The construction of the Pinglu Canal is in its final sprint phase, and the layout of the New Western Land-Sea Corridor is becoming increasingly comprehensive. This has ushered in a strategic window for Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region to strengthen its maritime focus and pursue open development. Baise City, with its unique border and river-adjacent location, serves both as a key cargo hub for the upper reaches of the Pinglu Canal and a critical pivot for land-sea conversion linking the southwestern hinterland with the Beibu Gulf.
Since the beginning of this year, Baise has aligned with the region's overarching plans to liberate thinking, seek innovation, strengthen its maritime focus, and pursue open development. By embedding Party building throughout the entire maritime economy chain, Baise has coordinated efforts in channel construction, industrial cultivation, and open collaboration. This strategy aims to address the shortcomings of landlocked border cities, such as poor access to the sea and low industrial levels, thereby forging a unique development path led by Party building, with channels as the foundation, industrial prosperity as the city's engine, and openness as its driving force, all while promoting shared prosperity.
Party Building Leads and Plans for a Comprehensive Maritime Focus
Baise adheres to the principle of Party building guiding the overall situation, transforming the advantages of Party organizations into governance efficiency for a comprehensive maritime focus and establishing a systematic top-level planning layout. Closely following the goal of building "one zone, two areas, one park, and one channel," and in line with the autonomous region's work deployment, a special task force for high-quality development of the maritime economy has been established. This task force coordinates multi-departmental collaboration and solidifies work mechanisms through task lists, node control, regular scheduling, and closed-loop implementation. Party organizations at all levels are deeply involved in the frontlines of port-adjacent industrial parks, border ports, and major transportation projects, covering industry chain Party branches and project-specific temporary Party branches. This ensures policy implementation, factor guarantees, and conflict resolution are handled at the grassroots level, removing coordination bottlenecks across regions, levels, and departments.
Under the unified planning of Party building, Baise has constructed a dual-wheel-driven top-level support system of "implementation plans and development plans." It has issued the Implementation Plan for Baise's Integration into the Pinglu Canal Industrial Development (2026-2028) and simultaneously compiled the Strategic Plan for the High-Quality Development of Baise's Maritime Economy. These two documents are complementary and mutually supportive, establishing a systematic, unified, and complete maritime development planning system, clarifying the action path for land-sea coordination and integrated port-industry-city development.
Leveraging its unique location linking Yunnan, Guizhou, Sichuan, and Chongqing, adjacent to ASEAN, and connecting to the Beibu Gulf, the plan defines three core strategic positions: a key bearing area for the Pinglu Canal Economic Belt, a main corridor for the inland maritime economy, and a hub for southwestern land-sea linkage. Breaking away from the traditional development constraints of county segmentation and separate water and land management, it innovatively creates a "one axis, multiple veins, three zones, and two belts" spatial development pattern across the entire region. The main shipping axis of the Youjiang River links port-adjacent industrial clusters along the river, while border channels like railways and highways form a radiation network across the region. It divides the region into a core port-adjacent industrial agglomeration zone, a border open cooperation demonstration zone, and an inland resource intensive processing collaboration zone, creating the Youjiang River port-adjacent industrial belt and the "Longbang-Pingmeng" border cross-border economic belt, coordinating the layout of resources along the river, along the border, and inland.
Based on this new spatial structure, Baise is simultaneously promoting the upgrading of industries, transportation, and urban construction to meet the demands of maritime development. Industrially, in line with the region's "4+4" modern industrial system, it focuses on cultivating port-adjacent intensive processing industries that are suitable for inland waterway shipping and oriented towards ASEAN exports. In transportation, it coordinates the integrated layout of water, rail, road, and air multimodal transport. In urban construction, it deepens the integrated development of port, industry, and city, using the two hubs of Baise Port and Longbang Port as core drivers, and deploying industrial parks, logistics bases, and processing platforms in a gradient layout. Key resource elements across the city, including land, funds, energy, and policies, are tilted towards maritime development fields, achieving two fundamental transformations in the development model: from scattered single-point development to comprehensive regional planning, and from simple channel transit to industrial settlement and value addition.
