Pinglu Canal officially opened to navigation, public opinion in Taiwan focuses on Sun Yat-sen's century-old wish coming true

China News Service, Taipei, September 17th: The Pinglu Canal was officially opened to navigation on the 16th. Public opinion in Taiwan believes that the opening of the Pinglu Canal will help shorten sea voyages, reduce logistics costs, and provide a more convenient channel for freight transportation in southwest China. This will make Dr. Sun Yat-sen's century-old wish come true.

A hundred years ago, Sun Yat-sen proposed the idea of ​​using Qinzhou as the outlet to the sea and shortening the distance to the sea in the southwest in his "National Founding Strategy". Today, the blueprint of yesteryear has become a reality.

The report by Taiwan's China Times News Network described it as "Sun Yat-sen's century-old wish came true" in the title. The report pointed out that the Pinglu Canal has transformed the southwestern region of the mainland from "inland" to "coastal", and the comprehensive logistics cost of goods can be reduced by 18% to 30%, saving about 5.2 billion yuan in social transportation costs every year.

Since the construction of the Pinglu Canal started in 2022, Taiwanese media have continued to pay attention to the progress of the project, and also paid attention to the "canal fever" and water network construction in the central and western parts of the mainland.

An article by Zhongshi News Network in October last year stated that the Pinglu Canal is not an isolated project, but a representative of the construction boom of artificial canals in the central and western provinces of mainland China in recent years. The Hunan-Guangxi Canal, Jianghuai Canal, Jinghan Canal, etc. are also included. Enthusiasm for construction in many places is high. First, due to the large volume and low cost of water transportation, it can effectively reduce regional logistics costs; second, as a major infrastructure project, artificial canals can stimulate the economy, promote employment, and drive upstream and downstream industries.

The report pointed out that as canals are constructed one after another and inland waterways are gradually connected, the mainland will form a water transportation network that "traverses the east and west and radiates north and south", and its economic vitality will also continue to flow.

An article in Taiwan's "Economic Daily" in May this year stated that the Pinglu Canal is expected to solve the dilemma of "nearing the river but not the sea, and not close to the sea" in southwest China and shortening the distance to the sea. From a more macro perspective, it is an important part of the construction of a modern water transportation network in mainland China, and it is also the epitome of the overall planning and construction of the "six networks" of water network, new power grid, computing power network, new generation communication network, urban underground pipe network, and logistics network.

Taiwanese scholar Yan Chensheng recently pointed out in Taiwan's Zhongtian News program that the Pinglu Canal starts from Guangxi and radiates to Yunnan, Guizhou, Chongqing and other western regions, representing the mainland's orientation to promote balanced regional development through major infrastructure construction.