From 25 to 29 July 2018, the 2018 Liupanshui Belt and Road & ASEAN Media Tour was held in Liupanshui, Guizhou province. The event was hosted by People’s Daily Online and jointly organized by the Liupanshui Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China and the Liupanshui Municipal Government. Six ASEAN media from Lao PDR, the Philippines, Viet Nam, Malaysia, and Cambodia, 20 foreign media from other regions, local Chinese media as well as ASEAN students from Guiyang Minzu University attended the trip. Mr. Vithit Powattanasuk, Director of Information and Public Relations of ASEAN-China Centre (ACC), was invited to join the trip.

In the opening ceremony, Mr. Wang Zhiqiu, Director of the Editorial Department of People’s Daily Guizhou Branch, delivered remarks to welcome all participants to Liupanshui, which is known as “the Cool City” for cool and comfortable summer as well as scenic and mountainous area. The city is linked by comprehensive rail and road networks with others 3 provinces in China, namely, Yunnan, Guangxi, Chongqing, as well as ASEAN countries. The strategic location makes the city attractive for trade and investment. Mr. Vithit from ACC commended the efforts of Liupanshui city in initiating this ASEAN media trip and stated that in recent years China and ASEAN countries have become closer in the areas of trade, investment, education, culture and people-to-people exchanges. It is timely that Liupanshui becomes the partner of growth with ASEAN countries, especially with the good effects of China’s Belt and Road Initiative and ASEAN connectivity through the high speed train linking from Thailand, Lao PDR to China via Yunnan province in the coming years.

During the trip, the participants attended the ceremony of Liangdu “Cool Summer” Festival, and visited several scenic spots, agricultural and industrial park, and high tech industrial development zone to experience local ethnic cultures, eco-tourism and learn about the industrial development of Liupanshui as well as its good practice of poverty alleviation through promoting agricultural tourism and helping upgrading the living standards of ethnic minorities in the area. The trip concluded by achieving good result in raising the awareness of Liupanshui city to the outside world.