The Chinese mainland recorded US$1.4 trillion in foreign trade
volume last year, helping China to remain the third largest trader
in the world.
But behind the impressive figures is a widening trade surplus
that is arousing the concerns of trade partners.
Senator Max Baucus, a member of the US Senate Finance Committee,
warned that Washington was likely to take measures to reduce
imports from China to narrow the gap in bilateral trade.
China's General Administration of Customs yesterday said its
statistics showed China's imports and exports grew 23.2 percent
year-on-year to US$1.42 trillion in 2005, almost triple that of
2001.
The country's exports stood at US$772 billion in 2005, up 28.4
percent from the previous year; imports hit US$660.1 billion, up
17.6 percent from the year before.
However, the country's trade surplus in 2005 tripled that of the
previous year, reaching a record US$102 billion.
China saw a trade surplus of over US$100 billion with the US
last year.
But statistics from the US say the figure is around US$200
billion. The difference is due to different calculating
methods.
China's trade surplus with the US is not expected to massively
decline this year, said Mei Xinyu, a researcher with the China
Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation, a think
tank of the China Ministry
of Commerce.
"I would like to contribute the imbalance to the fast economic
growth of the US and the cooling-down of China's economy in the
first half of last year," he said.
He said China understands that there are many problems wrapped
up in the trade imbalance but these, which were not caused by one
single side, must be solved through mutual efforts.
Mei said that on the one hand, growth in China's consumption
will help to solve the problem but "it is difficult to speed up
consumption in China in a short period of time."
On the other hand, the US government should lift its
restrictions on exports to China so as to narrow the gap.
Growing trade surpluses have brought about various trade
conflicts, such as textile disputes with the US and the EU, and the
EU's allegation of the dumping of Chinese shoes on their
market.
Although the textile disputes have been settled through
negotiations, quotas that should have been removed were
re-introduced into China's textile exports.
Thousands of Chinese footwear producers are waiting to see what
will happen with regards to the EU's investigation into shoe
dumping.
Lu Jianhua, director of the Foreign Trade Department of the
Ministry of Commerce, said that this year China is likely to
encounter more trade friction relating to its exchange rate and
trading systems.
"New problems are expected to affect a number of sectors, such
as textiles, household electrical appliances, and the chemical,
industrial and steel industries," he said.
Customs statistics said general trade grew 21 percent to
US$594.8 billion in 2005 year-on-year.
The EU continued to be China's largest trade partner in 2005,
with bilateral trade of US$217.3 billion, up 22.6 percent
year-on-year.
The US was China's second largest trading partner with US$211.6
billion in bilateral trade, followed by Japan with US$184.4
billion.
China's trade volume with its top six trade partners exceeded
US$100 billion last year for each of them.
Monthly foreign trade in December stood at US$139.8 billion, a
new record, reflecting a yearly increase of 20 percent.
Exports stood at US$75.4 billion in December 2005, up 18.2
percent year-on-year, while imports reached US$ 64.4 billion, up
22.2 percent over the previous year.
(China Daily January 12, 2006)