Since the start of this year, China has delivered an impressive report card on opening-up. In the first three quarters, the country's total goods imports and exports reached 39.94 trillion yuan, the fastest growth rate for the same period in nearly five years. At the same time, the Hainan Free Trade Port's island-wide independent customs operation got off to a smooth start, the first China (Ningxia)-Central Asia Economic and Trade Matchmaking Exchange Meeting was held, and the Pinglu Canal was officially opened to navigation, all of which are helping China build a new pattern of opening-up. Recently, a journalists' delegation on the "Vitality China Research Tour" visited Guangxi, Hainan, and Ningxia to explore new achievements in high-level opening-up.
Every day, boxes of fresh fruit from ASEAN are transported to the China-ASEAN (Chongzuo) Fruit Trading Center in Guangxi. After unloading and transferring to other vehicles, they are quickly shipped to markets across the country. Guangxi is a key gateway for ASEAN specialty products, especially fruit, entering China. For every three imported ASEAN fruits consumed in China, one enters through a Guangxi port. After being picked in orchards in Thailand and Vietnam, these fruits can clear customs through Guangxi ports and reach domestic consumers' tables in as little as 48 hours. Lu Xinning, member of the Standing Committee of the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region Party Committee and vice chairman of the autonomous region, said: "To improve trade facilitation, Guangxi has rolled out a set of innovative combined measures. First, we have strengthened trading platforms by establishing China-ASEAN fruit trading centers in Nanning, Qinzhou, and Chongzuo. Second, we have innovated customs clearance models, fully promoting advance declaration and two-step declaration at all 22 ports across the region. Third, we have optimized regulatory mechanisms, advancing pilot reforms in rail-sea intermodal transport, cross-border e-commerce, and border resident mutual trade, cutting logistics costs by more than 20%."
China has remained ASEAN's largest trading partner for 17 consecutive years, and Guangxi, which shares both land and sea borders with ASEAN countries, is precisely China's frontier and window for opening-up and cooperation with ASEAN. In recent years, Guangxi has continued to improve trade facilitation with ASEAN. At the Youyiguan Port in Pingxiang, Guangxi, pre-registered drivers and passengers can clear customs in as little as 15 seconds by swiping their documents, pressing their fingerprints, and having their faces recognized. Truck driver Zheng Shucheng often hauls goods from Guangzhou to Vietnam, clearing customs and exiting through the Youyiguan Port in Guangxi, and he has clearly felt that clearance efficiency here is getting higher and higher. In addition to the Beibu Gulf connecting to multiple ASEAN countries, Guangxi also connects eastward to the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area and radiates westward to the southwestern hinterland of Yunnan, Guizhou, Sichuan, and Chongqing. It is an important gateway organically linking the Belt and Road Initiative. Over the past two years, Guangxi has been making efforts on multiple fronts to transform its unique geographical advantages into advantages for opening-up and development. Lu Xinning said: "First, we will use opening-up to expand the golden corridor, seize the major opportunity of the Pinglu Canal, and vigorously develop the maritime economy. Second, we will use opening-up to strengthen golden platforms and polish the 'golden signboard' of the China-ASEAN Expo and Investment Summit. Third, we will use opening-up to create a golden engine, proactively laying out artificial intelligence as a driving engine for trade digitalization, strengthening cooperation with ASEAN in artificial intelligence, and pursuing a differentiated path of R&D in Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou, integration in Guangxi, and application in ASEAN."
Just last month, the Pinglu Canal was completed and opened to navigation, creating the shortest water transport corridor from the southwestern region to ASEAN. This will effectively reduce logistics costs and promote connectivity. Since the Pinglu Canal opened, daily cargo throughput at Nanning Port has exceeded 20,000 tons, and September's cargo throughput set a new monthly record since the port was established. Lu Xinning said: "The Pinglu Canal is a major strategic opportunity to reshape Guangxi's opening-up pattern. The Party Committee and government of the autonomous region are making every effort to build a land-sea interconnected opening hub and achieve upgrades in three major capacities. First, upgrade corridor transport capacity and clear logistics bottlenecks. Second, upgrade port hub capacity. Third, upgrade two-way radiation capacity. Guangxi will continue to amplify its land-sea interconnection advantages, serve as a bridgehead for China-ASEAN cooperation, and accelerate Belt and Road construction."
