In the wave of globalization, international trade channels are like a lifeline, which can not only promote all-round cooperation and exchanges between countries along the route, but also inject vigorous vitality and vitality into the economic prosperity and development of various countries. Expanding trade channels is not only an economic behavior, but also a strategic consideration to enhance regional competitiveness and ensure regional economic security.

Extremely strategic value

As the starting point of the ancient Silk Road and an important node in the construction of the "Belt and Road", Shaanxi has unique historical heritage and modern strategic value. It not only concerns regional economic development, but also the implementation of the country's opening-up strategy to the west.

Respond to the challenges of anti-globalization. Against the backdrop of a time when the global economic landscape is violently shaking, multiple challenges are forming complex systemic risks, tariff barriers created by unilateralism continue to increase, the global industrial chain is forced to enter a cycle of deep reconstruction, and the "de-risk" strategy triggered by geopolitical conflicts is constantly escalating. These factors are superimposed on each other and are reshaping the basic framework of the world's economic and trade order. In order to meet this challenge, my country has steadily promoted the construction of trade channels through the joint construction of the "Belt and Road", effectively avoided tariff barriers and sanctions risks, continuously deepened its relationship with trading partners, and continuously enhanced its voice in global trade. In 2024, China's total import and export volume of goods was RMB 100 million, an increase of 5.0% year-on-year, of which the import and export volume of countries jointly built the "Belt and Road" was RMB 100 million, an increase of 6.4% year-on-year.

China-Europe Express is at the foot of the Tianshan Mountains

Promote opening up inland areas. For Shaanxi, strengthening the construction of trade channels, and by building modern logistics systems such as land-air transport, international freight trains, and multimodal transport, it has broken the geographical disadvantage of Shaanxi's "no borders and no seas" and promoted Shaanxi from the "economic hinterland" to the "open frontier", further narrowed the development gap with coastal areas, optimized the economic spatial layout, and enhanced the resilience and strategic autonomy of the industrial chain. At the same time, by expanding trade channels, Shaanxi enterprises will be encouraged to enter more international markets, expand exports of goods and services, and inject strong vitality into the high-quality development of the regional economy. In 2024, the total value of imports and exports of goods in Shaanxi was 454.074 billion yuan, an increase of 12.3% year-on-year, ranking seventh in the country. Among them, imports and exports by land were 68.7 billion yuan and imports and exports by air were 240.94 billion yuan, an increase of 37.6% and 17.5% respectively.

Promote regional coordinated development. Strengthening the construction of trade channels will help deepen contacts and interactions within the region, expand cooperation in infrastructure construction, trade rule formulation, customs clearance facilitation, etc., smooth the flow of factors such as goods, services, funds, and talents, and form a closer regional economic cooperation pattern; it will help strengthen trade exchanges with other countries and regions, introduce advanced technology, equipment and management experience, accelerate technological and management innovation in the region, improve product quality and production efficiency, enhance the overall competitiveness of the industry, form a more efficient industrial chain and value chain, and promote the coordinated development of the regional economy.

Improper and uncoordinated problems are more prominent

At present, in the construction and operation of the trade channels in our province, there are still problems such as imperfect comprehensive transportation network, insufficient energy efficiency of open platforms, and imperfect systems and mechanisms.

The comprehensive transportation network needs to be further improved. At present, 18 international trunk lines have been launched in China-Europe Express (Xi'an), but the trade channels facing Southeast Asia and other directions have not yet formed a normalized southbound international freight train system. The integrated land-sea and air-rail trade and logistics network of railway-rail, road-rail, rail-water and air-rail transport still needs to be improved; except for the core hub of Xi'an in the province, the operation of international freight special trains in node cities such as Baoji, Ankang, and Yan'an is still in the exploration stage, and the railway freight function has not been fully activated, and the radiation capacity of the multimodal transport network still needs to be improved. In terms of air transportation, Xi'an Xianyang International Airport has a small cargo and mail transportation volume, ranking 16th in the country, and lacks routes such as North America, so the international shipping network is not yet perfect.

The energy efficiency of the open platform is insufficient. Compared with coastal free trade zones such as the Shanghai Lingang New Area, Shaanxi Free Trade Zone has relatively few breakthrough policies in the fields of financial opening, cross-border services, digital trade, etc., and is lagging behind the docking of modern economic and trade rules such as cross-border data flow and intellectual property protection, which has affected the deep integration of our province's industries and international markets. The industrial agglomeration effect of the comprehensive bonded zone is weak and has insufficient linkage with the local economy. The local supply of goods in China-Europe Express (Xi'an) accounts for about 40%. At present, only three cities in Xi'an, Yan'an and Baoji have been approved for cross-border e-commerce comprehensive pilot zones in the province, with a relatively small number.

Busy Xi'an Xianyang International Airport

Institutional and mechanism still need to be constantly innovated. At present, the construction of trade channel infrastructure mostly relies on government investment, with low participation in social capital and high pressure on fundraising and expenditure, which to a certain extent limits the scale, speed and quality of infrastructure construction. From the perspective of the province, there is insufficient coordination with Gansu and Xinjiang provinces and regions in terms of channel co-construction and data sharing, and insufficient joint construction efforts; from the perspective of the province, there are still problems such as incompatibility of information systems and inconsistent data standards between different institutions and enterprises, which affect the efficiency of multimodal transport such as cargo tracking and transportation scheduling.

Accelerate the expansion of new trade channels

Faced with the surge in global trade costs and the risk of supply chain breakage brought by tariff barriers in some countries, we should take the initiative to turn "danger" into "opportunity", vigorously promote the optimization and upgrading of trade channels, and continuously strengthen the cluster effect and magnetic field effect as an open hub.

