Rejoice! China wants more trade with ASEAN unlike tariff addicted crumbling superpower USA .

[syed putra]

Belt and Road Initiative
EconomyChina Economy

‘Time is ripe’: why China is eyeing another vast canal link to Southeast Asia​

China has almost completed the US$10 billion Pinglu Canal connecting its heartlands to Southeast Asia. Now, it is mulling an even larger waterway​

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Carol Yangin Beijing
Published: 9:00am, 9 Feb 2026

China has almost finished building the US$10 billion Pinglu Canal to deepen trade ties between its southwestern provinces and Southeast Asia. Now, it is considering an even more ambitious – and expensive – project further inland.

The Xianggui Canal would be a 300km (186 mile) waterway that effectively acts as an extension of the new Pinglu Canal, giving cities right at the heart of the Chinese interior direct access to the Gulf of Tonkin, known in China as the Beibu Gulf.

Like the earlier project, the aim is to give China’s inland cities quicker and easier access to global shipping lanes, easing shipments to the country’s biggest export market: the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean).

 

[Boonsiong]

China wants more trade = China wants more export but don’t want to import

 

[syed putra]

China wants more trade = China wants more export but don’t want to import

They Import durians.

 

[laksaboy]

Of course it's SCMP which is still hyping up the Belt and Road pipe dream.