Stable growth in foreign trade demonstrates resilience and vitality of China's industrial and supply chains

Editor's note: Zhou Jianjun is an assistant researcher at the Institute of State System Research and School of Economics, Zhejiang University. The article reflects the author's opinions and not necessarily the views of CGTN. It has been translated from Chinese and edited for brevity and clarity. 

In the first 10 months of 2024, China's total imports and exports amounted to 36.02 trillion yuan ($5 trillion), setting a record high for the same period. Amid complex and challenging global trade conditions, the stable growth of foreign trade has fully demonstrated the resilience and vitality of China's industrial and supply chains, which serve as an important pillar for the country's economic recovery and improvement.

China's total foreign trade volume is massive, establishing a competitive edge for its industrial and supply chains. In 2023, China's total imports and exports reached $5.9368 trillion, accounting for 12.6 percent of the global total. Specifically, exports stood at $3.38 trillion, making up 14.2 percent of the global goods exports and securing China's position as the world's largest exporter for the 15th consecutive year. By comparison, the United States (U.S.) reported imports and exports of $5.1631 trillion for the same period, contributing 10.9 percent of the global total. Its exports totaled $2.0195 trillion, a share of 8.5 percent of the global total. Compared with the U.S., the world's largest economy, China maintained a leading edge in foreign trade scale, especially in exports. The sheer size and scale of foreign trade has empowered China's industrial and supply chains with significant strength, making the country the primary trading partner for over 150 countries and regions and an irreplaceable player in the global economic and trade landscape.

China's foreign trade is characterized by a full range of product categories, showcasing the product advantages of its industrial and supply chains. China boasts the most comprehensive industrial classifications globally, being the only country in the world that has all the 41 major industrial categories, 207 medium industrial categories, and 666 industrial subcategories, according to the industrial classifications of the United Nations. Comprehensive industrial classifications allow China to provide a variety of products for countries worldwide. From tiny ones like screws to large ones like aerospace rockets, foreign buyers can find virtually any product they need in China. China indeed lives up to the reputation as the "world's factory". Furthermore, relying on its comprehensive industrial sectors, China's export products enjoy significant cost advantages. These advantages are not limited to production costs, they are also reflected in the country's well-developed and efficient industrial and supply chains, which allow its industries to meet the product demands of buyers from various countries as soon as possible, further highlighting their strength in efficiency. 

China's foreign trade has a strong capacity to resist risks, reflecting the resilience of its industrial and supply chains. The COVID-19 pandemic has severely impacted global trade, but had little material influence on China's foreign trade. China's imports and exports accounted for 11.5 percent of the global total in 2017, and this figure rose to 12.1 percent in 2019 and then reached a historic high of 13.5 percent in 2021. At the same time, China's foreign trade growth has consistently outpaced the global average. From 2017 to 2023, China's total imports and exports of goods grew by 6.3 percent on average annually, exceeding the global average by 1.5 percentage points over the same period. It is evident that China's foreign trade has not suffered severely from the COVID-19 pandemic, fully underscoring the resilience and vitality of its industrial and supply chains in the face of external shocks. China's advantages in industrial and supply chains position it as a "ballast stone" in global economic and trade interactions, serving as both a propellant for healthy economic and trade development globally and a buffer against risks.

China's "new three" exports of electric vehicles, lithium batteries and solar cells have become favorites worldwide, highlighting the country's dominance in industrial and supply chains. In the past, China's exports were primarily labor-intensive, low- to mid-end products. However, with the transformation and upgrading of its industrial and supply chains alongside technological progress, China has made substantial development in the exports of high-tech products in recent years. In 2023, the combined exports of the "new three" products totaled 1.06 trillion yuan, exceeding the trillion yuan threshold for the first time, marking a 29.9 percent year-on-year growth. Unlike the chip and semiconductor products that are under the control of other countries, China enjoys technological autonomy and market leadership in the "new three" industries, with control over core patents and manufacturing technologies. This dominance in industrial and supply chains has endowed China's "new three" products with strong market competitiveness and made them irreplaceable in global trade for these products.

China has maintained stable foreign economic and trade relations, further demonstrating the strength and stability of its industrial and supply chains. It attaches utmost importance to bilateral economic and trade relationships with countries worldwide, and has established diplomatic ties with 183 nations and formed partnerships of varying levels with over 113 countries and regional organizations. At the same time, China has signed the Belt and Road Initiative cooperation agreements with over 150 countries and more than 30 international organizations, fostering industrial and supply chain collaboration with partner countries through the initiative. In 2023, the share of imports and exports with Belt and Road countries rose to 46.6 percent. In addition, China has penned 23 free trade agreements with 30 countries and regions, with several other free trade areas under negotiation or consideration. Moreover, China has signed the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership with Japan, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand, and ASEAN countries. These cooperation agreements have substantially enhanced China's foreign economic and trade relationships and made its industrial and supply chains more international. Leveraging these stable economic and trade relations, China has forged close industrial and supply chain collaborations with relevant countries, dramatically facilitating bilateral trade activities.

In addition, the Chinese government has also adopted a series of measures to address bottlenecks in industrial and supply chains, which is conducive to the steady growth of foreign trade. For instance, China has expanded visa-free entry, achieving full visa exemption with 25 countries and implementing unilateral visa-free policies for 29 countries, including France and Germany. These visa-free entry policies have made business activities more convenient. On November 8, the State Council, China's cabinet, deliberated and adopted policy measures to promote the steady growth of foreign trade, providing further policy support to streamline industrial and supply chain operations and promote the steady growth of foreign trade.