China's Foreign Trade

II. Reform of and Improvements to China's Foreign Trade System

Before China adopted the reform and opening up policy in 1978, its foreign trade was governed by mandatory planning, and the state absorbed both the profits and the losses of enterprises. Since the reform and opening up policy was initiated, China's foreign trade system has completed the transformation from mandatory planning to giving full play to the fundamental role of the market - from state monopoly to full openness, and from indiscriminate egalitarianism to giving enterprises discretionary management power and making them responsible for their own profits and losses. During the negotiations over the restoration of its GATT (General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade) membership and entry into the WTO, and after it became a WTO member, China gradually adopted international trade practices, and established a unified, open foreign trade system compatible with multilateral trade rules.

During the initial period of reform and opening up, China's foreign trade system reform focused on the transformation of its unitary planning, transfer of management and operation power in foreign trade to lower levels, implementation of the system of allowing enterprises to retain a certain portion of foreign exchange earnings, and establishment of a foreign exchange coordination market. China absorbed foreign direct investment to introduce foreign-invested enterprises as new business entities in its foreign trade sector, breaking the monopoly of state-owned foreign trade enterprises. After that, China introduced a responsibility system in doing foreign trade, gradually replacing mandatory planning with guided planning. The state also set up an export tax rebates system in line with the general practice of international trade. In October 1992, China clearly put forward the goal of reform toward a socialist market economy. A comprehensive reform of the systems of finance, taxation, banking, foreign trade and foreign exchange was carried out accordingly. In January 1994, the Chinese government discontinued all export subsidies, making all import and export enterprises fully responsible for their own profits and losses. The official and market-regulated exchange rates of China's currency, the Renminbi (RMB), coexisted in a unitary and managed floating exchange rate system based on market demand and supply. Foreign trade enterprises were incorporated, and pilot programs for the import and export agency system were carried out. In the same year, the Foreign Trade Law of the People's Republic of China was promulgated, establishing principles such as safeguarding a foreign trade order of equity and freedom, and a basic legal system for foreign trade. In December 1996, China realized current account convertibility for the RMB. Meanwhile, China voluntarily made significant tariff cuts, and reduced non-tariff measures such as quotas and licenses. These reform measures helped China initially establish a foreign trade administration and regulation system based on the market economy, giving full play to such economic levers as the exchange rate, taxation, tariffs and finance.

On December 11, 2001, China became the 143rd member country of the World Trade Organization after 16 years of negotiations. To honor its commitments upon entry into the WTO, China expanded its opening-up in the fields of industry, agriculture and the services trade, and accelerated trade and investment facilitation and liberalization. Meanwhile, the state deepened the reform of its foreign trade system, improved its foreign trade legal system, reduced trade barriers and administrative intervention, rationalized government responsibilities in foreign trade administration, made government behavior more open, more impartial and more transparent, and promoted the development of an open economy to a new stage. (more)

- Expediting improvements to the legal system for foreign economic relations and trade. After its entry into the WTO, China reviewed over 2,300 laws and regulations, and departmental rules. Those that did not accord with WTO rules and China's commitments upon entry into the WTO were abolished or revised. Administrative licensing procedures are reduced and regulated in the revised laws and regulations, and a legal system of trade promotion and remedy has been established and improved. In accordance with the Agreement on Trade-related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) administered by the WTO, China revised its laws and regulations and judicial interpretations related to intellectual property rights, and thereby constructed a complete legal system that conforms to China's actual conditions and international practices.

- Taking further measures to lower tariffs and reduce non-tariff measures. During the transitional period following China's entry into the WTO, the general level of China's import tariffs was lowered from 15.3 percent in 2001 to 9.9 percent in 2005. By January 2005, the majority of China's tariff reduction commitments had been fulfilled; China had removed non-tariff barriers, including quota, licensing and designated bidding, measures concerning 424 tariff lines, and only retained licensing administration over imports that are controlled for the sake of public safety and the environment in line with international conventions and WTO rules. By 2010 China's overall tariff level had dropped to 9.8 percent - 15.2 percent in the case of agricultural products and 8.9 percent in the case of industrial products. Since 2005, China has completely maintained its bound tariff rate.