Unblocking Land-Sea Channels and Promoting Port Reform and Empowerment
Channels are the foundation for developing the maritime economy, and ports are the frontline platforms for connecting with ASEAN and the international community. Baise continues to strengthen its comprehensive transportation, smart port, and multimodal transport systems while simultaneously introducing reforms in logistics, border trade, and government services. This enhances the carrying capacity of the southwestern land-sea conversion hub and opens up two-way logistics channels linking the interior to the Beibu Gulf and cross-border connections to ASEAN. The Baise Water Control Project navigation facility is scheduled for trial navigation in April 2027. This will allow thousand-ton vessels to travel from the Youjiang River directly to the Beibu Gulf, shortening the voyage by 560 kilometers compared to the route via the Pearl River Delta. Concurrently, waterway upgrades are being implemented to allow two-thousand-ton vessels to navigate the middle and lower reaches, achieving interconnectivity with the Pinglu Canal. The expansion of the Baise Logistics Hub Port and the port areas in Tianyang, Tiandong, and Pingguo is also being accelerated to build a strong port cluster in the upper reaches of the canal.
On the railway front, the Guizhou Huangtong-Baise Railway is under accelerated construction. Upon completion in 2028, it will form the shortest railway channel from Sichuan, Chongqing, and Guizhou to the Beibu Gulf. The dedicated line for the local cold chain train "Baise No.1" will be fully operational by the end of 2025. In the past year, 303 trips were made, a year-on-year increase of 51.5%, with cumulative trips exceeding 2,800. It has been upgraded to a national-level cold chain transport carrier for the New Western Land-Sea Corridor, carrying southwestern specialty agricultural products to the sea. The highway network covers the entire border region, with a total mileage of 1,410 kilometers, ranking second in the region, providing direct highway access to all border ports. Baise Bama Airport has increased its domestic flight routes, and a three-dimensional transportation system encompassing road, rail, water, and air has been largely established.
The level of port openness continues to rise. Longbang Port has been approved as an international port, and the upgrade of Pingmeng Port and the reopening of Yuexu Port are progressing in an orderly manner. Digital transformation is being promoted across all ports. Longbang Port has seen the construction and operation of smart gates, paperless declaration systems, remote inspection systems, and a "9610" cross-border e-commerce channel. Customs clearance measures like "two-step declaration" have been implemented to reduce clearance time. Jingxi City has innovated cross-border cargo transportation models, allowing Vietnamese vehicles to directly reach factory sites. This saves two hours per connection and reduces costs by 2,000 yuan, significantly improving port clearance efficiency.
The hardware upgrades of transportation and ports have empowered the scaled operation of multimodal transport. Stable operations are in place for rail-road combined transport of aluminum products, road-water combined transport to the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao region, and sea-rail combined transport from the Beibu Gulf to Qingdao. In 2025, road-water combined transport handled 3,893 TEUs, and rail-road combined transport saved enterprises over 15 million yuan for the whole year. Baise was successfully selected for the national list of backbone cold chain logistics base construction projects, having built a 56,000-ton cold storage, the largest single-unit facility in the region. In the first quarter of 2026, revenue related to multimodal transport increased by 37.3% year-on-year. At the same time, supporting institutional innovations are being promoted. In the logistics sector, a "single commission, single document, single container" transport mechanism is being implemented to break down data barriers across different business types. In border trade, the "mutual trade + on-site processing" model is being deepened, with the processing rate remaining stable at over 99%, consistently ranking first in the region, thereby adding value to transit trade. Leveraging the pilot zone's authority, Baise has taken over the approval of 52 items delegated by the autonomous region, implementing streamlined approval processes. The approval time for high-frequency matters has been reduced by over 70%, and policies benefiting enterprises are implemented automatically without application. The Baise Collaborative Development Zone of the Pilot Free Trade Zone has been approved, and the market-oriented, law-based business environment is being continuously optimized.
