After four years of construction, the Pinglu Canal has recently been opened to navigation. This is the first grand canal connecting the river and the sea that has been planned and constructed at the national level since the founding of the People's Republic of China. Its project scale, innovative technology, and significance have aroused heated discussions among foreign media.
Vietnam's "Da Nang News" believes that the Binh Loc Canal is an important part of the new international land-sea trade channel and will further strengthen the economic ties between China and ASEAN through goods, investment and cross-border cooperation. For ASEAN countries that export large quantities of fruits, rice, coffee, and aquatic products to China every year, the Pinglu Canal means adding a high-volume, low-cost logistics option.
Qatar's Al Jazeera website said that at the time of the opening of the Pinglu Canal, trade between China and ASEAN is growing rapidly. Data from the General Administration of Customs of China show that in the first half of 2026, China's imports and exports to ASEAN reached 4.34 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 18.2%. The article stated that the Pinglu Canal will connect inland shipping with transportation networks such as the New Western Land-Sea Corridor, and is expected to provide new support for trade and industrial chain cooperation between China and ASEAN.
Saudi Arabia’s Economic News believes that the Pinglu Canal will not only promote connectivity between China’s inland areas and overseas markets, but will also further promote economic and trade exchanges between China and ASEAN.
Malaysia’s Malay Mail website stated that the economic impact of the Pinglu Canal will far exceed the transportation itself. The greater opportunity lies in ASEAN's agricultural products, commodities, finished products and intermediate products with increasingly advanced technology content being able to penetrate into the western China market. The region should focus on this emerging channel and focus on research on issues such as customs coordination, port connectivity, multimodal transport, digitization of trade documents, and industrial cooperation.
Rwanda's "Africa-China Review" website published an article saying that the Pinglu Canal is an important milestone in China's efforts to strengthen the connection between its inland economy and the global market. The complexity of its construction demonstrates the growing sophistication of Chinese engineering technologies and China's ability to coordinate these technologies with large-scale physical construction. African countries can draw inspiration from China's construction experience. Another article published on the website believes that the canal demonstrates China's ability to coordinate and allocate financial, administrative and technical resources around long-term development goals. "It can be called another infrastructure miracle and a major project that can rewrite the economic landscape."
Kenyan news website KeNews published an article saying that the Pinglu Canal is expected to change the logistics pattern in southwest China and provide a reference for other countries exploring river-sea combined transportation.
Radio Canada International quoted Jean-Paul Rodrigo, a professor of maritime management at Texas A&M University in Galveston, as saying that direct investment returns are not the only goal of the Pinglu Canal. "Once the new channel is created, various chain effects will follow, such as new investments, new markets and new trade relations."
Spain's El Pais published an article saying that China is also promoting multiple waterway projects in Jiangxi, Henan, Hubei, Hunan and other provinces to renovate navigable rivers, reduce cargo transportation costs, stimulate the development of local industries, and continue to promote inland areas to connect with the international market.
(Bangkok, Dubai, Johannesburg, Washington, and Madrid, October 3. Reporters Zhang Jinruo, Wang Xuchen, Dai Kairan, Li Zhiwei, and Yan Huan)