Build an international logistics hub center with high standards. First, strengthen infrastructure construction. Implement all-round upgrades and transformations of railway trunk lines in the province, optimize rail facilities, signal systems, etc., improve railway freight speed and expand carrying capacity; promote the construction of railway dedicated lines, realize seamless connection between railways and ports and industrial parks in space and operations, eliminate obstacles to transportation connection; optimize the operation organization of China-Europe freight trains, and improve the quality and efficiency of operation. The second is to promote cross-regional industrial coordinated development. With the advantages of the "Xi'an-Qingdao-Europe" sea-rail transport channel, special investment promotion measures will be formulated for mature trading partner regions such as Europe, Japan and South Korea, focusing on attracting advantageous enterprises in the fields of information technology, high-end equipment manufacturing, new energy, biomedicine, etc., and promoting the leap in the energy level of key industries; carefully build a "train train " industrial acceptance system, actively connect with the industrial transfer needs of Guangdong, Hong Kong, Macao and the Yangtze River Delta region, give full play to the advantages of Shaanxi's resources and costs, actively undertake related industries, and form a new industrial division of labor system of "coastal R&D-Shaanxi Intelligent Manufacturing-European and Asian Market", and realize the transformation from "aliser economy" to "hub economy". The third is to strengthen talent training and introduction. Strengthen cooperation with universities and vocational colleges in the province, and accurately open related majors such as logistics management, international trade, port operation, etc.; strengthen training of on-the-job personnel, invite industry experts to share cutting-edge knowledge and practical experience, comprehensively improve the professional level of practitioners, and provide talent support for the development of hub centers.

Strengthen the radiation and driving role of China-Europe freight trains. First, strengthen the connection capacity of multimodal transport routes. Strengthen cooperation with domestic coastal ports, optimize the railway-sea intermodal transport routes from Xi'an to Qingdao, Lianyungang, Ningbo and other ports, increase the frequency of trains, enhance transportation timeliness, and improve cargo flow efficiency; strengthen linkage with inland ports in the Yangtze River Economic Belt, extend the train radiation range through rail-water transport, and strengthen the economic connection between the northwest region and the Yangtze River Economic Belt; improve the information sharing mechanism with coastal port ports, and improve the coordinated efficiency of cargo information in railway transportation and maritime transportation. The second is to improve overseas transit hub facilities. Accelerate the construction or lease of special transit warehousing facilities in coastal ports such as the Caspian Sea, update loading and unloading equipment, and improve the processing efficiency of goods in the transit process; strengthen cooperation with local logistics companies, establish a transit logistics service team to ensure rapid and safe transfer. The third is to improve the financial support mechanism. For China-Europe freight trains, land-sea intermodal transport, etc., custom-made insurance products covering railway, sea and road transport will be developed; flexible premiums and differentiated rates will be set according to the type of goods and transportation routes, and enterprises will be increased intent to purchase insurance; a combined transportation insurance subsidy fund will be established to provide premium support for small and medium-sized enterprises.

Improve the energy level of Xi'an International Aviation Hub. First, increase efforts to develop international routes. Give full play to the advantages of the fifth air rights, increase routes to countries and regions jointly built the "Belt and Road" and Europe and the United States, strengthen direct connections between Xi'an and major economies and tourist destinations in the world, and enhance Xi'an's position in the international air transportation market; vigorously develop transit routes and create an efficient transit route network. The second is to improve the level of intelligent operation and management. Actively develop and use AMR intelligent inspection robots, driverless tractors, AGV robots and other equipment to gradually realize unmanned operation and all-weather operation in the entire process of cargo inspection, handling, sorting, etc., to improve cargo processing efficiency; improve self-service check-in and consignment equipment, smart security inspection channels and other equipment to enhance passenger experience; remotely monitor various facilities and equipment in real time through intelligent operation and maintenance systems, timely discover and solve problems and reduce operation and maintenance costs. The third is to build a high-end air-side industrial system. Focus on developing high-end manufacturing industries such as aircraft maintenance, aviation materials manufacturing, electronic information, biomedicine, logistics and transportation, and low-altitude economy, and actively develop modern service industries such as general aviation display and trading, aviation training, and low-altitude sports tourism.

Optimize the development environment for trade channels. First, improve the efficiency and quality of multimodal transport. Guide the development of logistics enterprises in clusters, orderly promote the aggregation of resources such as trunk transportation, multimodal transport, warehousing and logistics, form professional multimodal transport operators, and build an air-sea-rail transport platform; improve the multimodal transport information sharing platform, improve the level of integration of transportation information resources such as railways, highways, and aviation, enhance the cooperation capabilities of different transportation enterprises, and improve transportation efficiency; encourage enterprises to use multimodal transport methods to transport goods, provide certain policy rewards and subsidies, and reduce transportation costs. The second is to improve the level of convenient services for high-credit enterprises. Establish a key service catalog, include AEO enterprises, tax export tax rebate enterprises and some key enterprises, provide special liaison officers, and give priority to inspection, testing, export tax rebate and other businesses; strengthen AEO mutual recognition with more "Belt and Road" countries and regions, so that enterprises can enjoy more customs clearance conveniences. The third is to cultivate market-oriented operation entities. Encourage diversified capital investment, introduce international logistics companies to participate, cultivate market-oriented operating entities with global competitiveness, and promote the development of transportation services to professionalization, standardization and branding; introduce international logistics management talents, improve the market-oriented compensation system, and improve the core capabilities of transportation scheduling, customs coordination, and multimodal transport.

(Author’s unit: Shaanxi Academy of Social Sciences)