The Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region plans to increase its efforts to build a high-speed railway network providing another link with the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), which is the region's biggest trading partner and export market, over the next five years.

Guangxi is China's main foreign-trade center.

"One of our main tasks during the 12th Five-Year Plan (2011-2015) is to accelerate the construction of a high-speed railway from Nanning to ASEAN countries such as Singapore to establish an international passage, bolstering Guangxi's foreign trade," Ma Biao, chairman of the regional government, said on Monday.