China's Xinjiang completes world's longest expressway tunnel through challenging mountains

The tunneling of the Tianshan Shengli Tunnel, the world's longest expressway tunnel, was completed Monday morning through the snow-covered mountains of northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, marking a significant milestone in China's infrastructure development.

With its construction starting in 2020, the 22.13-kilometer tunnel, a landmark transportation project which is expected to turn China into a country with strong transport network and a key project along Urumqi-Yuli highway in the Tianshan Mountains, passes through a cold and high altitude zone with harsh climate and geological conditions.

Crossing Tianshan Mountains via National Highway 216 usually takes about three hours. With the completion of the Tianshan Shengli Tunnel, the journey time will be reduced to just 20 minutes.

The Tianshan Shengli Tunnel is located in a sparsely populated area of the Tianshan Mountains, with an average construction elevation of over 3,000 meters and crossing 16 fault zones.

Over the past four years, more than 3,000 construction workers have overcome various geological challenges and risks through significant breakthroughs in new technologies, processes, and equipment, setting a new record as the longest expressway tunnel in the world. This project has become another important milestone in global tunnel engineering.

"The Tianshan Shengli Tunnel has achieved significant breakthroughs in new technologies and equipment, setting a new record as the longest expressway tunnel in the world," said Zhou Rongfeng, head of the Highway Bureau at the Ministry of Transport.

As the tunnel has been drilled through, construction will proceed on the Tianshan Shengli Tunnel's pavement, electromechanical systems, landscaping, and other ancillary works, accelerating the overall progress of constructing the Urumqi-Yuli Expressway.

Upon its completion, the Urumqi-Yuli expressway will reduce the travel time between Urumqi and Korla from 7 hours to just 3 hours, cutting transportation costs by 15 percent.

The Urumqi-Yuli Expressway, spanning approximately 319.7 kilometers, is a key segment of the G0711 Urumqi-Ruoqiang Expressway. It traverses the Tianshan Mountains and serves as the most convenient and efficient route from Urumqi to southern Xinjiang. To the east, it connects with Qinghai and southwest China, and even the new western land-sea corridor, significantly enhancing the land link between Xinjiang and coastal regions.

China's Xinjiang completes world's longest expressway tunnel through challenging mountains

China's Xinjiang completes world's longest expressway tunnel through challenging mountains

China's Xinjiang completes world's longest expressway tunnel through challenging mountains

China's Xinjiang completes world's longest expressway tunnel through challenging mountains

Esko Aho, former Finnish prime minister, has stressed the importance of mutual understanding and cooperation between Asia and Europe, values he said underpin the importance of the Boao Forum for Asia (BFA) Annual Conference 2026.

In an exclusive interview with China Global Television Network (CGTN), Esko Aho, who was in Boao, south China's Hainan Province, for the BFA annual conference, emphasized the need for greater understanding between Asia and Europe as the two continents pursue closer economic and political ties.

"I think when looking at Europe and Asia, there are a lot of similarities. We are technology-oriented. We have a lot of common interests to keep world trade to be fair and open. But then we also have differences. It's very important that Asia understands European minds and vice versa. For us, it's very important to understand the Asian minds in order to do good business, or to be good in politics, you have to be able to recognize these differences," he said.

On the role that Finland and the Nordic region can play in building up that understanding, he emphasized their predisposition to trust.

"The level of trust is very high in all Nordic countries. That is something which is making a difference in Europe, but I can say that even globally, it's very difficult to identify any other part of the globe where a level of trust between people is so high as it is in the Nordic region," he said.

Founded in 2001, the BFA has grown into a key platform for addressing Asian issues and strengthening cooperation both within the region and globally.

Aho described the forum as a window for the world to better understand China and a platform for exchanging views on global trends, adding that such dialogue helps foster cooperation and the development of common rules.

"It has been a window to see what's going on in China. For foreigners, it's a great opportunity to understand internal processes in China. This is a place for dialogue, so that we foreigners, we feel that when we are coming here, we are able to tell from our perspective, how do we see the world's global trends and developments. And in that way, let's say, to learn, to work together, which is so important in the future, because I cannot see that we are able to solve the problems of the world without having collaboration. We need collaboration and common rules," he said.

Themed "Shaping a Shared Future: New Dynamics, New Opportunities, New Cooperation", this year's BFA annual conference is scheduled to run from Tuesday to Friday. It will focus on four core topics and feature more than 50 sub-forums, roundtables and dialogue sessions.

Boao Forum boosts mutual understanding between Europe, Asia: former Finnish PM