Agglomerating Port-Adjacent and Border Industries to Activate Diverse Maritime Driving Forces
A simple channel transit economy cannot sustain long-term high-quality development. Baise is transforming channel traffic into industrial growth. Leveraging its port-adjacent and border location, it is cultivating four major characteristic industrial clusters, expanding cross-border emerging business forms, and innovating park operation and investment attraction mechanisms to convert channel and resource advantages into long-term industrial competitiveness. A gradient port-adjacent and border pillar industrial cluster is being built. With a new type of ecological aluminum as the core, industries are being clustered along the river and near ports, developing high value-added products like power battery aluminum foil and ship profiles, and creating a complete chain from "ASEAN raw materials - green smelting - port processing - overseas export" to build a pan-aluminum advanced manufacturing base. The modern forestry sector focuses on high-end panels and outdoor building materials, taking over industrial transfers from the east and building an ASEAN-oriented bamboo and wood export processing zone. New energy and port equipment sectors are deploying energy storage and hydrogen energy projects to complement the offshore wind power industry chain. Relying on minerals like manganese and gallium, new materials for anti-corrosion alloys and semiconductors are being developed to establish a strategic new materials base near the port.
New cross-border supporting business forms are being cultivated. Relying on ports, bonded centers, and border crossings, Baise is developing bonded processing, cross-border e-commerce, and cold chain warehousing, with aluminum products, bamboo and wood, new energy equipment, and agricultural specialties as core export categories. Emerging industries such as shipping digital services, port-adjacent low-altitude economy, and ship repair are being laid out to enrich the industrial system, optimize the foreign trade structure, increase the proportion of local processing exports, and shed the single reliance on transit trade. The park investment attraction and operation model is being reformed. The "1+12" port-adjacent maritime industrial park layout has been consolidated, idle land is being revitalized, and supporting facilities such as water, electricity, gas, cold chain, and railway dedicated lines are being improved. Cooperation with central state-owned enterprises and "enclave" co-construction are being deepened, with targeted investment attraction for industry chains and key enterprises, landing a number of projects that strengthen and supplement the industrial chain. A management model of "park management committee + operating company" is being implemented, building a closed-loop system for facility investment, construction, management, and operation, optimizing institutional functions, and comprehensively enhancing the industrial carrying capacity.
Deepening ASEAN RCEP Cooperation to Strengthen the Foundations of Comprehensive Openness and Foreign Trade
Baise, positioned as a frontier for border openness, is deeply cultivating the ASEAN market. Leveraging the RCEP policy dividend is a key lever for opening up. Through cross-border industrial linkage, the implementation of free trade rules, and multi-level policy empowerment, Baise is stabilizing foreign trade and raising its level of openness. Statistics show that during the "14th Five-Year Plan" period, the city's total foreign trade import and export value reached 206.1 billion yuan, ranking fifth in the region, with an average annual growth rate of 9.1%. In 2024 and 2025, the growth rates of import and export were 34.5% and 9.8% respectively, providing a solid open foundation for the maritime economy.
Cross-border industrial collaboration with Vietnam is being deepened. A regular economic and trade consultation mechanism has been established with Cao Bang Province, Vietnam. The "Baise-Cao Bang International Commodity Economic and Trade Week" has been held for three consecutive years, with a total of 135 Chinese and Vietnamese enterprises participating, building a long-term supply and demand matching platform and facilitating the two-way flow of building materials, electromechanical products, and specialty agricultural products. Customs clearance services are continuously optimized to reduce cross-border logistics time and costs. Innovative models such as "mutual trade + cooperatives + enterprises" and "front-port, back-factory" have been implemented. Three on-site processing parks have been built, and 25 processing enterprises have been cultivated, with the on-site processing rate ranking among the top in the region. Local processed products are sold both domestically and internationally. In 2025, channels to Central Asia, including Kazakhstan, were opened, creating a complete cross-border industry chain of "ASEAN raw material import - local intensive processing - dual circulation sales at home and abroad." The RCEP policy dividend is being precisely realized. In November 2025, self-issuance of certificates of origin was implemented. The Baise City Council for the Promotion of International Trade issued the city's first non-preferential certificate of origin for aluminum foil exports. Enterprises can now obtain certificates locally to enjoy tariff reductions under free trade agreements, effectively reducing documentation time and operating costs. Regular training on RCEP tariff concessions and rules of origin is conducted to stabilize traditional ASEAN markets like Vietnam and Cambodia, while actively expanding into RCEP member markets like Japan and Australia. Relying on the "9610" cross-border e-commerce channel, ASEAN online trade is being expanded, seizing the opportunity of digital foreign trade development and promoting the transformation of foreign trade from scale expansion to rule-empowered quality improvement.
