Jun 04, 2026

On June 3, the Pinglu Canal, the first major river-to-sea canal project planned and coordinated at the national level since the founding of the People's Republic of China, achieved full-channel connectivity  and entered the final phase of testing with water. Stretching 134.2 kilometers, the canal begins at the Pingtang River in Hengzhou City, South China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, passes through Luwu Town in Lingshan County, Qinzhou, and connects to the Beibu Gulf via the Qinjiang River. It will fundamentally end Guangxi's long-standing limitation of being "connected to rivers but not to the sea," realizing the vision of "a river's spring waters flowing southward." The strategic significance of this project goes far beyond water conservancy or shipping itself; it will also become a key driver in deepening China-ASEAN cooperation.

Although the Beibu Gulf in Guangxi is the nearest maritime outlet for Southwest China, the lack of a direct river-to-sea corridor has long forced goods from Guangxi and the broader Southwest to detour eastward via the Xijiang River Waterway before reaching Southeast Asian markets. The core value of the Pinglu Canal lies in opening the shortest, most cost-effective, and most efficient sea access route for the region. According to on-site reporting by Singapore's Lianhe Zaobao, the canal is expected to shorten inland waterway transport by about 560 kilometers and reduce logistics costs by approximately 30 percent.

As a two-way corridor linking China and ASEAN across both land and sea, the Pinglu Canal holds significant importance not only for China but also for ASEAN members. In fact, it has drawn considerable attention from ASEAN. Last month, Singapore's Senior Minister Lee Hsien Loong visited Guangxi and specifically inspected the canal and the New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor. Malaysia's The Star noted that once completed, the canal could shorten the transport distance between western China and Singapore by up to 740 kilometers. 

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https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202606/1362804.shtml