By He Yin, People’s Daily

The 23rd China-ASEAN Expo and the China-ASEAN Business and Investment Summit opened on Sept. 17 in Nanning, south China’s Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region. 

The venue brimmed with vitality. Stalls showcasing regional specialties such as durians, coffee, and intricately carved rosewood crafts drew steady crowds. At a special Pinglu Canal exhibition area, merchants from ASEAN nations learned about this river-sea “golden waterway.” An “AI superstore” featured over 70 enterprises presenting more than 500 consumer AI products, which visitors could test and purchase right on site.

This vibrant gathering offered a vivid illustration of the expo’s theme “CAFTA (China-ASEAN Free Trade Area) 3.0 Opportunities, Better Life.” The high value of China’s opportunities is translating into tangible gains for people across China and ASEAN.

This year marks the fifth anniversary of the establishment of the China-ASEAN comprehensive strategic partnership and the 35th anniversary of China-ASEAN dialogue relations. Over the past 35 years, ties between China and ASEAN have developed by leaps and bounds, from the establishment of dialogue relations to the building of a closer China-ASEAN community with a shared future, driving sustained expansion and upgrading of cooperation across a wide range of areas.

China has been ASEAN’s largest trading partner for 17 consecutive years, while ASEAN has held the same position for China for six years. In the first eight months of this year, trade between China and ASEAN reached 5.95 trillion yuan ($890 billion), up 20.6 percent year on year. Mutually beneficial cooperation keeps reaping greater rewards, bringing tangible gains to over 2 billion people on both sides.

The expo this year coincided with the inauguration of the Pinglu Canal, a nationally coordinated infrastructure milestone. As the first river-to-sea canal project planned and coordinated at the national level since the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949, it represents a major breakthrough in regional connectivity and has been described by overseas media as a new “logistics lifeline” linking China and ASEAN.

The combined opportunities of the expo as a “golden platform” and the canal as a “golden waterway” are helping two-way exchanges between China and ASEAN pick up speed.

This year is also a crucial year for accelerating the implementation of the upgraded CAFTA 3.0 protocol signed last year. Focusing on the new opportunities brought by CAFTA 3.0, this year’s expo has expanded its exhibition areas for the digital economy and green and low-carbon development, added a dedicated “AI + finance” section, and for the first time set up an “AI marketplace” and held a China-ASEAN AI matchmaking event.

High-tech products such as AI glasses, household AI robots, and photovoltaic cleaning robots have become new attractions at the expo.

Cooperation in areas such as digital economy, green economy, blue economy and AI is closely aligned with the development and transformation needs of ASEAN countries and is emerging as a new highlight of China-ASEAN cooperation.

According to data from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, China exported 2.355 million new energy vehicles in the first half of 2026, up 120 percent year on year, with strong demand and robust performance in ASEAN markets. China’s computing infrastructure and AI services are also expanding into ASEAN markets at a faster pace, helping local businesses lower the barriers to AI adoption.

The benefits of China’s high-quality development and high-standard opening up continue to spread, creating new space and generating fresh momentum for China-ASEAN cooperation.

Since September, a series of major events showcasing China’s opening up have been held one after another.

The 21st China International Small and Medium Enterprises Fair was held in Guangzhou, south China’s Guangdong province, with an aim to empower small and medium-sized enterprises with AI and provide Chinese and foreign small and medium-sized enterprises with a targeted platform for matching supply with demand.

The 26th China International Fair for Investment and Trade concluded in Xiamen, southeast China’s Fujian province, bringing together businesspeople from 129 countries and regions to explore ways to expand two-way investment and promote global development.

The 2026 China International Fair for Trade in Services also concluded in Beijing, where more than 200 new achievements were unveiled, over 100 products and services made their global or national debuts, and 200 forums, meetings and business matchmaking and promotion events were held in succession, highlighting the growing international influence of Chinese services.

Through these major events, the international community has witnessed China’s resolute strides in advancing high-standard opening up, and felt the robust momentum that China’s new quality productive forces are injecting into global growth.

Against the backdrop of a complex and volatile international landscape, the rougher the seas, the more important it is for all sides to strengthen the bonds of cooperation and promote a universally beneficial and inclusive economic globalization.

Through concrete actions, China is sending a clear message to the world: China will continue to pursue high-quality development, expand high-standard opening up, share opportunities with countries around the world and work together to create greater prosperity.

By Li Yan, People’s Daily

The Pinglu Canal, a landmark project of the New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor in western China, officially opened to navigation on Sept. 16. Carved through mountainous terrain, the 134.2-kilometer waterway provides the most cost-effective and efficient inland shipping route connecting China’s interior with ASEAN countries. 

Representatives from across the ASEAN countries and the broader regional community said the canal will significantly improve regional connectivity, bringing ASEAN countries closer to China’s vast consumer market and industrial clusters in the southwest. It will facilitate greater two-way flows of trade, talent, and capital, promote deeper opening up and cooperation, and contribute to the building of a closer ASEAN-China community with a shared future.

