Chinese authorities have opened the world’s longest expressway tunnel through the Tengri Tagh (“Tianshan”) Mountains in East Turkistan, what Beijing calls “Xinjiang (New Territory),” dramatically reducing travel time between the northern and southern parts of the occupied territory while reinforcing colonial infrastructure across a heavily militarized landscape.
The China Daily reported that the 22.13-kilometer “Tianshan Shengli Tunnel” opened to traffic on December 27 as part of the Urumchi–Lopnur (“Urumchi-Yuli”) Expressway, a 324.7-kilometer route linking the colonial administrative capital with Lopnur. Officials say the tunnel cuts a journey that once took several hours over high-altitude mountain roads to about 20 minutes.
Chinese state media framed the opening as a landmark engineering achievement and a boost to regional “connectivity,” but critics note that large-scale transport infrastructure in East Turkistan has historically served Beijing’s strategic, economic, and security priorities rather than the interests of native communities.
Engineering feat through a militarized mountain range
The Tengri Tagh Mountains run more than 2,500 kilometers across central East Turkistan, dividing the country into northern and southern zones. Before the tunnel, crossings involved winding roads at elevations exceeding 4,000 metres, often closed during winter.
Construction of the expressway began in April 2020, with a reported investment of 46.7 billion yuan ($6.66bn). The tunnel itself was built at nearly 3,000 metres above sea level, in an area characterized by extreme cold, seismic risk, and complex geological fault zones.
“It was built where temperatures can drop to minus 42 degrees Celsius, with high seismic activity,” said Miao Baodong, an engineer with China Communications Construction Company, the state-owned firm responsible for the project.
The tunnel’s deepest section runs 1,112 metres beneath the mountain ridge, while its longest vertical shaft descends more than 700 metres, a configuration engineers say sets a global record.
Transport corridor tied to BRI
Chinese transport officials say the expressway connects to major national routes, including the G7 Beijing–Urumchi Expressway and the G30 corridor linking eastern China to Horgos on the Kazakh border. Together, these arteries feed into the New Eurasian Land Bridge and China’s westward trade corridors into Central Asia as part of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).
Li Yafei, a senior Chinese official with the colonial transport authority, said the road would “accelerate the flow of energy, manufactured goods and agricultural products” across East Turkistan and reduce logistics costs.
The expressway also links areas designated by Beijing as part of the “China (Xinjiang) Pilot Free Trade Zone,” underscoring the project’s role in facilitating state-directed trade, resource extraction, and settlement across the occupied territory.
Environmental claims and local impacts
Project engineers say sections of the expressway pass through biodiverse areas, including water-source protection zones and national forest parks, and that mitigation measures were implemented. Along a 116-kilometre stretch, 17 tunnels and 36 large bridges were constructed, accounting for nearly 60 percent of the route.
“These structures facilitate wildlife passages and provide underpasses for herders and livestock,” said Zhu Genshen, another engineer involved in the project.
In recent decades, infrastructure expansion in East Turkistan has coincided with land seizures, surveillance expansion, and the marginalization of native peoples from decision-making over development on their own land.
The expressway is set to begin trial operations on January 1, further embedding Beijing’s physical and economic control across East Turkistan through permanent transport infrastructure.
