The BGEZ Poised for Further Development under the Belt and Road Initiative

With the Beibu Gulf in its South, the Southwest at its back, Pearl River Delta in its East and facing the Southeast Asia, the Beibu Gulf Economic Zone (BGEZ) has developed into China’s important portal towards the ASEAN.

Port of Departure of Maritime Silk Road

The BGEZ, situated in the joint between the Southeast Asia and Northeast Asia, performs as an access to the sea in China’s southwest and an important route for ASEAN countries and Asia-pacific countries into China’s central and western regions. Located in the Beibu Gulf, Hepu (Guangxi, China), is one of the earliest ports of departure of Maritime Silk Road in history. After China unified the South of the Five Ridges, we can see ships in Yangtze River, by way of Lingqu Canal, entered Xijiang River. They set off from Hepu port, sailed along the east of Indo- China Peninsula, passed through the Kra Canal into the Indian Ocean and promoted the friendly exchanges between China and outside world.

Forward Base for Maritime Silk Road

Nanning-Singapore Economic Corridor strings major cities like Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok, Phnom Penh, Ho Chi Minh City, Vientiane, Hanoi and Nanning. Once completed, highways and high-speed rails will shorten the distances between China and ASEAN countries. Starting from Nanning (China), it will be about 1,600 km from Bangkok and 3,500 km from Singapore by highway, reducing travelling time to 20 hours and 40 hours respectively. And the high-speed rail will cost travelers about 7 hours and 16 hours respectively. Experts predict that the channel will even across the Strait of Malacca in the future, and extending to Indonesia. Thus, it can be seen that the Beibu Gulf region acts as a crucial hub to link up with Indo- China Peninsula, integrating into the transportation network of sea, land and air in the region.

Implementing the Maritime Silk Road Initiative

BGEZ will continue exerting much more positive influences on the implementation of 21st Century Maritime Silk Road by virtue of China-ASEAN Expo and China- ASEAN Business & Investment Summit.

Moreover, BGEZ can also develop itself into an innovative frontier position of international exchanges and cooperation on the basis of geographical conditions and historical experience, and make great progress in financial cooperation, transnational logistics and cross-border E-commerce, etc.

On the basis of China-ASEAN “One Axis and Two Wings” and China-Vietnam “Two Corridors and One Circle”, BGEZ attaches great importance to the integration of the relevant national strategies, external conditions and regional development in an effective way, which is a top priority.

China-Vietnam cross-border economic cooperation zones—Dongxing-Mong Cai and Pingxiang-Lang Son—promote the foreign cooperation of BGEZ, enjoying various preferential policies in such aspects of connectivity, border trade and bonded logistics. The cross-border economic zones will progress steadily if the free flow of personnel, free trade of cargoes, and free circulation of currency can be realized.

BGEZ port cluster oriented towards the southwest of China, ASEAN and the rest of world should also vigorously promote the development of transnational logistics by virtue of the bonded policies of China- Malaysia Qinzhou Industrial Park, which is a necessary requirement for implementing the Maritime Silk Road Initiative. In the meantime, implementing an inbound and outbound supervision pattern favorable for building and managing the border economic cooperation zone covering the coastal area of Beibu Gulf and Guangxi (China)-Vietnam borderland will facilitate the exchanges and cooperation between ASEAN and China in a practical way.

Great efforts should be made to develop the cross-border E-commerce, as BGEZ is endowed with particularly favorable natural conditions which other regions of China can hardly match. Integrating cross-border E-commerce with financial cooperation between ASEAN and China means a great deal to border trade in the region.

In addition, it is relatively suitable to develop transnational tourism travelling by the passenger liner along the coastal area of Beibu Gulf.