Capable of handling vessels up to 5,000 tons, the canal has set multiple world records, including the fastest operational cycle for locks of its class and the highest vertical lift achieved by a water-conserving ship lock system. These innovations reflect advanced engineering practices tailored to complex topography.

Foreign diplomats and business leaders highlighted the project’s technical rigor and sustainable design.

Vietnamese Ambassador to China Pham Thanh Binh, who inspected the site prior to opening, praised the canal’s integration of cutting-edge technology, modern management protocols, and environmentally conscious planning. “It showcases China’s infrastructure expertise while demonstrating how large-scale projects can align with ecological preservation and public benefit,” he said.

Cambodian Ambassador to China Soeung Rathchavy said the Pinglu Canal provides valuable experience for Cambodia in developing water infrastructure. She expressed confidence that the canal’s opening will bring tangible development opportunities to Cambodia.

“The opening of the Pinglu Canal fully demonstrates China’s capabilities in modern engineering and technology,” said Boonyong Yongchalearnrat, vice chairman of the Thai-Chinese Chamber of Commerce. 

He noted that China completed the technically complex and highly integrated project in just four years, calling the pace of China’s infrastructure development “astonishing.” China, he said, has provided a “Pinglu solution” that can serve as a reference for major canal projects around the world.

At 1:50 p.m. on Sept. 16, a long ship horn blared as a cargo vessel loaded with auto parts slowly entered the lock chamber of the Qishi hub of the canal. This marked the inaugural voyage of the foreign trade sea-river direct route linking Nanning Port in south China’s Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region and Can Tho Port in Vietnam. 

On the same day, the foreign trade route was launched alongside the domestic Nanning Port-Yangpu Port route, with vessels setting off in both directions on each route.

Shipping goods from southwest China to the sea via the Pinglu Canal shortens the inland waterway journey by more than 560 kilometers compared with traditional routes and cuts overall logistics costs by 18 to 30 percent. The canal is expected to save more than 5 billion yuan ($746.53 million) in social transportation costs each year. 

For ASEAN exporters, the canal provides faster access to China’s southwestern market via Guangxi’s Beibu Gulf ports, while Chinese imports benefit from smoother inbound supply chains. The two-way flow of goods will reinforce each other, helping build a stable and more resilient regional logistics network and creating win-win opportunities for China and ASEAN.

“This is major good news for strengthening trade between Thailand and China,” said Chakra Yodmani, Deputy Permanent Secretary of Thailand’s Ministry of Commerce, who was in Nanning, Guangxi, for the China-ASEAN Expo. 

China has remained Thailand’s largest trading partner for many consecutive years, he noted, adding that the Pinglu Canal offers tremendous economic opportunities. The new route, he said, will significantly reduce the logistics costs of Thai products bound for China, enabling more Thai goods to reach southwest China faster and giving Chinese consumers more choices.

Ngeow Chow Bing, director of the Institute of China Studies at the University of Malaya, noted that the canal will substantially reshape economic linkages between ASEAN and China. 

“The canal will strengthen the connection between China’s inland markets and the Beibu Gulf, helping further expand trade between ASEAN and China,” he said. “It will also enhance the role of Qinzhou Port as a shipping hub and benefit the China-Malaysia Qinzhou Industrial Park.”

Justin Low, chairman of the Singapore South China Business Association, said Singaporean companies can leverage the canal’s lower logistics costs to invest and expand their presence in Guangxi. “We believe China and Singapore will explore more investment and cooperation opportunities around the canal,” he said.

As a major piece of infrastructure supporting multimodal transport by river, rail and sea, the Pinglu Canal connects ASEAN to the south and Eurasia to the north. Linked with the China-Europe freight train services and rail-sea intermodal transport routes, it also connects Belt and Road partner countries. 

Representatives from ASEAN countries said the canal’s opening will enable deeper integration of industrial and supply chains, inject new momentum into connectivity between China and ASEAN, and contribute to high-quality Belt and Road cooperation.

“From a broader perspective of regional connectivity, the impact of the Pinglu Canal may extend beyond Southeast Asia. Going forward, it could also open up trade routes via the Indian Ocean to Europe and Africa,” Ngeow said.

By linking inland waterways to the sea, the Pinglu Canal is unlocking a new era of regional development. As a conduit connecting ASEAN to global markets, it will promote economic openness through enhanced exchange and stimulate growth through improved connectivity, demonstrating the transformative potential of large-scale infrastructure integration.

By Zhong Sheng, People’s Daily

On Sept. 18, air raid sirens were once again sounded across China to commemorate the 95th anniversary of the September 18 Incident.

Ninety-five years ago, Japanese militarists deliberately provoked the September 18 Incident and brazenly launched a war of aggression against China. The Chinese people rose up in resistance, marking the beginning of the eastern front of the World Anti-Fascist War. 

After 14 years of bitter struggle and enormous national sacrifice, the Chinese people won a great victory in which justice prevailed over evil, writing a momentous chapter in the history of the World Anti-Fascist War. 