A three-tier foreign trade support system at the central, autonomous region, and city levels has been established. During the "14th Five-Year Plan" period, a total of 309 million yuan in special foreign trade funds were coordinated at all levels, covering the entire chain of cross-border logistics, market development, equipment transformation, export credit insurance, and financing subsidies, benefiting over 200 foreign trade enterprises. This effectively buffers the impact of fluctuations in the international market and logistics costs. Regular enterprise assistance is provided, with a combination of online cloud exhibitions and offline economic and trade promotions to Vietnam, Russia, and Japan, promoting diversified market layout and reducing reliance on a single market. The city's fiscal budget fully subsidizes short-term export credit insurance for micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises, with an average of over 25 enterprises insured annually and an insurance rate of 85%. Regular training on exchange rate risk hedging is conducted to guide enterprises in adopting a risk-neutral mindset and improving their ability to withstand risks in cross-border operations. The operation of the Pingguo public bonded warehouse and the Jingxi cross-border e-commerce clearance center is being accelerated. The import processing trade of recycled aluminum is being vigorously developed, promoting the transformation of foreign trade from channel transit trade to high value-added industrial trade, continuously cultivating new growth drivers for foreign trade.
Focusing on Key Weaknesses to Break Deadlocks and Strengthen Maritime Factor Guarantees
After a phase of intensive efforts, Baise has achieved phased results in its maritime economy construction. However, compared to the autonomous region's overall layout of "one axis driving, two wings linking, land-sea coordination, and comprehensive maritime focus," there are still obvious weak links in areas such as infrastructure, port-adjacent industries, and factor support. The city adheres to a problem-oriented approach, introducing systematic reform measures to fully unblock development bottlenecks and remove institutional and mechanism obstacles. In the infrastructure sector, the Huangtong-Baise Railway is not yet operational. The carrying capacity of the Youjiang River waterway and ports is insufficient, and the supporting connection with the Pinglu Canal is inadequate. There is a significant gap in professional multimodal transport collection and distribution stations. Border ports lack railway connections, and the coverage of railway dedicated lines for industrial parks and logistics hubs is insufficient. The hardware facilities struggle to meet the modern development needs of port-adjacent industries.
In the industrial development sector, port-adjacent and border industries are still in the cultivation and upgrading phase. The industrial chain is relatively short, with intensive processing products accounting for less than 30% of the total, resulting in low product added value. The homogeneity of county-level industrial layouts is prominent, with intense homogeneous competition in the aluminum processing industry, failing to fully release the agglomeration efficiency of industrial clusters. The integration of port, industry, and city lags behind, and the conversion of cargo flow into industrial economic benefits is insufficient, hindering the quality improvement of the maritime economy. In the factor guarantee sector, there is a significant gap in local supporting funds for transportation projects, and delayed fund disbursement slows down project construction. The supply of land and forest use indicators for key projects is tight. The logistics industry faces high operating costs due to oil price fluctuations and market downturns. Funding channels for port route cultivation are limited, a regular subsidy mechanism has not yet been established, and the stable operation of routes lacks support.
