By CGTN's Xia Cheng

In a new sign of a recovery in global demand, China's overseas shipments accelerated from a year earlier, with both imports and exports topping expectations. It could be China's answer to the recent Moody's credit rating downgrade. 

The country scored 8.7-percent annual growth in May in dollar terms, more than the 7.2-percent forecast. Imports surged 14.8 percent, more than the expected 8.3 percent. And the trade surplus widened to 40.8 billion US dollars. The General Administration of Customs (GAC) said the figures support China's trade getting stronger.

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"Since the start of the year, the global economy has been showing signs of recovery, and China's economy has been moderating with a positive outlook," said Huang Songping, head of statistics at the GAC.

In terms of trade structure, China remained a major exporter of machines and labor-intensive goods in the first five months, but the country sold less steel overseas. The driver of higher imports was commodity prices. 

Economists believe the Chinese economy still has strong momentum, with major export destinations such as the US and Europe warming up. Bloomberg reports that one economist expects full-year import growth at 10 percent and export growth at 4 percent.

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Another upside is good timing for regulators to cut financial leverage as the economy remains strong. 

What's more tricky is expectations of a wider trade surplus as policy tightening caps import growth in the coming months. China's trade surplus with the US still stood at 22 billion US dollars in May, up from April's 21.3 billion US dollars. That would post challenges for China in trade talks with the US.