China will not relax its efforts to sell Chinese products overseas in 2010 and seek a bigger share in the global market, its vice trade minister said yesterday.

China is a "big trading nation" but not yet a "powerful trading nation," Vice Commerce Minister Zhong Shan said.

"China's exports in 2010 will grow, and there's no doubt about that," Zhong said, declining to provide details.

China's exports were hit hard by the global financial turmoil, falling 18.8 percent in the first 11 months of this year from a year earlier.

But the market share for Chinese products has risen in 2009 as sales from other countries have fallen even more deeply, Zhong told a forum at the University of International Business and Economics in Beijing.

China will feel pressure on its yuan policy but will maintain "basic stability," Zhong said, in a reiteration of long-standing government policy.

"The basic stability of the renminbi is conducive to international society," Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao told Xinhua. "We absolutely reject all pressure on us to raise its value."

He said export growth is vital for China's economy and job market at home.

China has listed trade balance as one of its key economic policy targets. But Zhong said that does not mean an export reduction.