Free trade zones have given a fillip to trade and business ties with Southeast Asia. Zheng Yiran and Shi Ruipeng report
FOR over 20 years, the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region has been a strategic gateway between China and member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, boosting trade ties and communication between both sides.
At a bustling terminal in Qinzhou, Guangxi, a giant bridge crane unloads goods under the control of automated equipment, while container trucks shuttle along a U-shaped wharf, the world's first wharf of such a shape.
A human controller at the dock remotely controls the loading and unloading equipment, using technologies such as artificial intelligence, big data and cloud computing. Through the 5G intelligent cargo system, the dock is becoming more and more efficient and automated.
With more loading and unloading points, it can accommodate more gantry cranes in the yard to improve efficiency. The wharf uses low-speed gantry cranes, said to increase operational efficiency by more than 30 per cent and reduce personnel by 90 per cent.
This is a typical scene at the Qinzhou automated container terminal at Beibu Gulf Port in Guangxi, China's first sea-rail intermodal automated container terminal.
"Automated terminals are more efficient and convenient than traditional ones, with higher container loading and unloading speeds," said Geng Weining, the terminal's deputy general manager.
In the first year of its operations the number of containers handled by each vessel in an hour rose by more than 150 per cent, and the number of containers handled at each berth rose more than 200 per cent, Geng said.
Using electromagnetic navigation, the container truck, weighing 26 metric tonnes, has a parking accuracy of within 2 centimetres and a riding accuracy of 5 cm, Geng said.
In the first eight months of this year cargo throughput at Beibu Gulf Port exceeded 200 million tonnes, 11.35 per cent more than in the corresponding period last year, Beibu Gulf Port Group said.
More than 5 million 20-foot equivalent units of containers were handled by the port from January to August, 15 per cent more than in the corresponding period last year, it said.
The Qinzhou Port Area in China (Guangxi) Pilot Free Trade Zone, where the terminal is located, is one of three free trade zones in Guangxi. In 2019 the State Council, China's Cabinet, issued a notice on the establishment of six pilot free trade zones in China, including opening three such zones in the region.
By February this year there were 17 national opening-up platforms in Guangxi, the China-ASEAN Panorama Think Tank said. The region is gradually building a multi-type, multi-level and open platform system with wide coverage.
Twenty years ago, China, as ASEAN's dialogue partner, became the first country to join the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia, and with ASEAN established a strategic partnership for peace and prosperity.
The combined GDP of China and ASEAN as a share of the global total rose from 6.1 per cent in 2002 to 21.5 per cent last year, and more than 2 billion people are much better off, Chinese Premier Li Qiang said at the opening ceremony of the 20th China-ASEAN Expo and China-ASEAN Business and Investment Summit held in Nanning, Guangxi, in September.
Trade and investment between the two sides has grown despite a weak global economy. The Ministry of Commerce said China-ASEAN trade grew almost 17-fold over the past 20 years, and they have been each other's largest trade partners for three years running. Two-way cumulative investment has surpassed US$380 billion.
Kao Kim Hourn, secretary-general of ASEAN, said: "ASEAN and China's economic performances remain strong despite the challenges and less favourable outlook for the global economy. Both sides have demonstrated remarkable resilience in recovering from the pandemic."
This year ASEAN's economy is forecast to grow 4.6 per cent, and China's economy to grow 5 per cent, he said.
Since the pilot-free trade zones in the region opened, other national-level opening-up platforms have benefitted from Guangxi's efforts to promote regional collaboration with ASEAN member states. For example, established in 2013, China-Malaysia Qinzhou Industrial Park in Qinzhou now has over 25,000 registered enterprises.
Within 11 years of development, the park has achieved total regional GDP of almost 23 billion yuan (US$3.1 billion), with a compound annual growth rate of 30.7 per cent. Total industrial output value has reached 56.4 billion yuan(US$7.7 billion), with a compound annual growth rate of 32.3 per cent. The cumulative total amount of two-way trade stands at 27.8 billion yuan(US$3.8 billion), with actual use of foreign direct investment totalling US$780 million.