CHICAGO, March 3 (Xinhua) -- China's grand transportation program will break distance constraints and make the world smaller, a scholar has said.
The program is the "Global 1-2-3 Logistics Circle," and the aim is for one-day domestic delivery of goods in China, two-day delivery from neighboring countries, and three-day delivery to major global cities.
The goal was unveiled last week in guidelines for developing a modern, high-quality and comprehensive transport network over the next 15 years.
"It will lead to a better allocation of global resources as goods can be transported farther and faster with less energy," Khairy Tourk, a professor of economics with the Stuart School of Business at the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago, told Xinhua.
Developing countries that lie on China's door step will be major beneficiaries of the expected growth, Tourk said.
The program lays the foundation for the construction of a territorial transportation corridor that serves many ASEAN nations, he said. "As such, countries like Myanmar and Vietnam are expected to be manufacturing hubs in the near future."
The corridor would also promote a community built on common interests in the region and help ASEAN integration, with many land-locked countries being connected to the seas, he added.
Europe will be another major beneficiary of the program, he said, as a large amount of goods transported through the China-Europe railway network tend to be of relatively high value.
Meanwhile, increasing trip frequencies and shortening delivery times will be advantageous to producers who would not have to keep large amounts of inventories on hand, Tourk said.
"Faster connectivity among nations results in cultures coming into more contact with one another. This bodes well for world peace," he said.
Chinese consumers will also benefit from the program, Tourk said, since they may buy a wider variety of overseas products and receive them faster while paying less.
The program will "enhance China's competitiveness through lowering the cost of imported and exported goods," he said.
Tourk believes that China's transportation program will facilitate global trade.
"Worldwide exporters will be able to expand their sales in the huge Chinese market, thus, promoting globalization. The wider the world market, the more are international investment and trade flows," he said.
"China has laid out a sweeping transportation plan that knits the world together," Tourk said. Enditem
A single purchase
