China to double imports by 2015 to balance trade

2020-12-24 中國臺灣網

Workers unloading cargo at the Lianyungang port, Jiangsu province. The Minister of Commerce Chen Deming said China would double its imports by 2015. Wang Chun / for China Daily

Ten years ago when China laboriously won membership of the World Trade Organization (WTO), many were doubtful. Who would be the biggest losers, they asked, China, or the rest of the world?

Looking back and reflecting on the debates on China's WTO entry during that time, the organization's chief Pascal Lamy disappointed the doubters.

Admitting that China joined under terms much tougher than those imposed on any other developing country - a "bitter pill" which turned out to be "an insurance policy against protectionism" - he concluded during an interview with China Daily. "It seems that nobody has been a loser it is win-win."

At a panel discussion with Lamy on the tenth anniversary of China joining the WTO, the country's Minister of Commerce Chen Deming offered a list of figures to support Lamy's conclusion.

Describing the entry as a "courageous and tough" but the "right" choice, Chen said that in the past decade, China's average duty rate has dropped from 15.3 percent to the current level of 9.8 percent.

Meanwhile exports have increased 4.9 times and imports by 4.7, with a two-fold increase in economic output.

Meanwhile, Chinese consumption grew at an average rate of 15 percent between 2001 and 2010 and the nation ended up as the world's second-largest importer in 2010, with a total import value of over $1.4 trillion, accounting for 10 percent of the global total.

Chen pledged that the country will further open its economy, forecasting another decade of prosperity for it and the rest of the world. This will be done by encouraging Chinese companies to invest overseas, increasing foreign purchases and boosting domestic consumption.

The US is still experiencing difficulties with toxic assets, Europe is in a public debt crisis, and the emerging economies are facing inflationary pressures. That being the case, Chen said China will cooperate to help promote global economic recovery, even though the world's second-largest economy also faces severe challenges itself, not least rising inflation.

Chen also said China's imports will double during the coming five years.

"This (the doubling of imports) highlights China's commitment to balancing its foreign trade, and the nation's aim of shifting its economic growth mode to one driven by demand," said Li Yong, assistant to the chairman of the China Association of International Trade.

Chen Deming said the major task facing the commerce ministry in the next five years will be that of balancing trade by stimulating imports and stabilizing exports.

"Such a task (the doubling of imports) is not difficult to implement. A more optimistic estimation is that China's imports will more than double by the end of 2015," said He Weiwen, a standing council member of the China Society for WTO Studies.

According to data from the customs service, China's imports for 2010 surged to $1.39 trillion, a rise of 38.7 percent from a year earlier.

He Weiwen suggested that China reduce her reliance on imports of energy products and spend more on technology-related goods, in the sectors of agriculture, information, energy, infrastructure, aerospace, materials and autos.

During the recent annual Commerce Work Conference, the commerce ministry said it will launch guidelines on promoting imports of mechanical and electrical products this year.

Imports related specifically to new energy, new materials, energy saving, high-end equipment manufacturing, low-carbon technology, aerospace, shipbuilding and rail transportation will also be a focus.

On Thursday, China announced it will cut import tariffs on some electronic goods, including laptops and digital cameras, to 10 percent from 20 percent.

Chen also said he has consulted with his US counterpart to seek a doubling of US exports to China, amounting to $200 billion by 2015.

Chen told China Daily that "we will encourage Chinese companies to invest overseas", without giving a specific investment plan.

China's overseas investment soared to $60 billion in 2010 from around $1 billion 10 years ago.

相關焦點

  • Experts rule out China-US trade war
    They will also jointly announce the conditions on imports of US chicken products to China before next Monday, another part of the China-US 100-day action plan.
  • Trump's focus on trade deficits wrong: experts
    Economists warn that turning trade into a zero-sum balance is too simple-minded US economists believe that blaming other countries for US trade deficits is wrongheaded
  • China's position on the China-US economic and trade...
    In 2018, the US was China's largest trading partner and export market, and the sixth largest source of imports.
  • LNG imports soar in first half
    According to Wang Lu, the world's biggest energy consumer probably had the greatest increase globally in LNG imports in the first half of 2017, and might also see its natural gas imports continue
  • Foreign trade on strong footing
    Exports dropped by 16.6 percent to 922.76 billion yuan, while imports showed a slight decrease of 0.3 percent to 888.3 billion yuan.
  • China Records 7.3 Billion Dollar Trade Deficit for February
    The last time China reported a trade deficit was in March 2010, when it recorded a deficit of 7.24 billion dollars.
  • ...of cooperation and conflicts for China-U.S. trade relations
    trade disputes.Today, China and the U.S. are each other's second largest trade partner and their trade volume has increased by 130 times in the past 30 years.
  • 論:Tradeoff 和 Balance的區別
    Tradeoff 和 BalanceTradeoff vs Balance在撰寫論文的過程中，特別是人工智慧和機器學習用到優化算法的時候，常常會用到這兩個英文單詞：tradeoff(trade-off)和 balance，想必很多人都混淆了用法，現在讓我簡單分析分析它們的異同吧。
  • Texas wants to continue trade with China
    While US-China trade tensions continue to escalate at the federal level, some experts and business leaders in Texas voiced the state's desire to continue its trade relationship
  • Overseas food not China's staple
    Between 1998 and 2001, imports grew at 3 percent a year and exports at 2 percent.However, despite the huge food trade volume, Cheng said the country's food trade structure remains relatively rational.
  • China's foreign trade up 45.2% in February
    Exports in February stood at 94.52 billion U.S. dollars, up 45.7 percent, in a new indication of a rebound in global demand, while imports rose 44.7 percent to 86.91 billion U.S.dollars.
  • China's trade to reach $2 trillion in 2007
    Imports of primary products reached $187.1 billion, up 26.7 percent, while imports of machinery and electronic products increased faster than the previous year, up 22.1 percent.
  • Great benefit for US from Sino-US trade co-op
    For example, since 1952, Germany has had 58 years of favorable balance of trade, which was up to 8% of GDP at its highest.
  • China strongly dissatisfied on US trade sanction
    The Chinese government expresses strong dissatisfaction about the U.S. decision to impose penalty tariffs against the imports of Chinese coated free sheet paper, Wang Xinpei, spokesman
  • China auto industry gradually opening
    Additionally, tariffs on imports of auto parts will also be reduced to 6% from the current range of 8% to 25%.  This has been lauded as a response to U.S. trade complaints.
  • ...the China International Fair for Trade in Services
    It is the first major international economic and trade event held both online and offline by China since the COVID-19 outbreak.9月5日，觀眾在服貿會專題展區參觀。
  • Expanding oil and gas imports from US helps optimize China’s...
    To expand crude oil and natural gas imports from the US will optimize China’s energy structure, said Wang Zhongying, deputy director of the Institute of Energy Research under the Chinese
  • Oil exports nosedive; imports up
    Crude oil imports last month, on the other hand, reached 13.9 million tons, up 8.8 percent year-on-year.
  • Top leaders warn against trade war
    Bishop said China and the US cannot afford to wage a trade war.Observers have warned that a US trade war with China is a trade war with Asia, due to the close interdependence of the Asian economies, where China is often a country's top trade partner.
  • White Paper: China and the World Trade Organization
    2015年，中國成為接受《貿易便利化協定》議定書的第16個世貿組織成員。2016年中國擔任二十國集團主席國期間，推動多國完成《貿易便利化協定》的國內批准程序，為協定早日生效作出了積極貢獻。In 2015, China became the 16th WTO member to ratify the Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA).