[Pinglu Canal Officially Opened to Navigation] Today (September 16) morning, the Pinglu Canal, the backbone project of the New Western Land-Sea Corridor, was officially opened to navigation. Construction of the Pinglu Canal started on August 28, 2022. It has a total length of 134.2 kilometers. It is built according to the standard of Class I inland waterways and can navigate 5,000-ton ships. It is the canal with the highest navigation level in China. The Pinglu Canal starts from the mouth of the Pingtang River in Xijin Reservoir Area, Hengzhou City, Nanning in the north, passes through Luwu Town, Lingshan County, Qinzhou in the south, and goes directly to the Beibu Gulf along the Qinjiang River. The project has created four "best in the world": the world's strongest canal navigation capacity, the world's fastest ship lock navigation speed, the world's highest water-saving lock drop, and the world's largest inland water-saving lock. The Pinglu Canal and the New Western Land-Sea Corridor railways and highways complement each other's advantages and build a multimodal transport system, effectively gathering southwest cargo sources, activating regional economic vitality, and continuously improving the logistics efficiency of the New Western Land-Sea Corridor. After the Pinglu Canal is opened to navigation, goods from the southwestern region will go out to sea through the Pinglu Canal, shortening the inland navigation distance by more than 560 kilometers compared with the traditional route, and saving more than 5 billion yuan in transportation costs every year. It is of great significance to promote China's southwest region to move toward the sea, promote the development of the western region in the new era, and build a closer China-ASEAN community with a shared future.