On August 31st, the first batch of exhibits for the East Expo from Malaysia and Thailand entered China through Guangxi's Qinzhou Port, eventually arriving at the Nanning International Convention and Exhibition Center. By September 16th, the Pinglu Canal officially opened to navigation, coinciding with the maiden voyage of the "Nanning Port to Can Tho Port, Vietnam" direct sea-rail freight route, with initial cargo departing from Nanning Port, transiting the Pinglu Canal into the Beibu Gulf, and heading toward ASEAN. Exhibits arrive across the sea, while cargo ships depart along the river; this dual flow highlights the evolving landscape of China-ASEAN connectivity.

Guangxi, sharing land and sea borders with ASEAN nations, serves as China's frontier and window for opening up and cooperation with the region. As a flagship project of the New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor, the Pinglu Canal connects the Xijiang River system in the north and the Beibu Gulf in the south, directly establishing the shortest, most economical, and most convenient route for Guangxi and southwest China to access ASEAN. This year's East Expo, a vital platform for China-ASEAN economic and trade cooperation, coincides with the canal's opening; the event features a dedicated Pinglu Canal exhibition area, hosts promotional and matchmaking activities focused on shipping logistics, cross-border trade, and port industries, and offers site inspection tours, making the collaborative opportunities presented by this new waterway more tangible and accessible.

Guangxi Rongxing Zhongke Development Co., Ltd., located adjacent to the Pinglu Canal, exports approximately 2,500 tons of household paper annually to ASEAN markets including Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. The company's deputy general manager, Qin Yubin, noted that exporting via the canal through the Beibu Gulf significantly cuts transit time and saves about 30% on shipping costs. The new route is also drawing keen interest from ASEAN stakeholders. Chen Weili, director of the Thailand Board of Investment's Guangzhou office, stated that the canal's operation will further streamline Thailand-China logistics channels, boosting bilateral trade and investment. Thai entrepreneur Titinan Ananat expressed hopes of linking Guangxi's waterway network with Thailand's local port and warehousing infrastructure to establish a two-way logistics chain.

Beyond the new maritime route, border ports are also accelerating their operations. At the Friendship Pass border port on the China-Vietnam border, cross-border trucks move back and forth continuously. Utilizing the Friendship Pass border inspection fast-track system, pre-registered drivers and passengers can clear customs in as little as 15 seconds through just three steps: scanning documents, facial recognition, and fingerprint verification. "The streamlined procedures and faster processing help companies reduce cargo damage, improve transport efficiency, and lower logistics costs," said Yu Weipeng, a business representative at Guangxi Pan-Asia International Freight Forwarding Co., Ltd. In 2025, the Friendship Pass border inspection station processed over 1 million vehicle crossings for the first time; from the start of this year to September 2nd, it has already cleared more than 800,000 vehicles, a 22% year-on-year increase.

Looking at the broader region, a multi-dimensional transport network linking China's west with ASEAN is being continuously densified. The New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor's freight trains now reach 166 stations across 76 cities in 18 provincial-level regions; the Beibu Gulf Port's container shipping routes have expanded to 103, including 64 foreign trade routes, with increasingly close ties to major ASEAN ports. China-Vietnam freight trains have been upgraded from three departures per week to daily "everyday trains"; in the first half of this year, Guangxi-originated China-Vietnam trains dispatched 16,810 TEUs of export cargo. Electronic products, machinery, and equipment are moving south at a faster pace, while ASEAN specialty goods like durians, mangosteens, and coconuts travel northward by rail.

The corridor connects mountains to seas, and also links increasingly integrated markets. In 2025, China-ASEAN bilateral trade volume exceeded $1 trillion for the first time. China has remained ASEAN's largest trading partner for 17 consecutive years, while ASEAN has been China's largest trading partner for six years running. From January to July this year, total China-ASEAN trade reached $744.41 billion, up 24.7% year-on-year. As transport networks expand and economic exchanges become more frequent, China-ASEAN connectivity is also deepening, moving from mere physical links toward deeper institutional alignment. In 2025, China and ASEAN signed the Protocol to Upgrade the China-ASEAN Free Trade Area (FTA 3.0), which for the first time incorporates supply chain connectivity into the institutionalized cooperation framework. Lei Xiaohua, deputy director of the Southeast Asia Research Institute at the Guangxi Academy of Social Sciences, commented that as the FTA 3.0 protocol moves toward ratification and implementation, Guangxi can leverage platforms such as the Pilot Free Trade Zone and the China-ASEAN Industrial Cooperation Zone to strengthen institutional innovation in areas like rules of origin, customs facilitation, standards certification, and cross-border data, thereby expanding its opening-up advantages from mere transport convenience to broader rule alignment. Between mountains and seas, the increasingly dense connectivity network between China and ASEAN is continually opening up new spaces for expanded openness and cooperation.