Editorials

Growing trade power

(China Daily)
Updated: 2010-04-20 07:52

Amid signs that global trade will rebound strongly this year as economic recovery continues, China has inspired more confidence by planning to more than double its foreign trade volume by 2020.

Such high expectations of its trade growth over the next decade clearly underscore China's determination to develop itself from a large trader into a firm trade power.

More importantly, if that is the case, the country will provide the world economy with a much-needed new source of demand that significantly helps to sustain global recovery.

World trade fell by an unprecedented 12 percent last year amid the worst economic crisis in decades. But thanks to ongoing recovery in global demand, the World Trade Organization predicted that the volume of global trade will expand by 9.5 per cent this year.

As the world's largest exporter, China's robust trade growth will contribute significantly to the increase in global trade.

After a 13.9-percent drop to $2.2 trillion in 2009, China's foreign trade jumped 44.1 percent to $618 billion in the first quarter of this year, boosting the recovery of global trade. The country is also set to upgrade its export structure as it expands imports substantially.

According to the latest Ministry of Commerce report, China's foreign trade volume will hit $5.3 trillion by 2020, with merchandise exports accounting for 10.1 percent and imports accounting for 8.2 percent of the world's total.

For all these to materialize, China needs to considerably improve the quality of the foreign trade sector and lower import tariffs to promote balanced trade growth in the coming years.

For the world economy to benefit from the rise of China as a bigger exporter and an increasingly important importer, the international community should also stand firmly against rising protectionism in its various forms.

(China Daily 04/20/2010 page8)