Commemorating the September 18 Incident and remembering this history is by no means about perpetuating hatred. Rather, it is about safeguarding peace and creating a better future by drawing lessons from history and setting the record straight.

On the fundamental issue of historical understanding, Japan, as the perpetrator of the war of aggression, has never truly reflected on its past. Instead, it has gone further and further down the path of distorting history. 

Not long ago, the Sanae Takaichi administration issued its first major defense policy document, the Defense White Paper 2026. The white paper makes much of the issue of so-called cognitive warfare, applying blatant double standards throughout. 

On the one hand, it labels China’s normal explanations of its defense policies and legitimate articulation of its historical positions as “public opinion warfare, psychological warfare, and legal warfare.” It baselessly accuses China of infiltration and deliberately stoking confrontation, putting on a show of warning against so-called “external cognitive threats” while casting itself as a “victim” of information warfare.

On the other hand, it says nothing about Japan’s own record of systematically distorting the history of aggression and spreading false historical narratives, while instead identifying the development of cognitive-warfare capabilities as a priority for military expansion. Japan’s practice of reversing right and wrong and confusing truth with falsehood is, in essence, an attempt to pursue historical revisionism under the guise of “countering cognitive warfare.”

For years, right-wing forces in Japan have repeatedly crossed the line on historical issues, steadily eroding the consensus on historical justice and distorting Japanese society’s understanding of the past, with increasingly serious consequences. 

At the level of official narratives, Japan has repeatedly revised school textbooks to downplay its heinous acts of aggression, including the Nanjing Massacre. It has deliberately amplified narratives portraying Hiroshima and Nagasaki as victims of the atomic bombings in an attempt to obscure Japan’s own role as an aggressor. 

Japanese politicians have taken turns visiting the so-called Yasukuni Shrine, where Class-A war criminals are enshrined, rejecting the legal authority of the Tokyo Trials and promoting the claim that responsibility for the war remains unsettled, repeatedly challenging the bottom line of historical justice.

At the level of intergenerational indoctrination, Japan has for years published children’s editions of the Defense White Paper, packaging military-related content in confrontational terms as educational material and distributing it to thousands of elementary schools across the country. 

Recruitment messages for the Self-Defense Forces have also been incorporated into school activities, while external threats have been exaggerated, subtly instilling militaristic thinking in the minds of young people whose worldviews are still taking shape. 

At the level of public opinion manipulation, right-wing forces have used generative artificial intelligence to mass-produce false audio and video content that distorts the history of Japan’s aggression against China, while using crowdsourcing platforms to pay for the dissemination of falsehoods. 

According to publicly available budget data from Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Japan has allocated more than 56 billion yen ($360 million) since 2015 under the heading of “overseas strategic information dissemination,” specifically for smearing others in public opinion and revising the historical narrative.

The Japanese right wing’s efforts to distort historical understanding are far more than isolated acts of manipulating public opinion. Their fundamental aim is to remove ideological obstacles and lay the groundwork for breaking through the postwar system and pursuing comprehensive remilitarization. 

A profound reflection on the history of aggression and the eradication of the roots of militarism should be a prerequisite and foundation for Japan to pursue peaceful development, as well as a key line of defense for upholding the postwar international order.

Today, however, Japan’s right-wing forces are moving in the opposite direction, systematically dismantling this line of defense for peace. 

Domestically, they seek to reduce public resistance to military expansion and war preparations, manufacturing so-called justification for a defense budget that has risen for 14 consecutive years and surpassed 9 trillion yen. 

Externally, they deliberately conceal the offensive nature of their military expansion, seeking to ease international opposition to a series of moves that break through the postwar framework, including the development and deployment of long-range offensive weapons, the reorganization of the Air Self-Defense Force into an “Air and Space Self-Defense Force,” and the relaxation of restrictions on exports of lethal weapons.

Japan is continually breaking through the constraints of the postwar framework, accelerating military loosening and the expansion of its military capabilities through multilateral military exercises, joining forces with countries outside the region in bloc confrontation, and deliberately creating tensions and instability in the region. Step by step, it is heading down the dangerous path toward neo-militarism.

When war criminals are put on a pedestal, lies are written into textbooks, children are taught hostility, and the bottom line for peace is repeatedly breached, Japan is gradually destroying its own future. 

The distortion of historical understanding is the ideological root of the growth of neo-militarism in Japan. Unless this root cause is eradicated, the lingering influence of militarism cannot be fully eliminated. Japan will be unable to win the trust and understanding of the international community, especially its Asian neighbors, and the foundation for peace and development in the region cannot be firmly consolidated.

This year marks the 80th anniversary of the opening of the Tokyo Trials. At this important historical juncture, Japan should face up to the history of its aggression, deeply reflect on its responsibility for the war, and fundamentally break with militarism. This is the right choice in the fundamental interests of the Japanese people.

(Zhong Sheng is a pen name often used by People’s Daily to express its views on foreign policy and international affairs.)