Growing China is repaying the world

The ongoing modernization drive in China is one of the largest in human history. It will provide modern living conditions to an estimated 1.5 billion people - that is, one and half times the combined population of the developed world - by the middle of the 21st century.

To ensure the success of this modernization drive, China needs to import huge amounts of resources, fuels, devices and consumer goods, which will boost the growth of the global market. In this context, the past few years have revealed three major changes in Sino-US trade that best illustrate China's growth as the world's biggest market.

The most important change, of course, is that US exports to China have grown faster than imports from China. In 2000, the Chinese mainland was the 11th largest exporting market of the United States, but by 2007, it had overtaken Japan to become the third largest. Overall, US exports to the Chinese mainland, Hong Kong and Macao grew from $30.9 billion in 2000 to $164.8 billion in 2013, making them the fastest growing market for US exports.