China has inaugurated the Pinglu Canal, a 134-kilometre waterway in Guangxi (an autonomous region in the country's far south bordering Vietnam) that links the Xijiang River to the Beibu Gulf, giving landlocked provinces in southwest China — including Yunnan and Guizhou — a shorter and cheaper route to Southeast Asian markets. Authorities say the canal will cut shipping distances by roughly 560 kilometres and reduce logistics costs by 18 to 30 percent, with annual transport savings estimated at around $700 million. The project, built at a cost of approximately $10.8 billion and forming part of Xi Jinping's Belt and Road Initiative, comes as China–Southeast Asia trade surged 18 percent year-on-year in the first half of 2026, underscoring the strategic weight of the new corridor.