CCTV:

Since the 18th CPC National Congress, China has built and put into operation a significant amount of major transportation infrastructure, which not only ensured stable economic growthbut also diversified means of transportation for the people. So how has China's comprehensive transportation network developed over the past decade? What are the future work and arrangements? Thank you. 

Xu Chengguang:

Thank you for your questions. Transportation infrastructure provides an important foundation for the Party to govern and rejuvenate the country. Since the 18th CPC National Congress, under the strong leadership of the CPC Central Committee with comrade Xi Jinping at its core, we have adhered to the principle of making investments as appropriate and steadily increased our input in transportation infrastructure, achieving remarkable results. 

First, the comprehensive national transportation network has been improved. We accelerated the development of eight north-south and eight east-west high-speed lines, the "71118" national expressway network, world-class port clusters, and airport clusters. The comprehensive national transportation network has a total length of over 6 million kilometers. From 2012 to the end of 2021, the length of the railway and expressway increased by 1.1 million kilometers, which is equivalent to 27.5 rounds around the equator. High-speed railways and expressways covered more than 95% of cities with a population of over 200,000 in China. 

Second, the capacity of transportation infrastructure to serve national strategies has been enhanced. The development of the rail transit in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region is on a fast track. A comprehensive transportation corridor has taken shape along the Yangtze River Economic Belt. In the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay area, the commute between Guangdong and Hong Kong or Macao has been shortened to one hour. We have stepped up the building of the shipping hub connecting the Yangtze River Delta to the world. A trans-regional grand channel in the Yellow River basin has been built. We further promoted the integrated development of the transportation network in the Chengdu-Chongqing Economic Circle. 

Third, the pace of transformation and upgrading of transport infrastructure has been accelerated. The digitization of transportation infrastructure keeps improving, and a national network of expressways has been put in place. The construction of the digital waterway chart database has covered the trunk lines of the Yangtze River and Xijiang River, and our capacity in core technologies, such as bridge-and-tunnel sea crossings and deep-water channels, are at the world's forefront.

In April, General Secretary Xi Jinping chaired the 11th meeting of the Central Commission for Financial and Economic Affairs. The meeting discussed issues about comprehensively strengthening infrastructure construction and made key plans on speeding up the construction of national integrated multidimensional transportation networks. We will fully implement the principles of General Secretary Xi Jinping's important remarks. We will work in accordance with the targets and tasks set in the outline in building China's strength in transportation and the outline on developing national integrated multidimensional transportation networks, focus on enhancing interconnectivity, shoring up weak links and consolidating strong links, and expedite the building of the modern and high-quality integrated multidimensional transportation networks.

First, a highly efficient framework of the integrated multidimensional transportation networks will be established, which features "six axes, seven corridors, and eight channels." A similar transport hub system will also be developed to ensure economic connectivity in different regions.

Second, transport infrastructure in key regions will be improved to better support the implementation of national strategies. Transportation conditions in old revolutionary base areas, ethnic minority areas, border areas, and rural areas are expected to see further improvement.

Third, a safe and reliable network of logistics and supply chains will be put in place in a bid to smooth domestic transportation, promote the development of global logistics and supply-chain systems, and stabilize industrial and supply chains.

Fourth, the digital transformation and smart upgrading of transport infrastructure will be accelerated, and green transport infrastructure will be further rolled out. We will also boost the integrated development of transport facilities and those concerning energy supplies, waterways, and information.

In the spirit of making appropriate and forward-looking plans, we are currently stepping up the construction of a series of strategic engineering projects, such as the Sichuan-Tibet Railway and its supporting highway project, the passageway between Xinjiang and Tibet, the canal project of the new western sea-land transportation channel, the container terminal in northern Xiaoyangshan island, as well as the waterway and aviation facilities of Ningbo Zhoushan Port and its integrated transport hub. These projects have offered support to stabilize investment, expand domestic demand, boost employment, ensure people's livelihood, and maintain stable macroeconomic performance. Thank you.

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