Who carries the great trade? Logistics links between China and the world

China accounted for 14.4% of the global exports of goods, ranking first in 2022, followed by the United States at 8.3%. As the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development commented, China has become a global trade titan, and its meteoric rise as perhaps one of the best stories of economic development has been both admired and questioned. This article discusses the reasons behind China becoming a global trade titan from the perspective of transport logistics by applying statistical analysis and case studies. The results show that the meteoric rise of China’s trade is inseparable from China’s development in transport logistics, especially investments in maritime transport construction and China Railway Express, which hugely promote the interconnectivity of transport infrastructure and reduce transportation duration and waiting time, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. Furthermore, the imbalance of types of imports and exports in trade and the differences in infrastructure standards pose some problems. The research manages to give policy implications based on the existing problems of the current trade logistics system through case studies on Sino-US, Sino-EU and Sino-ASEAN trade relations and transport facilitation issues.