China is accelerating efforts to optimize port infrastructure as its 14th Five-Year Plan (2021–2025) nears completion, with smarter and more connected gateways boosting foreign trade, a senior customs official said Monday.
Zhang Baofeng, Director General of the General Office at the General Administration of Customs (GAC), said the upgrades reflect China's push to modernize logistics and enhance global trade competitiveness.
China has added and expanded 40 ports of entry since the beginning of the 14th Five-Year Plan period, bringing the country's total ports of entry to 311, according to the GAC.
"At present, China has 125 water ports handling over 90 percent of the country's foreign trade, 85 air ports across the country, and more than 101 land ports. There are 28 border ports in China that can provide self-driving tour services. Overall, the port layout of 'collaboration between the eastern, central and western regions, and connection over sea, land and air' in our country is becoming increasingly complete," Zhang said.
In 2024, the total volume of imports and exports through water ports nationwide exceeded 4.3 billion tons, representing a 10 percent increase compared to the end of the 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-2020) period.
The growths of air ports and land ports in the same period were over 17 percent and 19 percent, respectively.
China accelerates port optimization as 14th Five-Year Plan nears completion: official
The Chinese Embassy in South Africa on Monday held an event in Pretoria, the country's administrative capital, to celebrate the launch of the 2026 China-Africa Year of People-to-People Exchanges.
This year also marks the 70th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and African countries.
Chinese Ambassador to South Africa Wu Peng said that over the past seven decades, under the joint guidance of leaders from both sides, China-Africa people-to-people and cultural exchanges have continued to expand, yielding fruitful outcomes.
Noting that the world is undergoing profound changes unseen in a century, Wu said China and Africa need to uphold fairness and justice, strengthen solidarity and mutual assistance, and enhance exchanges and cooperation more than ever before.
Taking the launch of the China-Africa Year of People-to-people Exchanges as an opportunity, Wu called for upholding the original aspiration of friendship, solidifying the foundation of cooperation, enhancing two-way efforts, and accelerating the building of an all-weather China-Africa community with a shared future for the new era.
Mmapaseka Steve Letsike, South Africa's deputy minister of women, youth, and persons with disabilities, said South Africa and China enjoy strong and historic bonds of friendship as close international cooperation partners in the political, economic, social, technical and multilateral domains.
"The significance of people-to-people is really about how we elevate the people's life to a just and equitable stance that we want to see. We want a better Africa; we want a better world. And that for us is significant," said Letsike.
"Through people-to-people exchanges, we promote mutual understanding, and that is the basis of building mutual trust, building peaceful coexistence. People-to-people exchange is a very important instrument for peace and mutual understanding," said Bongani Maimele, director of international relations with South Africa's National School of Government.
The opening ceremony of the 2026 China-Africa Year of People-to-People Exchanges was held at the African Union headquarters on Jan 8. According to the Chinese Foreign Ministry, the two sides will jointly host nearly 600 cultural and people-to-people exchange activities in 2026 to enhance exchanges and mutual learning between the two civilizations, and promote mutual understanding and connection between the peoples.
Organizing the 2026 China-Africa Year of People-to-People Exchanges is an important consensus reached by leaders from both sides at the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation Beijing Summit in 2024.
Chinese Embassy in South Africa unveils 2026 China-Africa Year of People-to-People Exchanges
