URUMQI: The China Railway Express has withstood rising tensions between the European Union and China to post record cargo traffic through Xinjiang in the first half of the year amid sky-high sea freight rates caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
The railway network between Europe and China is a key component of President Xi Jinping’s Belt and Road Initiative, which seeks to link Asia, Europe and Africa with a network of ports, motorways and railways.
Some 6,090 trains passed through China’s two major inland ports in Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region in the first six months of the year, transporting about 6.57 million tonnes of goods in and out of China, according to local customs data cited by the official Xinjiang Daily.
Cargo trains entering Xinjiang via Khorgos, which borders Kazakhstan, rose 52.5 per cent from a year earlier to 3,057. They carried 4.29 million tonnes of goods, up 66.8 per cent from a year earlier.
The number of trains entering the country through Alataw Pass, another major rail hub on the Kazakhstan border, increased 41.1 per cent to 3,033 from a year earlier, with cargo volumes rising 56.1 per cent to 2.28 million tonnes of goods.
“The fundamental reason why the China Railway Express is booming is the strong complementarity between China and Europe’s industrial structures,” said Tian Yong, an analyst at Chinese logistics and supply chain analytics firm TUC Media, in a note on Saturday.
“The economic strategic value of the China Railway Express is embodied in the internal circulation of the Eurasia continent … connecting a huge population and a complete range of manufacturing sectors.”
The rail line has prospered despite worsening relations between Beijing and Brussels, which have come under growing strain this year over alleged human rights abuses against China’s ethnic Uygur Muslim minority group in Xinjiang.
Brussels imposed sanctions on Chinese officials accused of human rights violations against Uygurs and the European Parliament suspended the ratification of the Comprehensive Agreement on Investment between the two economies.
Beijing has dismissed those concerns as baseless and returned fire with sanctions of its own.
–The Daily Mail-CGTN
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