China's efforts to develop its southwestern province of Yunnan as a center with radiation effects for South and Southeast Asia have yielded significant results over the past decade, expanding its foreign trade networks and injecting strong momentum into regional economic collaboration.
This year marks the 10th anniversary of the construction of the center.
With the arrival of over 200 tons of fruit transported through the Mohan Port in Yunnan from neighboring Laos, the import and export volume via the China-Laos Railway has exceeded 11.5 million tons since it was put into operation in late 2021.
Serving as a crucial international corridor connecting South Asia and Southeast Asia, the railway currently connects 31 provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities in China, along with Laos, Thailand, Vietnam, Singapore, and 15 other countries and regions. It facilitates the trade of more than 3,000 types of goods.
"Currently, key ports in Yunnan have adopted paperless document submission and electronic circulation systems, saving 50 percent of human resources and reducing customs clearance time by 70 percent. This has helped accelerate Yunnan's development as a new high ground for opening up," said Hao Yanqian, deputy head of the general affairs division at Kunming Customs.
Yunnan's domestic and international air network has expanded to 186 destinations, providing nearly full coverage of the capitals and major tourist cities in South and Southeast Asia.
According to Kunming Customs, the import and export value between Yunnan and South and Southeast Asia countries has increased from 89.79 billion yuan (about 12.32 billion U.S. dollars) in 2015 to 114.62 billion yuan in 2024, a rise of 27.7 percent. For seven consecutive years, the trade volume has surpassed 100 billion yuan, demonstrating Yunnan's role as a national pivotal center for South and Southeast Asia.
Yunnan facilitates country's trade with South and Southeast Asia in past decade
The World Health Organization (WHO) revealed on Monday that a rapidly spreading Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has caused 220 suspected deaths, as health officials struggle to catch up with the pace of spread of the epidemic.
While 101 confirmed cases and 10 confirmed deaths have been recorded, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the true scale is far larger. "There are now more than 900 suspected cases and 220 suspected deaths," Tedros said at the Virtual Ministerial Briefing on the Bundibugyo Ebola Outbreak on Monday.
The outbreak, declared as a public health emergency of international concern on May 17, has also spread to Uganda, which has seven confirmed cases and one death.
Tedros highlighted a critical challenge: the delay in detecting the outbreak means that health teams are now playing catch-up with a very fast-moving epidemic."We are urgently scaling up operations, but at the moment, the epidemic is outpacing us," he said.
The Ebola strain involved is Bundibugyo virus, for which no approved vaccines or therapeutics exist. Previous outbreaks of this strain occurred only twice - in Uganda (2007) and DRC (2012). WHO has recommended prioritizing two monoclonal antibodies for clinical trials.
Compounding the crisis, the affected provinces of Ituri and North Kivu are plagued by intense insecurity and community distrust. Recent months have seen intensified fighting displacing over 100,000 people, along with two security incidents at health facilities last week.
The WHO has raised its national risk assessment to "very high," while regional risk remains "high" and global risk "low." Neighboring countries are urged to take immediate action.
Tedros is set to travel to the DRC with the WHO's emergencies director, as the agency commits to stopping the outbreak. "It will get worse before it gets better," he admitted. "But we know this virus, and we know how to stop it."
WHO reports 220 suspected Ebola deaths in DRC, warns outbreak outpacing response
