A China-Laos Railway international freight train loaded with goods departed from Kunming in southwest China's Yunnan Province on Monday, marking this railway's cumulative cargo transport volume exceeding 90 million tonnes since its launch on Dec 3, 2021, according to China Railway Kunming Group Co., Ltd.
The railway has operated over 80,000 freight trains in total, with more than 23,000 cross-border freight trains among them.
More than 23 percent of the total cargo shipments are cross-border ones.
In 2026, the railway has been transporting over 67,000 tonnes of cargo per day on average, showing its capacity as a "golden passage" in international logistics. The Lancang-Mekong Express freight train, a fast international freight train service operating on the China-Laos Railway, has been running on a regular basis, as the railway department is building this railway's Central Asia freight train brand.
Multiple routes where scheduled China-Central Asia trains are running at speeds of 120 km per hour or 80 km per hour have been established, shortening rail transport time from Laos, Thailand and other countries to Europe to about 15 days.
"Since the opening of the China-Laos Railway, daily cross-border freight train services have increased from two at the initial stage to a peak of 23. The traction tonnage per train has also risen from 2,000 tonnes to 2,800 tonnes, representing a 40-percent increase in single-train capacity," said Fan Haipeng, official of the logistics center of China Railway Kunming Group Co., Ltd.
The range of commodities transported by the China-Laos Railway has expanded from just over 10 categories when the railway first opened to more than 4,000 today, which is expected to further promote the upgrading of economic and trade cooperation between China and ASEAN countries.
China-Laos Railway transports over 90 million tonnes of cargo
China, as Cambodia's most reliable strategic anchor, will continue to firmly support Cambodia in pursuing a development path suited to its national conditions, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said on Wednesday.
Wang, also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, made the remarks when meeting with Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Prak Sokhonn, who is in China for the 11th Lancang-Mekong Cooperation (LMC) Foreign Ministers' Meeting.
China stands ready to strengthen strategic communication with Cambodia, jointly meet external challenges and better promote each other's modernization drive, Wang said.
Wang called on both sides to make solid preparations for high-level exchanges in the next stage and safeguard the shared strategic interests of both countries, promote the development of the Industrial Development Corridor and the Fish and Rice Corridor and deepen pragmatic cooperation in infrastructure, agriculture and other fields.
Both sides should sustain a tough crackdown on telecom and online fraud and ensure such crimes never stage a comeback, Wang stressed, calling on both sides to step up coordination on multilateral platforms.
Prak Sokhonn said he appreciates China's invitation for the Cambodian and Thai foreign ministers to hold an informal tea talk, which embodies China's constructive position of settling dispute through peace and dialogue.
Hailing China's important role in the LMC, Prak Sokhonn said China is Cambodia's most trusted partner, adding that Cambodia reaffirms its commitment to the one-China principle, supports China's great cause of peaceful national reunification, and opposes "Taiwan independence" in any form.
Cambodia is willing to work with China to deliver on the important consensus reached by the leaders of the two countries, strengthen alignment of development strategies between the two sides, keep up the crackdown on online gambling and telecom fraud crimes, and continuously elevate bilateral law enforcement and security cooperation, Prak Sokhonn said.
China backs Cambodia on development path suited to its national conditions: top diplomat
