Since the 16th Party congress in 2002, China has been actively participating in the globalization process, with a continuously expanding scale of foreign trade; and a higher level of opening up, claimed a report by the State Statistics Bureau.
According to the WTO, China's total cargo import/export volume rose from fifth in the world in 2002, to third in 2004; and it remained stable for two years. Its percentage in world trade rose from 4.7 percent in 2002 to 7.2 percent in 2006.
China's cargo import/export growth averaged 29.8 percent annually between 2003 and 2006. Exports increased by 31.3 percent and imports by 29.8 percent – the most fast-paced period in history. In 2002, China's total volume of cargo imports/exports stood at 620.8 billion US dollars. The figure exceeded 1 trillion dollars in 2004, and kept growing in 2006 to reach 1.7 trillion dollars – 2.8 times that of the 2002 figure.
While expanding the trade scale, China also endeavored to create a diversified trade pattern.
China saw a slight change in the ranking of its major trading partners between 2003 and 2006. In 2003, Japan was our largest trading partner, followed by the US and EU; from 2004 to 2006, the EU rose to first place, with the US being China's largest export market and Japan the largest import source. In 2006, China's bilateral trade value with the EU, US, and Japan increased to 272.3 billion, 262.7 billion, and 207.3 billion dollars.
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has grown to be China's fifth largest trade partner. In 2006, the bilateral trade value reached 160.8 billion dollars, increasing 1.9 times over 2002.
India ranked tenth in trade with China, with a trade value of 24.9 billion dollars – five times that of 2002, and rising 49.8 percent annually. Besides, between 2003 and 2006, China's bilateral trade growth with Africa averaged 45.5 percent annually and that with Latin America was 40.9 percent; both rates were much higher than China's entire cargo trade during the same period.
China also took the opportunity of globalization to accelerate service trade development. From 2003 to 2006, China's service exports added up to 273.8 billion dollars, growing 23.4 percent annually; and 9.3 percentage points higher than the world average during the same period. Exports stood at 91.4 billion dollars in 2006 – 2.3 times that of 2002 and making up 3.4 percent of global exports (0.9 percentage points higher than in 2002).
Emerging service exports grew faster, and their structure was further optimized. In 2006, exports of transportation services stood at 21 billion dollars, making up 23 percent of service trade exports; and 8.5 percentage points higher than in 2002. Between 2002 and 2006, China's computer and information service exports rose from 640 million dollars to 2.96 billion dollars. Its proportion in service exports rose from 1.6 percent to 3.2 percent; consultancy service export increased from 1.28 billion dollars to 7.83 billion dollars (from 3.2 percent to 8.5 percent); and exports of movies and videos grew 3.6 times – from 29.67 million dollars in 2002, to 140 million dollars.
In the past five years China also witnessed a rising trend in the absorption of direct foreign investment (non-financial sectors). In 2002, the actual use of FDI for the first time surpassed 50 billion dollars; stayed above 60 billion dollars in the following three years; and hit 63 billion dollars in 2006. Between 2003 and 2006, the actual use of FDI grew at a pace of 4.6 percent a year.
Meanwhile, the government encouraged competitive enterprises to "go out." By the end of 2006, China had more than 30,000 enterprises engaged in various kinds of transnational investment and business operations; and their funds went to more than 160 countries.
By People's Daily Online |
