The Southwest Frontier—Building a New High Ground for Open Development (Striving on a New Journey, Making Achievements in a New Era—The Magnificent Frontier) People's Daily Online, July 6, 2022, 08:29 Follow “After filing customs declarations online at 9 a.m., the goods can be loaded onto the nearest rail-sea intermodal train by 11 a.m., traveling directly from Chongqing to Qinzhou Port in Guangxi and then shipped out to Southeast Asia, South Asia, and other regions,” said Liu Yizhen, Assistant General Manager of the Land-Sea New Channel Operation Co., Ltd. Since the beginning of this year, the company has exported various goods, including mechanical products, totaling 29,000 TEUs—a 20% increase over the same period last year. In January 2020, during his inspection tour in Yunnan, General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out that we should proactively serve and integrate into major national development strategies, use greater openness to promote greater development, and accelerate the construction of international corridors connecting us with neighboring countries. In April 2021, while inspecting Guangxi, General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized integrating into the joint building of the Belt and Road Initiative, high-level co-building of the Western Land-Sea New Channel, vigorously developing the marine economy, promoting China-ASEAN open cooperation, and making good use of the free trade pilot zones to better transform our unique geographical advantages into advantages for open development. Keeping in mind General Secretary Xi Jinping’s instructions, in recent years, Guangxi and Yunnan have leveraged the implementation of national strategies such as the Western Land-Sea New Channel, focusing on jointly building the Belt and Road Initiative. They have continuously strengthened cooperation with neighboring countries on infrastructure development, optimized customs clearance services, and promoted upgrading industrial cooperation, turning their geographical advantages into developmental strengths and achieving a higher level of opening up to the outside world. Vegetables, fresh flowers, fertilizers, feed, daily commodities... Huge cranes lift containers filled with various goods onto trains, which then travel along the China-Laos Railway from Kunming to Vientiane, the capital of Laos. In December 2021, the China-Laos Railway officially opened to traffic, making the journey from Kunming to Vientiane no longer fraught with high mountains or long distances. “The ‘Lancang-Mekong Express’ international freight train on the China-Laos Railway departs from Kunming and can reach Vientiane in as little as 26 hours,” said Xu Chao, Deputy General Manager of the China Railway Intermodal Transport Co., Ltd. Kunming Central Station. As of June 30 this year, the China-Laos Railway has cumulatively carried 4 million passenger trips and 4.94 million tons of cargo. As the China-Laos Railway speeds along, ships in the Beibu Gulf ride the waves. On June 13, Berth No. 501—the first LNG loading and unloading terminal in Fangchenggang Port of the Beibu Gulf—welcomed its first foreign vessel safely docking—a Panamanian cargo ship carrying 3,434 tons of liquefied natural gas. “The Beibu Gulf Port has stepped up investment in port infrastructure, and a number of high-grade waterways and large-scale berth facilities have been completed one after another, continuously enhancing the port’s throughput capacity,” said Li Yanqiang, Chairman of the Guangxi Beibu Gulf Port Group. By the end of 2021, container rail services from the Beibu Gulf Port had reached 13 provinces, and container liner routes covered more than 200 ports in over 100 countries and regions worldwide. While upgrading infrastructure, customs clearance services at border ports are also being optimized. At the Mohan Railway Port in Yunnan, the newly commissioned H986 railway large-container inspection equipment can automatically scan an entire train while it is moving normally, taking only two minutes per train. “Starting in June this year, the ‘Railway Fast Pass’ model for China-Vietnam freight trains has achieved bidirectional connectivity across regions. The trains can submit applications at the customs office of origin, completing all procedures—including declaration and inspection—in one stop. Upon arrival at the border port, no further customs formalities are required, saving about 24 hours compared to previous practices and reducing costs by more than 200 yuan per container,” said Liang Peng from Sinotrans Guangxi Co., Ltd. Kunming Customs has introduced 13 measures to facilitate customs clearance, adopting both transit export and nationwide integrated customs clearance modes, enabling rapid clearance under full-chain customs supervision. Nanning Customs has implemented reform initiatives such as “two-step declaration” and “direct delivery from shipside and direct loading upon arrival”—optimizing customs clearance services and making the path to openness even smoother. On January 1, 2022, the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) officially came into effect, bringing new opportunities for open development to Guangxi and Yunnan. “This shipment weighs 7.3 tons and includes household items and hair accessories, soon to be delivered to customers in RCEP member countries,” said Li Yan, Operations Director of Best Supply Chain (Pingxiang) Co., Ltd. at the Cross-border E-commerce Public Clearance Center in Pingxiang City, Guangxi. “In the first quarter of this year, our company’s cross-border e-commerce exports exceeded 210 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 12.6%.” Seizing the benefits of RCEP and promoting the upgrading of international industrial cooperation, the two provinces are stepping on the accelerator: Guangxi is speeding up the construction of a new cross-border e-commerce trading system. On June 9, the China-ASEAN (Pingxiang) Cross-Border Industry Service Cloud Platform project was launched, expected to incubate hundreds of livestreaming and financial enterprises. In January 2022, Yunnan issued a related action plan, proposing 21 measures across five areas based on RCEP content: consolidating exports of agricultural products such as fruits, vegetables, and flowers to ASEAN; expanding exports of products like matsutake mushrooms, coffee, and tea to Japan, South Korea, and other countries; promoting imports of high-tech products; and striving to achieve a comprehensive strategy of “internal and external coordination and two-way opening.” Building a new high ground for open development, Guangxi and Yunnan are moving forward steadily and surely, with a promising future ahead.