Recently, a cargo ship on a direct coconut route from Indonesia to Hainan arrived at Hainan's Yangpu International Container Terminal, carrying about 2,800 tons of husked coconuts. Hainan is the country's largest coconut processing base. Two years ago, the "Coconut Express" was launched, cutting the shipping cycle from 40 days to 7 days. On December 18, 2025, the Hainan Free Trade Port officially launched island-wide independent customs operation. After the launch, many imported goods have enjoyed policies such as exemption from import tariffs, and these husked coconuts are among the imported "zero-tariff" goods. Now, more than 10 months have passed since the Hainan Free Trade Port began island-wide independent customs operation. How effective has it been? Ba Teer, member of the Standing Committee of the Hainan Provincial Party Committee and executive vice governor, said: "Since the customs operation began, overall operations have been stable and orderly, completing the first step of the three-step phased goals for building the Hainan Free Trade Port. The impact is mainly reflected in 'three new' aspects: first, a new frontier for China's opening-up; second, a new hot spot for mutually beneficial regional cooperation; third, a new engine for promoting economic globalization. The number of visa-free countries has reached 88, and more than 180 countries and regions have invested in Hainan, with growing appeal to factor resources at home and abroad."
The island-wide independent customs operation of the Hainan Free Trade Port was once mistakenly thought by some to mean closing off the island and affecting people's freedom to come and go. In fact, this is a misunderstanding. The customs operation here means building Hainan Island into a special customs supervision zone. The free trade port and other countries and regions outside China's customs territory are treated as the "first line," while the relationship with the mainland is treated as the "second line," implementing an import and export management system of "opening up the first line, controlling the second line, and freedom within the island." After the customs operation began, the number of import "zero-tariff" commodity categories reached more than 6,600, accounting for 74% of all commodity categories. Ba Teer said: "We are vigorously implementing and optimizing policies, using the enterprise 'policy express train' to open up the 'last mile' of implementation, and promoting expanded opening-up pilots in value-added telecommunications, biotechnology, and wholly foreign-owned hospitals. We are opening channels for policy and industrial transformation and focusing on building a modern industrial system with Hainan's distinctive features and advantages. We are strengthening the systematic integration of reforms and rolling out landmark achievements with free trade port characteristics, such as tax collection and management for 'zero-tariff' goods."
At a foreign-funded enterprise in Haikou, staff are debugging a new fully automated packaging production line. Not long ago, this production equipment was imported through "zero-tariff" treatment, saving the company about 1.3 million yuan in tariffs. The raw and auxiliary materials needed for daily production can also be imported "zero-tariff." After processing and selling to the mainland, those meeting the processing value-added tariff exemption policy can also enjoy tariff reductions. In addition, Hainan Free Trade Port's corporate income tax preferential policy saved the company nearly 8 million yuan in corporate income tax last year. Since the customs operation began, the Hainan Free Trade Port has established trade ties with more than 220 countries and regions. As of the end of September this year, Hainan's total foreign trade imports and exports reached 300.45 billion yuan, up 49.3% year on year. Newly added enterprises totaled 176,000, up 91.4% year on year. Ba Teer said: "After the customs operation, Hainan has the foundational conditions to advance opening-up on a larger scale and at a deeper level. We will more proactively promote reform and opening-up in all fields, build a strategic intersection point for the domestic and international dual circulation, play a leading role in advancing high-level opening-up, and build the Hainan Free Trade Port into an important gateway leading China's opening-up in the new era."
