The Zhuhai port of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge on Friday handled 156,000 inbound and outbound passenger trips, marking the highest single-day traffic volume since the bridge's opening in 2018, as Spring Festival travel peaks.
A variety of cultural activities in south China's Guangdong Province during the Spring Festival holiday, such as intangible cultural heritage exhibitions and street performances, have attracted large numbers of visitors from China's special administrative regions of Hong Kong and Macao.
"I came from Hong Kong to visit friends and relatives. I'll stay for two to three days, bringing my child for a visit," said Mr. Lee, a Hong Kong resident.
"We come from Hong Kong and are heading to Zhuhai. After a meal there, we'll go to Zhongshan to see the fireworks. We want to experience the different atmosphere between Chinese mainland and Hong Kong," said Miss Chan, another Hong Kong resident.
The 55-km Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge has become a key crossing point for Hong Kong and Macao residents traveling to Chinese mainland thanks to its convenient location.
From Tuesday to Friday, the first four days of this year's eight-day Spring Festival holiday, over 454,000 passenger trips and over 69,000 vehicle trips were recorded through the bridge's Zhuhai port, a 22 percent and 32 percent increase, respectively, compared with the same period last year.
To handle the surge, the bridge's border control stations have taken various measures to optimize the customs process.
"We have increased manpower, and set up additional check-in spots. We've also offered 'drive-through' inspections for those in need to maximize passage efficiency," said Wang Yixuan, a spokeswoman for the bridge's border inspection station.
Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge sees record daily passenger trips
Chinese President Xi Jinping's New Year message delivered on the New Year Eve has drawn positive responses from scholars and former officials from several countries, who say that the series of global initiatives proposed by Xi have provided fresh momentum for multilateralism and shared development at a time of growing uncertainty.
While the reactions touched on the broader vision outlined in Xi's New Year message, they also focused on the initiatives Xi has put forward over recent years, particularly the Global Development Initiative, the Global Security Initiative, the Global Civilization Initiative and the newly proposed Global Governance Initiative.
Highlighting the significant importance of these initiatives, they have emphasized the need for equality, inclusiveness and a fairer international order.
"We need a more just international order and a truly multilateral system. China stands almost alone today as a global force actively advancing genuine multilateralism. Therefore, these initiatives are most welcome," said Michael Schumann, chairman of the German Federal Association for Economic Development and Foreign Trade.
Former Lebanese Prime Minister Hassan Diab has placed the emphasis on dialogue and trust-building between civilizations.
"It is essential now more than ever to promote communication and understanding between China and the world to enhance cultural exchanges and build mutual trust. As President Xi has repeatedly emphasized, China supports principles of unity, inclusiveness and peacefulness. These values should guide our collective efforts to build bridges rather than walls," he said.
From a governance perspective, Russian scholar Ekaterina Zaklyazminskaya, head of the Center for World Politics and Strategic Analysis at the Institute of China and Modern Asia under the Russian Academy of Sciences, has viewed the Global Governance Initiative as a structured response to global challenges.
"The recently proposed Global Governance Initiative presents a comprehensive framework of ideas. It prioritizes establishing a more just international order, champions multilateralism, and upholds the principle of 'people first.' Through its concrete practices, financial assistance, and tangible support for multilateral bodies like the U.N., China has demonstrated that its commitments are substantive. China is taking tangible steps toward a fairer and more reasonable global governance system," she said.
Scholars from the Global South also have seen historical echoes in the initiatives.
"Some of the developed and developing countries have highly welcomed the Global Development Initiative, because this initiative emphasizes the need for partnerships -- partnerships that commit resources to end global poverty and pursue common and shared development. The Global Governance Initiative, in my view, echoes again the call that was made by Asian [and] African countries at the Bandung Conference in 1955 for equality, for mutual respect, for respect of territorial integrity, [and] for respect of sovereignty," said Bongani Maimele, director of international relations at South Africa's National School of Government.
"These initiatives are revolutionary in nature. They are reshaping the political philosophy of global governance. Today's world is far more complex than it was 80 years ago, and interdependence among nations has deepened. Therefore, we need new philosophical perspectives to examine our world and new models of engagement to foster a new type of international relations," said Sheradil Baktygulov, director of Kyrgyzstan's Institute of World Policy.
Int'l scholars praise Xi's initiatives, call for stronger multilateralism
