Jonathan Choi Koon-shum, president of the Chinese General Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong and chairman of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Bay Area Entrepreneurs Alliance Photo: Chu Daye/GT

The newly opened Pinglu Canal can be compared in significance with the world's most famous canals and it will help expand China's trade southward, strengthening economic and trade ties between China and ASEAN, Jonathan Choi Koon-shum, an Asian business leader, said on the sidelines of the 23rd China-ASEAN Expo (CAEXPO) in Nanning, China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.

The Pinglu Canal is an epoch-making project of the century, and its significance is comparable to the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, the Suez Canal, and the Panama Canal, said Choi, the president of the Chinese General Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong and chairman of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Bay Area Entrepreneurs Alliance.

Once the canal is fully connected, it will open up a major river-to-sea intermodal transport corridor in Southwest China, revitalizing Guangxi's local logistics and various industrial resources, reshaping the logistics landscape of the greater southwestern region and enabling goods from Southwest China's Chongqing Municipality, Sichuan and Yunnan provinces and other areas to reach the sea through this corridor, Choi said.

The canal is expected to efficiently connect the river-to-sea corridor with the China-Europe Railway Express, smoothing the trade route to Europe. Extending southward, it will further strengthen economic and trade ties between China and ASEAN and open up broad scope for cooperation among the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, Guangxi and ASEAN member states, said Choi, who is also chairman of Hong Kong's SunWah Group and has close business ties in the ASEAN market.

The Pinglu Canal, a landmark project strengthening regional land-sea connectivity, officially opened to navigation in South China's Guangxi on Wednesday, just ahead of the CAEXPO, which kicked off on Thursday.

The 134.2-kilometer-long canal can accommodate vessels of up to 5,000 tons and cut the inland waterway distance to the sea by more than 560 kilometers for cargo ships from China's southwestern provinces. It is expected to reduce overall logistics costs by 18 to 30 percent and save more than 5 billion yuan in transportation costs each year.

ASEAN has unique advantages in agricultural and related products and aquatic resources. All parties can deepen industrial cooperation to generate more value and achieve mutual benefit and win-win results, Choi said. Hong Kong companies can fully leverage their strengths in professional services and global trade networks to help ensure smooth and secure investment in ASEAN by companies from the Chinese mainland.

The significance of the Pinglu Canal is also noted by other business leaders from the region attending the expo.

Vikrom Kromadit, chairman of the Thailand-China Business Council and CEO of Amata Corporation, was quoted in a report by domestic news portal 21jingji.com as saying that the Pinglu Canal is an example of how to reduce logistics costs.

"Transporting goods by ships is the most economical way of moving cargoes around. Then comes the train, and the truck and at last the plane...," Kromadit said. "Although some of the shipping concerning the Pinglu Canal involves moving goods between larger and smaller ships, still the cost advantage is substantial."

If successfully operated, the canal will be a great example of China's logistics advantages, the Thai tycoon said.

At the expo, ASEAN Secretary-General Kao Kim Hourn also hailed the recently opened Pinglu Canal as a project of significant historical importance, according to China Global Television Network.

"We do a lot of trade between the two sides, meaning that we have to use port to port. There are lots of ports in China, and there are a lot of ports in ASEAN. ASEAN and China are neighbors as defined by geography and this canal opens new opportunities for both sides," the ASEAN official said.

Kao called on China and ASEAN to seize the opportunity to deepen economic cooperation.