Dalian, in Northeast China’s Liaoning province, was one of the nation’s first coastal cities to open up to the world. It remains an important shipping, logistics and regional financial center. Now, Dalian has further developed its connectivity with foreign countries.

The Port of Dalian is one of China’s busiest international ports along the Pacific Ocean. It has shipping agreements with more than 300 ports in over 160 countries and regions worldwide. The port’s China-EU trains promote connectivity and trade cooperation between China and countries along the Belt and Road routes. The port’s freight container capacity reached 35,000 twenty-feet equivalent units (TEUs) in 2017, three times its capacity in 2015.

“The China-EU trains have promoted smooth investment, trade, and cultural exchanges; thus, they help expand new development spaces for Dalian to carry out international production capacity,” said Qi Yonghong, deputy director of Dalian Development and Reform Commission.

Since the Dalian Area of China (Liaoning) Pilot Free Trade Zone opened in 2017, the local government has speeded custom clearance up to 30 percent while export speed has more than doubled. Officials say currently there are 920 foreign-owned enterprises in Dalian and they encourage more foreigners to start businesses there.

“We create an internationally consistent institutional environment for foreigners from the aspects of services, investment, trade, taxation, and more. This allows them to enjoy the same treatment when they invest and start businesses here as when they are abroad,” said Zhang Hongguang, deputy director of the management committee in Dalian Area of China (Liaoning) Pilot FTZ.

While Dalian has promoted the initiative of the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road with foreign countries, the current China-US trade war still hurts the import market.

“Imports of American soybeans have declined significantly. Over the same period, the sum of soybeans imported from the United States was much more than those from Brazil and Argentina combined. Now the sum has sharply dropped,” said Yu Jia, the assistant general manager of Dalian Beiliang Company.

Since Dalian has opened up import and export markets with other countries and regions, the ongoing China-US trade war has not greatly affected its foreign trade.

“The sales volume of American brands in China has declined, which may have some impact on us, but not much. Even though such volume has fallen, we still have German brands, Japanese brands, and our self-owned brands to make it up,” said Jin Zhaoxing, manager of the business department in Liaoning Dalian Automobile Terminal Company.

Dalian is a window for Northeast China to continue opening-up to the outside world, and the efforts to promote international trade and cultural exchanges will likely flourish for years to come.