In the first three quarters of this year, the Changchun Xinglong Comprehensive Bonded Zone recorded a front-line import and export value of 10.013 billion yuan, up 544% year-on-year, once again surpassing the 10-billion-yuan mark. Changchun has ranked first nationwide in 3 TIR cross-border road transport indicators, namely inbound, outbound and total trips, and has become the first city in China to exceed 1,000 TIR vehicle trips in transport volume.

Located away from international borders and coasts, Changchun sits deep in the interior of northeast China. How has it managed to break through against the odds? The answer lies in its concrete efforts to break new ground through reform, strengthen international logistics corridors, and leverage industrial strengths for growth.

Institutional Breakthroughs to Unlock Reform Dividends

High-level opening-up is underpinned by high-quality institutional supply. Changchun Xinglong Comprehensive Bonded Zone advances reform and innovation, and collaborates with authorities including customs and commerce departments to refine regulatory mechanisms, continuously unleashing institutional dividends.

Several pioneering regulatory innovations have been implemented: advancing the "Zone-Port Integration" model, achieving an efficient closed loop through the "three-port coordination," and shortening customs clearance time by one hour. The launch of the "instant issuance" mechanism has delivered simultaneous progress in cost reduction, process acceleration and efficiency improvement.

Regulatory innovations lead the way. The "TIR + bonded" business was first implemented in China's three northeast provinces, with export trade value exceeding 3 billion yuan. The differentiated conformity assessment streamlined inspections of key automotive components imported by FAW, cutting inspection time for vehicle lamps by more than 95% to just 5 minutes and enabling the release of goods within minutes and smoother customs clearance ...

These reform outcomes have moved beyond paper documents. They have been genuinely translated into efficiency and cost advantages for enterprises, yielding replicable and scalable experience for inland opening-up regions, providing a solid institutional foundation for the smooth operation of corridors and the clustering effect of industries.

Connected Corridors to Build a Logistics Hub

At the International Distribution Center of the Changchun Cross-Border E-Commerce Comprehensive Pilot Zone, located in the Changchun Xinglong Comprehensive Bonded Zone, conveyor belts run at high speed as goods are sorted, loaded and dispatched in an orderly flow amid a bustling scene. The center handles cargo from 35 collecting warehouses across the country. After collection and distribution in Changchun, the goods are transferred by TIR vehicles to ports such as Hunchun, Suifenhe and Manzhouli for direct delivery to Northeast Asia.

A logistics network integrating sea, land, air and rail has taken shape. China-Europe freight train services run steadily, and TIR operations lead the country in scale, accounting for 30 percent of the national total in the first three quarters. The first Jilin International Road Transport Hub Center in China continues to be upgraded, integrating document processing, vehicle inspection and enterprise services. The corridors serve as backups to one another and operate in coordination.

The multimodal transport framework, with multiple routes advancing in parallel and providing mutual backup, gives enterprises the flexibility to choose routes, and hedges against the risk of relying on a single port. It supports Changchun, an inland city, in shouldering its mission as a bridgehead for northward opening-up.

Industry-Trade Integration to Gather Growth Momentum

The upgrading of corridor capacity ultimately rests on industrial support. The automotive industry is leading the way. Imports of auto parts and exports of complete vehicles together contributed more than 5.5 billion yuan to foreign trade, while 4,449 complete vehicles, including Hongqi cars, were exported with a value of nearly 500 million yuan. New forms of business are making breakthroughs at an accelerated pace. Bonded transit of king crab and bonded exhibition of artworks were among the first to be launched. The cross-border e-commerce distribution center was designated by Wildberries as an official distribution warehouse, with its exports reaching 3.657 billion yuan in the first three quarters, double last year's total. A total of 126 new enterprises were registered during the period, with market entities clustering at a faster pace and injecting endogenous momentum into foreign trade growth.

Mutual Benefits to Deliver the Warmth of Opening-up

The dividends of opening-up lie in both going global and bringing in. Jilin is stepping up efforts to foster the new calling card of "Jilin premium products" to reach global markets, with complete vehicles, equipment manufacturing products and other distinctive Jilin offerings leading the way. Meanwhile, imported commodity experience stores have settled in commercial districts. The 1,500-square-meter exhibition hall for "Jilin premium products" showcases local quality products under the theme of "Colorful Jilin." In the first three quarters, sales at the Import and Export Goods Exhibition and Trading Center reached 45.4667 million yuan and visitor arrivals reached 268,000, showing how the benefits of opening-up have found their way into the shopping carts of ordinary people.

The dynamic practices at the Changchun Xinglong Comprehensive Bonded Zone have explored a viable path for inland cities to break free from geographical constraints and pursue high-level opening-up. They have also laid a solid foundation for Changchun to accelerate the development of a new highland for northward opening-up. Evolving from transport corridors to hubs, from logistics to industries, and from foreign trade to consumption, Changchun's northward opening-up is carrying the vibrant momentum of the black soil toward markets beyond the sea.

Source: Excerpt from Changchun Daily Convergence Media  Editor: Liu Jiadi