Unlike Hainan and Guangxi, Ningxia has no border and no sea. How can it integrate into the country's broader opening-up pattern? In 2012, the state established the Ningxia Inland Opening-Up Economic Pilot Zone to continuously deepen economic and trade exchanges and cooperation with Arab countries and Belt and Road partner countries. In recent years, Ningxia has been building a multidimensional opening corridor to break through the constraints of its inland location. Today, relying on aviation corridor advantages, Ningxia's specialty products such as cool-climate vegetables can reach Dubai in 8 hours and enter the Middle East market. Wang Li, vice chairman of the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, said: "We have built a multidimensional opening corridor pattern of 'eastward connection, westward export, southward expansion, northward advance plus the Air Silk Road.' Eastward, we regularly operate rail-sea intermodal 'single-document' trains, which can reach 35 countries and 61 ports through port transshipment. Westward, we have opened Central Asian flaxseed import trains. Southward, we connect to Southeast Asian markets such as Laos and Vietnam. Northward, we keep open resource import channels from Russia."
In developing an inland open economy, promoting superior industries, excellent enterprises, and quality products to "go global" is an important strategy for Ningxia to expand opening-up. In the workshop of a new energy enterprise in Ningxia, reporters saw a batch of photovoltaic bracket products being produced at an accelerated pace. A few months ago, at the first China (Ningxia)-Central Asia Economic and Trade Matchmaking Exchange Meeting, they had just received new orders and exported 1,000 tons of photovoltaic brackets to Uzbekistan for the first time. The exchange meeting reached 23 cooperation projects in total, and this new energy enterprise also achieved a major breakthrough in overseas markets. They are not simply selling products, but delivering an integrated "photovoltaic brackets plus full-process solutions" package. International industry events and national-level exhibitions are important platforms for Ningxia to continuously expand its international circle of friends. Wine is Ningxia's most representative specialty and advantageous industry. Just a few days ago, the 47th World Congress of Vine and Wine opened in Yinchuan. This was the first time in more than a century since the congress was founded that it landed in Asia, giving Ningxia more opportunities to engage and exchange with the global wine industry. At the same time, the China-Arab States Expo, which Ningxia continues to host, has further expanded the breadth and depth of China-Arab economic and trade cooperation. At the seventh China-Arab States Expo held last year, all 22 Arab countries participated, and intended contract value exceeded 100 billion yuan. Wang Li said: "The China-Arab States Expo has attracted 116 countries and regions and more than 9,700 enterprises, with signed projects involving modern agriculture, energy and chemicals, equipment manufacturing, and many other fields."
From World Cup stadium turf to Dubai dining tables, from concentrated milk protein to live dairy cows and beef cattle, Ningxia's distinctive technologies and products are accelerating their "going global" pace. At present, Ningxia has carried out economic and trade exchanges with more than 170 countries and regions. Over the past five years, the region's total foreign trade imports and exports have remained stable at around 20 billion yuan per year, forming an export system supported by multiple points, including specialty agricultural products and new materials. Wang Li said: "Standing at a new starting point for development, we will promote more pragmatic exchanges and cooperation, build more convenient opening corridors, and develop a more distinctive open economy. We will continue to connect with the vast domestic market, expand new space along the Silk Road, and turn the 'experimental field' of the inland opening-up economic pilot zone into a high-yield field and a model field, so that the world can see a more open, more confident, and more dynamic Ningxia."
In today's world, unilateralism and protectionism are intensifying, while multilateralism and free trade are facing severe challenges. Yet through vivid practices of high-level opening-up, China is honoring its opening commitments with concrete actions and demonstrating to the world its determination and confidence to unswervingly expand high-level opening-up. The 15th Five-Year Plan has made arrangements for "expanding high-level opening-up and creating a new局面 of win-win cooperation." This not only draws a blueprint for China's future development but also declares to the world that China's door of opening-up will not be closed; it will only open wider, and we will share opportunities and create prosperity together with countries around the world.
Comments