- Fully liberalizing access to foreign trade operations. According to the Foreign Trade Law of the People's Republic of China that was revised in 2004, starting from July 2004, foreign trade dealers only need to register with the authority responsible, and no longer have to ask for approval from the Chinese government. This change has facilitated the diversification of China's foreign trade entities, consisting of state-owned, foreign-invested and private enterprises. The imports and exports of state-owned and foreign-invested enterprises have maintained sustained growth, while private enterprises have seen their foreign trade develop rapidly and their share of China's import and export market keeps expanding, becoming key players in China's foreign trade. In 2010 the import and export volume of state-owned enterprises, foreign-invested enterprises and private enterprises in the country's total was 20.9 percent, 53.8 percent and 25.3 percent, respectively.

- Further opening the services market. China has earnestly fulfilled its commitments upon entry into the WTO by offering market access to international service providers in a wide range of fields, including finance, telecommunications, construction, distribution, logistics, tourism and education. China has opened up 100 of the WTO's 160 sub-sectors of services trade, approaching the average level of developed countries. In 2010 a total of 13,905 foreign-invested enterprises in the services sector had been set up in China, with 48.7 billion U.S. dollars of foreign investment actually used, accounting for 50.7 percent of the total number of newly founded foreign-invested enterprises in China's non-financial sectors and 46.1 percent of the total amount of foreign investment actually utilized that year, respectively.

- Creating a level playing field. China has striven to provide a flexible, fair and stable market for domestic and international enterprises by establishing and improving the legal system and the law-enforcement and supervisory mechanism for fair trade, and curbing and cracking down on unfair practices in foreign trade operations, such as infringement of rights, dumping, smuggling and disruption of the market order. Following domestic laws and international trade rules, China has strengthened its efforts in monitoring and early warning, and adopted measures such as trade remedy and antitrust investigation to correct the unfair practices of its trade partners, and to safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of domestic industries and enterprises. Facing the international financial crisis, China worked hand in hand with the international community to firmly oppose all forms of trade protectionism, strictly adhered to relevant WTO rules, and treated domestic and foreign products equally while carrying out the stimulus plan, promoting fair competition between domestic and foreign enterprises.

By 2010, all of China's commitments made upon entry into the WTO had been fulfilled. China's earnest efforts are commended by the majority of the WTO members. The Chinese government received three trade policy reviews from the WTO in 2006, 2008 and 2010, respectively. The WTO's basic principles, such as non-discrimination, transparency and fair competition, have been included in China's laws, regulations and related systems. A deeper understanding of concepts such as market orientation, opening up, fair competition, the rule of law and intellectual property rights has been achieved among the Chinese people, promoting the further opening up of the national economy and more improvements to the market economy.

III. The Development of China's Foreign Trade Contributes to the World Economy

The development of China's foreign trade has accelerated the modernization of the national economy, enhanced the country's comprehensive strength, and improved the standard of living of more than 1.3 billion Chinese people. It has also helped integrate the Chinese economy into the world economy, and make economic globalization conducive to the common prosperity of all countries and regions.

China's reform and opening up and its active participation in economic globalization have made the country one of the world's fastest-growing economies. Over the past more than 10 years, China, along with other emerging economies, has become an increasingly important force propelling world economic growth. According to the World Bank, from 2001 to 2010, China's GDP increased by 4.6 trillion U.S. dollars, representing 14.7 percent of the increase in the world aggregate, and the share of China's GDP in the world rose to 9.3 percent over the same period. Data from the WTO shows that from 2000 to 2009, the average annual growth rates of China's exports and imports were 17 percent and 15 percent, respectively, much higher than the 3 percent annual growth rate of world trade.

During the international financial crisis, China's foreign trade was among the first to stabilize, promoting the recovery of the world economy. After the crisis broke out in 2008, the Chinese government adopted in time a series of policies and measures to stimulate the economy, expand domestic demand and stabilize imports and exports. In 2009, global goods imports decreased by 12.8 percent, while China's goods imports increased by 2.9 percent, making it the only country to maintain growth among the world's largest economies. The China factor sustained the exports of many countries affected by the financial crisis, stimulated demand in the global commodities market, and boosted confidence, giving a new momentum to the world's economic recovery and growth. During its third review of China's trade policy, the WTO pointed out that China had played a constructive role in stimulating global demand during the international financial crisis, and had thus made significant contributions to the stability of the world economy.

The development of China's foreign trade has helped enhance the national welfare of China and its trading partners. As it accelerated its integration into the global division of labor, China has gradually developed into a major producer and exporter of industrial products relying on its labor cost advantage, relatively strong industrial supporting, processing and manufacturing capabilities, and increasing labor productivity. It provides inexpensive and quality commodities to meet the diverse demands of the international market. China's advantage due to economies of scale and low processing costs in the global manufacturing industry partially offsets the rising prices of upstream factors of production, playing an important role in curbing global inflation and raising the real purchasing power of consumers of its trading partners.