Baise is employing a multi-pronged approach to tackle these weaknesses, including coordinated scheduling, mechanism innovation, resource allocation, and assessment supervision. First, it promotes task force closed-loop management. The maritime economy development task force implements list-based control, detailing tasks and setting strict deadlines, with monthly scheduling and quarterly supervision to break down inter-departmental coordination barriers and coordinate the efficient and synergistic advancement of transportation, industry, and opening up. Second, it deepens the reform of the park management system. The city-county linkage management mechanism is being improved, and professional operation teams are being staffed. The market-oriented operation model of "park management committee + platform company" is being deepened, and a full lifecycle management and maintenance system for supporting facilities is being established. Personnel and salary system reforms in parks are being implemented to facilitate two-way exchange of cadres and stimulate endogenous development momentum. Third, it strengthens the priority supply of resources. Land, forest, and energy consumption indicators are being preferentially allocated to key maritime projects, and project approval time is being compressed. The Development and Reform Commission and the Finance Bureau are proactively liaising with higher authorities to secure policy, funding, and indicator support, alleviating local supporting pressure and removing bottlenecks for project implementation and industrial development. Fourth, it enforces rigid assessment to consolidate responsibility. A special assessment mechanism for the maritime economy has been established, incorporating core tasks such as channel construction, industrial cultivation, foreign trade expansion, and park quality improvement into the annual performance assessment of the Party and government. Supervision and accountability are used to ensure the implementation of all key tasks.
Drawing a Long-Term Development Blueprint and Empowering Shared Prosperity through Projects
Based on a medium- to long-term strategic layout, Baise focuses on three core tasks: building a high-quality New Western Land-Sea Corridor, achieving comprehensive integrated transportation connectivity, and cultivating a regional international logistics hub. It concurrently implements a number of cross-cycle, strategic major projects while simultaneously promoting industrial upgrading, urban-rural infrastructure construction, and equalization of public services, ensuring that the fruits of maritime development are shared by all people and benefit urban and rural areas. Anchoring medium- to long-term core tasks, Baise will solidify the hard support for maritime development. First, it will upgrade the New Western Land-Sea Corridor to smooth the main southwestern passage to the sea. It will increase inter-provincial transportation channels, promote cross-border highways connecting to the Vietnamese road network, and strengthen cross-border connectivity. The Baise Water Control Project navigation facility will be completed and put into operation. Projects for upgrading the Youjiang River to a second-class waterway, constructing second-line ship locks, and renovating obstructive bridges will be implemented, optimizing the functional layout of the "one port, eight zones" of Baise Port. Baise will deeply integrate into the China-ASEAN Multimodal Transport Alliance, stably operate water-rail and sea-rail combined transport trains from Yunnan and Chongqing via Baise directly to Beibu Gulf ports, and strive to establish the Baise branch center for river-rail-sea combined transport of the New Western Land-Sea Corridor. It will link the "Baise No.1" cold chain train with the sea-rail combined transport and China-Europe railway express systems, extending the radiation radius of cross-border logistics.
Second, it will build a three-dimensional road network of road, rail, water, and air to achieve comprehensive transportation connectivity across the region. It will accelerate the preliminary feasibility studies for the Yunnan-Guangxi border railway, the second line of the Nanning-Kunming Railway, the Baiheliu Railway, and the Jinglong Railway, and strive to include the Baixing High-Speed Railway in the national railway plan. The regional highway network will be densified, national and provincial trunk roads will be upgraded, and rapid connecting channels along the border, between provinces, and within counties will be improved. The expansion and renovation of Baise Bama Airport and the construction of Leye General Airport will be advanced to create a complete and interconnected aviation support system. Third, it will build a regional international logistics hub. The construction of the Baise Logistics Hub Port, the Jingxi Border Economic Cooperation Zone (Longbang Park), the Chinese section of the China-Vietnam Tra Linh Cross-border Economic Cooperation Zone, and the national backbone cold chain logistics base will be accelerated. Railway container yards and specialized multimodal transport distribution centers will be improved. The layout of railway dedicated lines for port areas and key industrial and mining enterprises will be coordinated. Bulk cargoes such as aluminum and manganese will be guided to shift from road to rail and water transport, continuously reducing comprehensive logistics costs and deepening the integrated and linked development of industry and logistics.
