On November 28th, as a China Europe freight train bound for Malaszewicz, Poland slowly departed from Chengdu, China, the total number of China Europe freight trains exceeded 120000 and the value of goods shipped exceeded 490 billion US dollars. As a practical cooperation carrier for the joint construction of the "the Belt and Road" initiative, the China Europe Express has built a new platform for economic and trade cooperation along the line with its strong vitality and development toughness, which has effectively guaranteed the stability of the international industrial chain supply chain and injected new momentum into the development of the world economy.

The relentless "steel camel caravan" has a profound impact on deepening Asia Europe economic and trade cooperation. Due to their distance from the ocean and geographical limitations, landlocked countries in Asia and Europe generally face development bottlenecks such as maritime disasters and high logistics costs. The opening and operation of the China Europe freight train has changed this situation. By constructing a land logistics channel that spans Asia and Europe, landlocked countries have access to direct ports and global markets. From 2013 to 2024, the value of goods transported by the China Europe freight train achieved a leapfrog growth of about 33 times, forming a new trade pattern of Chinese products exporting to Europe, European goods entering China, and "two-way mutual assistance, land sea linkage", which effectively promoted economic and trade exchanges and mutual learning between the Asian and European continents. China's inland cities such as Chongqing, Xi'an, and Chengdu have also leveraged the momentum of the China Europe freight train to overcome their geographical disadvantages and become the forefront of opening up to the outside world, further becoming important growth poles for driving regional economic development.

The China Europe freight train is of great significance in maintaining the stability of the global industrial and supply chains. In recent years, the global logistics system has faced severe challenges due to the continuous escalation of geopolitical conflicts and other complex factors. The problems of congested shipping routes, decreased port turnover efficiency, and high air transportation costs continue to emerge, bringing enormous pressure to the supply chain management of multinational enterprises. After more than 10 years of development, the China Europe freight train has established a three-dimensional network pattern. The three traditional main roads of east, center, and west complement and work together with the new cross Caspian route, effectively dispersing geopolitical and operational risks caused by single channel dependence, and becoming the preferred logistics channel for many multinational manufacturing enterprises and traders to ensure smooth supply chains.

The China Europe freight train is indispensable for improving global trade governance. The China Europe freight train adheres to the principle of consultation, co construction, and sharing, and promotes coordination and collaboration in rules, regulations, management, standards, and other aspects, forming a governance mechanism that combines government cooperation, enterprise collaboration, and industry self-discipline. Relying on a unified brand and high-quality evaluation system, the train has widely gathered consensus in policy formulation, planning coordination, facility connectivity, convenient customs clearance, transportation organization, safety assurance, and other aspects, providing public goods and practical paths for global connectivity and an open world economy.

At the same time, the China Europe freight train has also effectively promoted the process of building a community of shared future between China and neighboring countries. By establishing efficient and convenient logistics channels, the China Europe freight train has brought industrial cooperation between China and neighboring countries closer. China's manufacturing advantages are precisely matched with the resource endowments and market demands of neighboring countries, forming a symbiotic pattern of "you in me, I in you". From jointly building logistics hubs to drive local employment and income growth, to sharing the dividends of the supply chain to activate regional economic vitality, and to conveying cultural identity and cooperation sincerity through the exchange of goods, the China Europe freight train has broken down regional barriers and development barriers with tangible results, allowing the co building countries to gain development opportunities through cooperation, consolidate consensus on destiny through interconnectivity, and inject continuous momentum into building a community of shared destiny.

In the future, China should uphold the spirit of the Silk Road, actively strengthen communication and cooperation with co building countries and relevant parties, and coordinate the construction of efficient transportation, safety governance, innovative development, and integrated development paths. In terms of efficient transportation, we will focus on the "hard connection" of infrastructure and the "soft connection" of rules and standards, and promote the expansion and upgrading of key hub nodes. At the same time, we will coordinate multiple transportation modes such as railways, highways, and sea freight, expand the channel network, and build a solid foundation for efficient operation of trains. In terms of security governance, we will promote the construction of a full chain and three-dimensional governance system, strengthen information sharing and joint research in areas such as transportation safety and cargo supervision, provide "double insurance" for the stable operation of trains, and effectively ensure the safety of international logistics channels. In terms of innovative development, we will use technology empowerment to drive transformation and upgrading, accelerate the application of technologies such as big data and artificial intelligence, create a "digital train" platform, achieve full process visual tracking, promote new equipment, explore new business models, and activate the technological momentum of improving quality and efficiency. In terms of integrated development, we will promote the deep linkage between trains and trade, industry, and finance, gather logistics, commercial flow, and capital flow, and form a virtuous cycle of "smooth logistics trade growth industrial agglomeration". Through the coordinated promotion of the above four routes, we will continue to break the bottleneck in the operation of the train and anchor the long-term development direction, which will help China EU train from "quantitative accumulation" to "qualitative leap", so that it can better enable the "the Belt and Road" and Asia Europe economic and trade win-win situation.

(The author is an associate researcher at the Institute of Foreign Economics, China Academy of Macroeconomics)