Hot interpretation On April 22, after five years, General Secretary Xi Jinping's footsteps once again set foot on the mountain city of Chongqing. The first stop of the inspection was the Chongqing International Logistics Hub Park.
The general secretary walked into the park and had in-depth conversations with freight truck drivers, train employees, and park managers in front of the dense container and China-Europe freight locomotives to learn about the local acceleration of the construction of a new land-sea corridor in the western region.
In the hinterland of Chongqing, why is there such a "new land-sea channel"?
In the past, Chongqing, which is not near the sea or along the border, has been suffering from the lack of convenient and smooth foreign logistics channels, and the export of products is either to the east through the coastal areas "across the sea", or through high-priced air transport channels.
Respond to the situation. In March 2011, the mainland's first China-Europe train line "Yuxinou" was opened in Chongqing, shortening the time and space distance between the western inland and European trade and transportation from more than 40 days to about 12 days. Since then, Chongqing has signed a framework agreement with Guangxi, Guizhou, Gansu and other provinces and autonomous regions on the "Southbound Corridor", opening up a new land-sea trade channel in the inland area.
In September 2017, the new western land-sea corridor was officially put into operation. In August 2019, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) issued the Master Plan for the New Western Land-Sea Corridor, which officially elevated the new Western Land-Sea Corridor to a national strategy. In 2022, the report of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) clearly proposed to "accelerate the construction of a new land-sea corridor in the western region".
The general secretary has always been very concerned about the construction of this corridor. In recent years, when the general secretary inspected Guizhou, Shaanxi, Guangxi, and other provinces and autonomous regions along the new western land-sea corridor, he repeatedly gave important instructions on the high-level joint construction of the new western land-sea corridor.
As an important national central city in mainland China and the only municipality directly under the central government in the central and western regions, Chongqing has a unique and pivotal position in regional development and opening up.
With Chongqing as the operation center and the western provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities as the key nodes, the new western land-sea corridor uses railways, sea, highways and other modes of transportation to connect the Silk Road Economic Belt in the north and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road in the south, and coordinates the Yangtze River Economic Belt, which has reversed the geographical disadvantage of the western inland region in the opening up and laid an important strategic position for Chongqing.
The general secretary of the Chongqing international logistics hub park, is the China-Europe train (Yuxinou), the western land-sea new channel rail-sea intermodal train departure station, it to the east, west, north and south four directions of the international train line reached 62, can radiate 112 countries of 503 ports, China-Europe train (Chengdu-Chongqing line) comprehensive operation index has long maintained the first in the country.
Experts believe that the interconnection between the China-Europe Railway Express and the new land-sea corridor in the western region will effectively connect the "Belt and Road" externally and promote the expansion and opening up of the western region internally, which will help further promote the construction of a new development pattern with the domestic cycle as the main body and the domestic and international dual cycles promoting each other.
The new land-sea corridor in the western region is becoming a powerful engine for promoting high-quality Belt and Road cooperation in the western region.
Since its operation in 2017, the new western land-sea corridor has expanded from "one line" to "one network", from the initial cooperation between Chongqing and Guangxi, to a new pattern of "13+2" provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities in China. Today, the new western land-sea corridor has developed from a logistics channel to an economic corridor with strong pulsation, activating the "spring water" of industrial development in the regions along the route.
With the significant reduction of logistics costs, the once isolated western region is relying on the new western land-sea corridor to release new vitality for opening up and development.
Household appliances and new energy vehicles made in the west have been continuously shipped to foreign markets, and special delicacies such as Chongqing hot pot base, Guizhou Zunyi tea, Ningxia wolfberry puree, and Guangxi snail noodles have been served on the tables of countries and regions jointly built by the "Belt and Road". The Thai Golden Pillow Durian "takes" the new western land-sea channel train, and it can be put on the shelves in supermarkets in western cities within 10 days......
According to the data, as of March 29, 200,300 TEUs of container cargo were transported by rail-sea intermodal trains in the new western land-sea corridor this year, a year-on-year increase of 7.2%. The new western land-sea corridor has become a veritable comprehensive international corridor, which is of great significance for strengthening economic and trade cooperation between the mainland and countries along the route and maintaining the stability of the global supply chain.
"Accelerate the construction of the new land-sea corridor and the air Silk Road", "jointly build a new western land-sea corridor at a high level", "better serve the construction of the new western land-sea corridor", and "take the initiative to connect with the new western land-sea corridor"......
All the way, all the way, all the way to prosper. "Made in China" goes to the global market from here, and goods from all over the world enter thousands of households in China from here. It is precisely the east-west two-way mutual aid and the linkage between land and sea at home and abroad that have enabled the western region to have unlimited possibilities for "embracing" the world.