The development of China's foreign trade has provided a broad market for its trading partners. Since 2001, China's import of goods has increased by approximately five times, representing an annual growth rate of around 20 percent. China's rapidly expanding imports have become a major driving force for global economic growth, creating an enormous market for its trading partners to augment their exports. At present, China is the largest export market for Japan, Republic of Korea, Australia, ASEAN, Brazil and South Africa, the second largest for the EU, and the third largest for the US and India. As China's industrialization and urbanization are moving forward rapidly, and its domestic demand keeps growing, the country's continuously expanding and opening market will offer increasing opportunities to its trading partners.

Meanwhile, China is one of the developing countries granting the biggest market access to the least-developed countries (LDCs). By July 2010, China had granted zero-tariff treatment to over 4,700 commodities from 36 LDCs which had established diplomatic ties with China. The zero-tariff commodities accounted for 60 percent of the total imports from those countries. China has promised to continue expanding its preferential treatment to the LDCs having diplomatic ties with China until the zero-tariff commodities reach 97 percent of the total imports from those countries. The zero-tariff measure has helped increase the exports of LDCs to China. Since 2008, China has been the largest export market for LDCs. In 2010, China's import of goods from LDCs accounted for approximately one quarter of those countries' total exports, an increase of 58 percent over the previous year.

China has participated in and helped push forward the reform of the global economic governance mechanism. The Chinese government actively advocates a "balanced, inclusive and mutually beneficial" multilateral trade system, and strives to establish a fair and equitable new international economic and trade order. As a large developing country with a rapidly growing economy, China plays an active role in the G20 and BRICs summits, Doha Round talks, and other international dialogue and cooperation mechanisms. China does its best to assume international responsibilities that suit its development level and strength. China continuously consolidates its cooperation with emerging countries in the fields of economy, finance, trade and investment, and works toward an equitable and rational international economic order that benefits all countries.

In addition, China strictly fulfills its international obligations regarding export controls. It consistently advocates the complete prohibition and thorough dismantling of all weapons of mass destruction, and firmly opposes the proliferation of such weapons and their carriers. China's relevant laws clearly prescribe that the state may take necessary measures to restrict the import and export of goods and technologies relating to fissionable materials or the materials from which they are derived, as well as the import and export relating to arms, ammunition or other military supplies. China earnestly abides by international conventions regarding export controls, and fulfills its non-proliferation commitments, actively contributing to world peace and regional stability. Over the past few years, the Chinese government has adopted a wide range of internationally recognized norms and practices, and formed a complete export control system covering nuclear, biological, chemical, missile and other sensitive items and technologies, providing legal grounds and institutional guarantees for the better realization of the goal of non-proliferation.

IV. Promoting Basically Balanced Growth of Foreign Trade

The primary factors determining whether a country's foreign trade is in surplus or deficit are its economic structure and the international competitiveness of its products or services. China does not pursue a foreign trade surplus intentionally. There has been a certain amount of deficit in China's services trade for a long time, and the trade in goods was in deficit for most of the years prior to 1990. After 1990, with large-scale industrial outsourcing and relocation, China enhanced its competitiveness in manufactured goods. Growth in exports overtook that of imports, turning the overall deficit to a surplus in trade in goods. In 2005 China's surplus in trade in goods reached 100 billion U.S. dollars for the first time, which was followed by vigorous growth for four consecutive years. In 2008 the surplus hit 298.1 billion U.S. dollars, the highest point in history, before slowing down gradually. The surpluses in trade in goods for 2009 and 2010 were 195.7 billion U.S. dollars and 181.6 billion U.S. dollars, down 34.4 percent and 7.2 percent year-on-year respectively. In 2010 China's surplus in trade in goods accounted for 6.1 percent of the total import and export volume and 3.1 percent of the GDP. Of the nine nations with the largest trade balances (favorable or unfavorable), China was not high up in the league table in terms of the two ratios.

