On November 28, 2019, the CPC Central Committee and the State Council issued the Guiding Opinions on Promoting the Development of High-Quality Trade. The “Opinions” requires that by 2022, the trade structure will be further optimized, the trade benefits will be significantly improved, the trade strength will be further enhanced, and an indicator, policy, statistics and performance evaluation system for high-quality trade development will be established. The “Opinions” proposes to strengthen international cooperation in service trade and build a “Chinese service” national brand.
The “Opinions” requires the establishment of an open, collaborative and efficient common technology research and development platform to strengthen the supporting role of manufacturing innovation in trade. Promote the organic integration of the Internet, the Internet of Things, big data, artificial intelligence, blockchain and trade, and accelerate the cultivation of new kinetic energy. Strengthen original innovation and integrated innovation. Make full use of multilateral and bilateral cooperation mechanisms to strengthen technical exchanges and cooperation. Efforts will be made to expand foreign licensing of intellectual property. Actively integrated into the global innovation network.
In addition, the “Opinions” also pointed out that the role of market mechanisms should be brought into play to promote the interaction between trade and industry and promote the process of industrial internationalization. Accelerate the development and cultivation of emerging industries and promote breakthroughs in key areas. Optimize and upgrade traditional industries and increase competitiveness. Accelerate the development of modern service industries, especially productive services, and promote the deep integration of advanced manufacturing and modern service industries. Speed ??up the construction of modern agriculture. Cultivate advanced manufacturing clusters with global influence and competitiveness.
So, what is the current situation of China’s foreign trade development?
In the past two years, the outbreak of the Sino-US trade war has had many impacts on China’s trade industry. In the face of a complex and severe foreign trade development environment, China resolutely implements the decision-making and deployment of the Party Central Committee and the State Council, does a good job of “stabilizing foreign trade,” and vigorously promotes the “five “Optimization”, continued to promote the “three constructions” of foreign trade transformation and upgrading bases, international marketing networks and trade promotion platforms, actively promoted the development of high-quality trade, and achieved positive results in various tasks. According to the latest data from the Ministry of Commerce, from January to October, China’s foreign trade development steadily improved.
1. The scale remains stable.
From January to October 2019, China’s total import and export volume was 25.63 trillion yuan, an increase of 2.4%. Among them, exports were 13.99 trillion yuan, an increase of 4.9%; imports were 11.64 trillion yuan, a slight decrease of 0.4%; the trade surplus was 2.35 trillion yuan, an increase of 42.3%. From an international comparison, according to the latest data from the WTO, the growth rate of China ’s imports and exports in the first eight months was higher than the average growth rate of major global economies.
2. The structure is continuously optimized.
The international market layout has been optimized. Imports and exports from countries along the “Belt and Road” have grown by 9.4%, accounting for an increase of 4.1 percentage points to 29.1% in 2013. The domestic regional layout is optimized. The exports of the central and western regions increased by 13.8%, which was 8.9 percentage points higher than the overall exports, accounting for an increase of 1.4 percentage points from the same period last year to 18.1%. The product structure has been continuously optimized, and the export ratio of mechanical and electrical products has reached 58.3%. Among them, exports of high-quality, high-tech, high-value-added products such as integrated circuits, photovoltaics, excavators, and medical equipment have maintained rapid growth. The export of seven major labor-intensive products increased by 6.1%. Among them, toys, textiles and footwear increased by 32.2%, 5.5% and 5.4% respectively. The operating entities continued to optimize. The export of private enterprises increased by 12.8%, accounting for an increase of 3.6 percentage points to 51.3%, driving the export growth by 6.2 percentage points. The trade structure was further optimized. General trade exports increased by 8.5%, accounting for an increase of 1.9% to 58.2% over the same period last year, and contributed 97.6% to export growth.
3. Speeding up power conversion.
Deeply cultivate new trade formats and new models, solidly promote the construction of cross-border e-commerce comprehensive test zones and market procurement and trade pilots, introduce related taxation and other supportive policies, and vigorously develop new models of new business formats such as cross-border e-commerce and market procurement Faster than the national average. Speed up the export of second-hand cars, further simplify the work flow of transfer of vehicles in different places, permit application, and customs clearance, and create a convenient environment for the export of second-hand cars. Vigorously promote the bonded trade maintenance project of processing trade on a trial basis.
At present, a new round of reform and opening-up has injected new vitality into the development of foreign trade. The Second China International Import Expo was successfully held. The simplified administration and decentralization were further promoted. The policy bonus was gradually released. The business environment continued to improve, and corporate policies gained a sense of gain. According to the World Bank’s “Business Environment Report 2020”, China’s business environment ranking jumped from 15th to 31st. The questionnaire survey shows that more than 70% of enterprises are generally satisfied with the implementation of the stable foreign trade policy. In the next step, guided by Xi Jinping’s ideology of socialism with Chinese characteristics in the new era, we will adhere to the general tone of progress while maintaining stability, make greater efforts to stabilize expectations, stabilize enterprises, and promote high-quality trade development.