passageway can run officially soon.
Zhang Xiaoqin, deputy governor of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, indicated that Guangxi, Chongqing and Singapore have reached a consensus on CGSSP, collectively signing a cooperation framework agreement on April 28, 2017, the contents of which are involved in the regular trains loaded with containers from Chongqing to Guangxi’s Beibu Gulf Port and eventually to Singapore, the highway freight transportation route linking China and the Indo-China Peninsula, the cooperation in air logistics, and so on. Moreover, on May 18, 2017, Pingxiang Integrated Free Trade Zone, located in GBGEZ, signed a framework agreement with Chongqing Highway Transportation Group, which is aimed at building a southward logistics route linking Chongqing, Pingxiang and ASEAN. Han Changbao, director of China-Singapore (Chongqing) Demonstration Initiative on Strategic Connectivity Authority, stated that, under the Belt and Road Initiative, the passageway should be a concept of multiple dimensions, which not only includes railway, highway and so on, but also involves various routes and a diversified portfolio of transportation means.
A transportation system of trains and container liners
Guangxi Beibu Gulf Port has established marine transportation ties with 47 ports in seven ASEAN countries, and its regular foreign trade liners loaded with containers are sailing along the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road.
As the construction of CGSSP advances, the traditional transportation route from Chongqing to ASEAN will be changed. The CXERL connects to the Silk Road Economic Belt in the north while the CGSSP leads to the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road as well as the Indo-China Peninsula in the south, making the Belt and Road linked with the Yangtze River Economic Zone and powering the development and opening-up of and the synergy of China’s western regions.
Chongqing is a significant city in western China and a transportation hub of the route. Li Jing, dean of the School of Economics, Chongqing Technology and Business University, believed that opening CGSSP indicates that Chongqing will blaze a new trail of “going global”, and will change its role as a shipping center on the upper reaches of the Yangtze River into an inland international logistics hub.
Peng Qinghua, Secretary of the Party Committee of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, noted that the most convenient access to the sea is located in Beibu Gulf, and that it will be significant for Guangxi’s inclusion into the Belt and Road construction and for the exchanges and cooperation with Singapore to make CGSSP linked with its northern and southern destinations; besides, boasting resources required by land and sea routes, GBGEZ will embrace a new round of opening-up and development, and it will be considerably boosted to develop maritime economy.
When stepping up the opening-up and development of China’s western regions and making CGSSP a demonstration project of the Belt and Road Initiative, the existing route of transporting Southeastern cargoes will be gradually changed. Malaysia’s coffee, for example, can be shipped from Singapore to Qinzhou Port, allocated northwards to China’s Yunnan, Chongqing and Sichuan, and then delivered via the Alataw Pass to Central Asian countries like Kazakhstan along the CXERL, according to Teo Siong Seng, managing director of PIL-Pacific International Lines.
Six years ago, Chongqing-Xinjiang-Europe Railway Line (CXERL), the first of its kind connecting China with European countries, was opened in Chongqing, China. Now, it ranks first in terms of the number of regular trains — more than 1,000 — travelling along the route. With China-Singapore (Chongqing) Demonstration Initiative on Strategic Connectivity (CSCDISC) launched, Chongqing is energetically attempting to build a southward passageway — namely, Chongqing-Guangxi-Singapore Southward Passageway (CGSSP) — an extended part of CXERL, which leads to Singapore from Chongqing.
Sharing a common goal
Starting from Chongqing, China, the westward CXERL passes through Xinjiang’s Alataw Pass, a border site in northwest China, and eventually reaches Duisburg, Germany. Throughout the journey, mutual recognition has been realized in terms of customs clearance and supervision, and so has information sharing; meanwhile, once-for-all service applies to declaration, inspection and customs clearance. Since 2011, the number of regular trains travelling along the route accounted for nearly 45% of the total.
With the Belt and Road Initiative proposed in 2013, it is imperative to enhance connectivity between China and countries along the route. In such a circumstance, Chongqing, as a junction between the Belt and Road Initiative and the Yangtze River Economic Zone, focuses more on building itself into an international logistics hub and an important inland port in China and on strengthening its presence in ASEAN countries. In 2015, for instance, CSCDISC — the third inter-governmental project initiated by Singapore and China — was officially implemented in Chongqing, contributing to the construction of the southward passageway.