(Table 2 Comparison of the Nine Countries with the Largest Balances in Trade in Goods in 2010)

The fact that China is enjoying a surplus in trade in goods reflects its position in the international division of labor at the current stage. China has now relatively big advantages in the processing and assembling of industrial products, and is the largest producer and exporter of industrial products. The United States, European Union and some other countries and regions are the major end consumer markets. With the transfer of large numbers of labor-intensive processing and assembling sectors to China from Japan, Republic of Korea, Singapore, Taiwan, Hong Kong SAR and other nations and regions, their surpluses with the United States and Europe were also transferred to China. The result is that while China is currently enjoying a surplus in trade in goods primarily with the United States and Europe, it also has long-term trade deficits with Japan, Republic of Korea, ASEAN and other major intermediate producers. In 2010 China's surpluses in trade in goods with the United States and the European Union were 181.3 billion U.S. dollars and 142.8 billion U.S. dollars, respectively, and its total deficit in trade in goods with Japan, Republic of Korea and ASEAN was 141.6 billion U.S. dollars. The deficit in trade in goods between China's mainland and Taiwan reached 86 billion U.S. dollars. To produce and export industrial products, China needs to import large quantities of primary goods, thus creating a deficit in trade in goods with certain exporters of primary goods. It is the country's different level and status of participation in the international division of labor in manufacturing and the services industry that leads to China's big surplus in trade in goods but a long-term deficit in services trade.

(Figure 5 China's Trade Balances with Major Trading Partners 2006-2010)

China's surplus in trade in goods mainly comes from foreign-invested enterprises and processing trade. With the spread of economic globalization as well as the refinement of the division of labor and the development of economies of scale, an increasing amount of international trade - intra-industry trade or processing trade based on value-chain specialization - is predominated by multinationals. Since the adoption of the reform and opening up policy in 1978, China has experienced rapid growth in attraction of foreign direct investment. For a fairly long period of time the import and export business of foreign-invested enterprises and processing trade mainly operated by foreign-invested enterprises accounted for about 50 percent of China's trade volume in goods, and were also the major source of the country's surplus in trade in goods. In 2009 and 2010 the surplus in trade in goods created by foreign-invested enterprises reached 127 billion U.S. dollars and 124.3 billion U.S. dollars, respectively, accounting for 64.8 percent and 68.4percent of the total surplus of China's trade in goods in the two years. Processing trade surplus of foreign-invested enterprises in the same period hit 264.6 billion U.S. dollars and 322.9 billion U.S. dollars, significantly higher than the country's total trade surplus for 2009 and 2010. While foreign-invested enterprises and processing trade enjoyed a big favorable trade balance, the import and export of China's state-owned enterprises, general trade and other forms of trade were in deficit.

The limits on certain high-tech trade set by developed countries also affect the trade balance between China and some of its trading partners. As China is currently accelerating its pace of industrialization, it needs to import advanced equipment and technologies from developed countries. Unfortunately, some developed countries, sticking to their old way of thinking, impose various restrictions on the export of high-end equipment and advanced technologies to China, resulting in slow growth in the export of these sectors. To a certain extent such limits hinder China's imports from these countries, posing an unfavorable impact on bilateral trade balance.

As China turned its trade deficit into a surplus, the country improved its international balance of payments and enhanced its resistance to external risks. However, the sharp increase in surplus also created trouble for the Chinese economy. The large volume of RMB input in export settlement complicates macroeconomic control, and the rapid expansion of China's surplus in trade in goods also results in more trade frictions between China and its trading partners, as well as persistent pressure on the RMB to appreciate.

The Chinese government attaches great importance to the imbalance in the development of foreign trade, and has adopted a series of policies and measures to curb overheated surplus growth. First, it proactively adjusts the economic structure, strives to expand domestic demand, and especially increases investment in projects to improve the people's livelihood and stimulate household consumption. Second, it enacts a series of policies to expand imports, simplify the procedures of import administration and import payment, lower the temporary tax rates on certain imported commodities, improve the import promotion system and facilitate import businesses. Third, it has adjusted the export tax rebates policy, lowered or cancelled export tax rebates for some products that consume too much energy and cause serious pollution and certain resource-based products. Fourth, it has amended the prohibited and restricted categories of processing trade, expanding the scope of the prohibited category and promoting this sector's restructuring and upgrading. Fifth, it has changed the situation of the pegged exchange rate of the yuan against the US dollar since the Asian financial crisis, and adopted the administered floating exchange rate system based on market demand, and adjusted it with reference to a basket of currencies from July 21, 2005. During the period from the exchange rate reform in July 2005 to the end of August 2011, the nominal exchange rate of the yuan against the dollar appreciated by about 30 percent.

China's measures to promote balanced foreign trade growth have achieved obvious effects. The nation's surplus in trade in goods has been on a steady decline since 2009, and the proportion of surplus in the total import and export trade volume and the GDP also started to drop in 2008, moving toward a balance in foreign trade. China's efforts not only serve the development of its own economy, but are also practical moves to promote the structural adjustment and the rebalancing of the global economy.