China outlines smarter, greener transport goals for 2026-2030

China will use its 15th Five-Year Plan covering 2026 to 2030 to expand national transportation links and promote smarter, greener mobility, a transport ministry official said Wednesday.

Priorities were outlined at the opening of the three-day 18th International Exhibition on Transport Technology and Equipment in Beijing.

During the previous five-year plan, China completed 91 percent of a planned nationwide transportation backbone, comprising major road, rail, and waterway corridors.

The country now has nearly 200,000 kilometers of expressways, more than 50,000 kilometers of high-speed railway lines, and 18,500 kilometers of high-grade inland waterways. Eight of the world's 10 largest ports are also in China.

Major projects have also produced advances in transportation engineering, including the Shenzhen-Zhongshan Link, a cross-sea transportation corridor in the southern province of Guangdong, and the Pinglu Canal in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.

Rapid advances in artificial intelligence and other frontier technologies are reshaping the global transportation industry. During the 2026-2030 period, China plans to shift the sector's growth model toward structural improvements, smart and digital technologies, and greener development.

"Over the 15th Five-Year Plan period, we will focus on building a modern, high-quality national transportation network. We will promote greater integration, enhance safety, accelerate smart and digital upgrades, and advance the green transition, while building world-class infrastructure, technology, management, and services. These efforts will help accelerate China's development into a transportation powerhouse," Vice Minister of Transport Wang Gang said.

China's vast market and broad demand for technology applications will create more opportunities to test and scale new transport innovations, potentially spurring technological breakthroughs and globally competitive companies in the sector.

China outlines smarter, greener transport goals for 2026-2030

United Nations (UN) Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday called for urgent action to break the vicious cycle of armed conflict and food insecurity across the globe.

Guterres said the link between conflict, violence and hunger is undeniable, stressing that Security Council Resolution 2417 - adopted in 2018 to address this nexus - must be implemented fully and consistently.

"Resolution 2417 recognizes the need to break the vicious cycle between armed conflict and food insecurity. Yet the vicious cycle rolls on. So today, I call on this Council to consider three measures to strengthen — and build on — this landmark resolution," Guterres said during a Council debate on its role in mitigating global and local food crises.

First, Resolution 2417 must be implemented consistently and in full. For parties to conflict, this means not depriving civilians of objects indispensable to their survival -- including food, crops, livestock and drinking water supplies -- and refraining from attacking, destroying, removing or rendering them useless, Guterres said.

Second, food systems must be protected in their entirety. Conflict or violence must not keep farmers from their fields, keep crops trapped in or on the ground, or keep food supplies stuck in storage, he said.

And thirdly, humanitarian personnel must be protected, the UN chief stressed.

"It is no coincidence that 2025 saw not only the highest number of armed conflicts since World War II — but also among the highest levels of global acute hunger on record, with at least 266 million people facing acute food insecurity. 2025 also marked the first time this century that two famines were confirmed simultaneously, in Sudan and Gaza," he added.

Guterres warned war not only directly destroys the agricultural production and food supply system, but also impacts the trade, energy and transportation networks, making the food crisis spread across national borders.

UN chief calls for ending vicious cycle of conflict, food insecurity across globe