After completing a “Four-hour Circle of Transportation” fusing railway and air routes, Chongqing has shifted its focus to railway transportation, which is considered more stable and affordable than air transportation. Guangxi Beibu Gulf Economic Zone (GBGEZ) — adjacent to ASEAN — is the nearest access to the sea in southwest China, so it is regarded as an excellent place for Chongqing to connect itself with Singapore. Virtually, not only does building the passageway dovetail with Guangxi’s three development orientations — to be an international access towards ASEAN, a new strategic fulcrum to bolster the opening-up and development of southwestern and south-central China and a crucial gateway to make the Belt and Road organically linked — granted by the state, but also it is an integral requirement for upgrading the opening-up and development of GBGEZ. Furthermore, Chinese President Xi Jinping stressed that Guangxi should be committed to constructing ports in Beibu Gulf and to developing maritime economy on a facts-finding visit to Guangxi in April 2017. To reach this goal, we should strive to optimize the allocation of resources by highlighting marine industry, integrating sea-based and air-based routes and engaging with regions in the hinterland of China.
As for Singapore, an international shipping center, building a more efficient, diversified and open integrated transport system would evidently boost its economic development. It is a common goal for Chongqing, Guangxi and Singapore to build the passageway, thus making new breakthroughs in advancing the project.
A passageway with multiple dimensions
On May 10, 2017, the first regular train travelling along CGSSP, loaded with cargoes like high-grade household paper and motorcycle produced in Chongqing, was put into its trial operation. It took nearly 48 hours to travel from Chongqing to Qinzhou Port East Railway Station in Guangxi. With the customs clearance procedure completed, the train continued to steer for its destination — Singapore. As a matter of fact, the first train from Qinzhou to Chongqing had been put into trial run on April 28, 2017. Under the coordination of China Entry-Exit Inspection and Quarantine Bureau in Guangxi Qinzhou Free Trade Port Area, it takes only four days to complete the export formalities of cargoes from Chongqing. Chongqing, Guangxi and Singapore, according to the plan, will set up a joint venture to accelerate the building of an integrated logistics information system, so as to ensure that trains travelling along the passageway can run officially soon.
Zhang Xiaoqin, deputy governor of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, indicated that Guangxi, Chongqing and Singapore have reached a consensus on CGSSP, collectively signing a cooperation framework agreement on April 28, 2017, the contents of which are involved in the regular trains loaded with containers from Chongqing to Guangxi’s Beibu Gulf Port and eventually to Singapore, the highway freight transportation route linking China and the Indo-China Peninsula, the cooperation in air logistics, and so on. Moreover, on May 18, 2017, Pingxiang Integrated Free Trade Zone, located in GBGEZ, signed a framework agreement with Chongqing Highway Transportation Group, which is aimed at building a southward logistics route linking Chongqing, Pingxiang and ASEAN. Han Changbao, director of China-Singapore (Chongqing) Demonstration Initiative on Strategic Connectivity Authority, stated that, under the Belt and Road Initiative, the passageway should be a concept of multiple dimensions, which not only includes railway, highway and so on, but also involves various routes and a diversified portfolio of transportation means.
A transportation system of trains and container liners
Guangxi Beibu Gulf Port has established marine transportation ties with 47 ports in seven ASEAN countries, and its regular foreign trade liners loaded with containers are sailing along the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road.
As the construction of CGSSP advances, the traditional transportation route from Chongqing to ASEAN will be changed. The CXERL connects to the Silk Road Economic Belt in the north while the CGSSP leads to the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road as well as the Indo-China Peninsula in the south, making the Belt and Road linked with the Yangtze River Economic Zone and powering the development and opening-up of and the synergy of China’s western regions.
Chongqing is a significant city in western China and a transportation hub of the route. Li Jing, dean of the School of Economics, Chongqing Technology and Business University, believed that opening CGSSP indicates that Chongqing will blaze a new trail of “going global”, and will change its role as a shipping center on the upper reaches of the Yangtze River into an inland international logistics hub.
Peng Qinghua, Secretary of the Party Committee of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, noted that the most convenient access to the sea is located in Beibu Gulf, and that it will be significant for Guangxi’s inclusion into the Belt and Road construction and for the exchanges and cooperation with Singapore to make CGSSP linked with its northern and southern destinations; besides, boasting resources required by land and sea routes, GBGEZ will embrace a new round of opening-up and development, and it will be considerably boosted to develop maritime economy.
When stepping up the opening-up and development of China’s western regions and making CGSSP a demonstration project of the Belt and Road Initiative, the existing route of transporting Southeastern cargoes will be gradually changed. Malaysia’s coffee, for example, can be shipped from Singapore to Qinzhou Port, allocated northwards to China’s Yunnan, Chongqing and Sichuan, and then delivered via the Alataw Pass to Central Asian countries like Kazakhstan along the CXERL, according to Teo Siong Seng, managing director of PIL-Pacific International Lines.