During the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-25), China has realized multiple achievements in building itself into a country with a strong transportation network, benefiting domestic development while bolstering global connections, according to data unveiled by responsible officials at a press conference on Monday.

Minister of Transport Liu Wei said that six major tasks in the transportation plan for the period were completed ahead of schedule, including kilometers of new highways, Beidou satellite navigation system adoption, and the proportion of new-energy buses in cities. The remaining 11 tasks, such as kilometers of high-speed railways and urban rail transit access to hub airports, are expected to be fulfilled by year-end.

Liu highlighted the construction of a more robust transportation network. For instance, China's railway operational length reached 162,000 kilometers, an increase of 16,000 kilometers from the end of the 13th Five-Year Plan period (2016-20), including 10,000 kilometers of high-speed rail. He also noted that China has built the world's largest high-speed railway network, highway network, and postal express network.

China's high-speed rail spans 48,000 kilometers, more than 70 percent of the global total, covering 97 percent of Chinese cities with more than 500,000 people. The 33 main highways, totaling 191,000 kilometers, connect 99 percent of cities with more than 200,000 residents. Aviation services reach 92.6 percent of prefecture-level units and 91.2 percent of the population, while the postal network includes more than 500,000 outlets.

As for more efficient transportation, Liu said that, each day, about 180 million people travel across provinces, 160 million tons of goods are transported, and 478 million express courier parcels are collected and delivered.

Transportation is the lifeblood of national economic development, playing a critical role in supporting growth. The figures unveiled on Monday highlighted significant achievements in transportation infrastructure during the 14th Five-Year Plan period, serving as a key driver of rapid economic progress, Li Changan, a professor at the Academy of China Open Economy Studies at the University of International Business and Economics, told the Global Times on Monday.

Li said that transportation infrastructure significantly boosts investment demand, constituting a major component of national fixed-asset investment. He added that an increasingly convenient and comprehensive transportation network enhances the development of a unified national market, stimulates regional economic vitality, and accelerates logistics efficiency, contributing profoundly to economic growth.

In terms of advancing technological progress, Liu said that transportation equipment has become more advanced, with a string of "China brands" like high-speed railways, high-speed roads, bridges, ports, and express delivery gaining global acclaim.

New milestones have been achieved, such as the unveiling of the CR450 bullet train, the launch of the first domestically built large cruise ship, and the C919 plane entering regular commercial service. More than 4,000 kilometers of highways were upgraded with intelligent systems, and 9,950 kilometers of electronic waterway charts were released.

As for other sectors, Zhao Chongjiu, head of the State Post Bureau, said that artificial intelligence and unmanned technology enhance logistics from warehousing to last-mile delivery, boosting efficiency and achieving a peak daily express collection of 729 million parcels.

Song Zhiyong, head of the Civil Aviation Administration of China, said that more than 70 percent of domestic passengers use self-service check-in, more than 260 airports offer paperless travel capabilities, and in-flight Wi-Fi usage is increasingly widespread.

When it comes to deepening global cooperation, Liu highlighted that a global transportation connectivity framework is taking shape rapidly.

For logistics cooperation with Belt and Road Initiative partner countries, Liu said that the China-Laos Railway, operational since late 2021, allows passengers to eat rice noodles in Kunming, Southwest China's Yunnan Province, in the morning and drink coffee in Vientiane, Laos by evening, thriving in both passenger and freight transport, with more than 13 million tons of cross-border goods transported. The Chancay Port in Peru, South America's first smart port, opened in November 2024, reducing maritime shipping time between South America and Asia by 10 days.

In terms of promoting overall global cooperation as well as local livelihoods, China has signed more than 270 bilateral and multilateral cooperation agreements or documents to date. The Mombasa-Nairobi Standard Gauge Railway has created more than 74,000 jobs for Kenya, with a localization rate of more than 90 percent for employees, and has trained more than 2,800 railway professionals, according to Liu.