A systematic matrix of major projects will be planned to solidify the development foundation of the entire region. In the railway sector, the Huangtong-Baise Railway will be completed, the Yunnan-Guangxi border railway will be constructed in sections, preliminary work for the second line of the Nanning-Kunming Railway (Baise to Weisu section) will commence, and efforts will be made to secure the inclusion of a high-speed rail project in the national plan. In the highway network sector, the expansion project of the G80 Guangzhou-Kunming Expressway (Nanning to Baise section) will be completed. The construction of highways such as Longlin Weile to Gebu Phase II, Xingyi to Guangnan (Guangxi section), Baina, Ba Lingyun Tian, and Pingguo to Napo will be accelerated, along with planning for cross-provincial connecting roads. In the national and provincial highway sector, the G219 border road will be fully connected, and the urban bypass sections of G324 and G323, as well as county ring roads, will be upgraded. In the water transport and port sector, the navigation facility of the Baise Water Control Project will be completed. The construction of the Youjiang second-class waterway and several second-line ship locks will be advanced, and the operational capacity of Tianyang and Pingguo port areas will be expanded. In the aviation and logistics sector, preliminary work for the Baise Bama Airport expansion will be accelerated, and Leye General Airport will be completed. Concurrently, the Baise Logistics Hub Port, Guangxi Aluminum Products Warehousing and Trading Center, and border cold chain bases will be built. Supporting railway dedicated lines for the logistics hub, Tiangui Aluminum, and Chinalco Logistics will be completed, addressing the infrastructure weaknesses for water-rail combined transport.
Adhering to a medium- to long-term development vision, Baise will shape a new pattern for maritime development. Baise will focus on building a core port-adjacent hub in the upper reaches of the Pinglu Canal, a center for southwestern land-sea conversion, and a highland for "China-ASEAN" border cross-border industrial cooperation. It aims to create a development pattern characterized by smooth channels, high-end industries, vibrant openness, and shared prosperity between urban and rural areas, providing a replicable demonstration model for inland border cities seeking maritime strength. It will always adhere to a people-centered development philosophy, ensuring the benefits of maritime development reach the grassroots and benefit the people. Employment opportunities will be expanded through port-adjacent and border industrial clusters, absorbing reservoir resettlers, border residents, and rural laborers for local employment. Relying on cold chain logistics, cross-border e-commerce, and border resident mutual trade, diverse income-generating channels will be broadened, supporting the development of border resident cooperatives and local small and micro business entities. Relying on comprehensive transportation upgrades, urban-rural infrastructure shortcomings will be addressed, narrowing regional development gaps. Revenues from industry, foreign trade, and finance will be used to support public services such as education, healthcare, and elderly care in border townships, ensuring a balanced allocation of urban and rural livelihood resources. The green and low-carbon transformation of port-adjacent industries will be upheld, coordinating waterway development, park construction, and watershed ecological management to achieve an organic unity of industrial efficiency, ecological quality, and increased income for the people, allowing the fruits of maritime economy construction to benefit every household.
Seizing major strategic opportunities for transformation and leapfrog development, Baise is transforming from a landlocked dead-end for openness into a river-sea intermodal hub, and from a simple transit channel into a cross-border industrial highland. The city persists in using Party building to lead comprehensive maritime development, relying on major projects like the Pinglu Canal to connect the main land-sea linkage artery. It stabilizes the economic fundamentals with characteristic port-adjacent industries, expands international cooperation space through high-level opening up, and systematically solves development bottlenecks such as factor supply, industrial hierarchy, and institutional mechanisms. This exploration forms a distinctive practice path for an inland border city to seek maritime strength. In the next step, Baise will continue to closely adhere to the overall layout of "one axis driving, two wings linking, land-sea coordination, and comprehensive maritime focus." It will promote the implementation of major projects through project lists and task files, deeply advance reforms and innovations in various fields, continuously release new productive forces in the maritime economy, actively take responsibility and contribute to the construction of the New Western Land-Sea Corridor and Guangxi's comprehensive maritime development strategy, and strive to write a new chapter in the high-quality development and common prosperity of border and river-adjacent regions.
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