CHINA does not intentionally seek a large trade surplus and it will focus on expanding imports in the coming years, President Hu Jintao said yesterday at a ceremony commemorating the 10-year anniversary of China's entry into the World Trade Organization.
The ultimate aim is to have balanced trade and that total imports will exceed US$8 trillion over the next five years, Hu said.
"China will continue to open its market, attracting more advanced technology from the outside and bolstering higher-valued products to become more competitive," Hu said. China's industries of the future will be cleaner, more technological, more value-added and be able to create more jobs. "It requires deeper cooperation with foreign countries," Hu added.
Meanwhile, China will expand imports to balance exports. Hu said the government will adjust policies to lower import costs and make the trading system more efficient for importers. When exports need to stabilize amid shrinking external demand, imports will serve more as a positive element to ensure trade remains a contributor to China's economy.
China's exports grew at their slowest pace in nine months in November, and the trade surplus in the first 11 months was US$138.4 billion, down 18.2 percent from a year earlier.
China will also continue to welcome foreign investment, encouraging higher-end projects such as the establishment of research and development centers in coastal cities, and factories in central and western areas to make the whole industry structure more complementary, Hu said.
He urged other countries to recognize China's full-market economy status as soon as possible and relax restrictions on high-tech commodity exports to China.
Major trading partners including the European Union and the United States do not recognize China as a market economy, making it easier for WTO panels to rule that Chinese companies dump goods on overseas markets.
China joined the WTO on December 11, 2001 after 15 years of negotiations.
Pascal Lamy, director-general of the WTO, gave a high mark on China's overall performance in the past decade.
He said at the ceremony that China had become a core member of the organization by playing a key role in design and acceleration of a more internationalized global trade.
"China has committed to endorsing its promises with much improved efficiency in trade and investment," he said.
Lamy said the WTO would deepen its cooperation with China, helping the country cope with challenges in reform.
He said, "No matter in the past, at present or in the future, China needs the WTO as much as the WTO needs China."
WTO membership has been a two-way street as China shared its growing wealth with the rest of the world.
China's imports, averaging US$750 billion a year in the past decade, created about 14 million jobs overseas, helping boost the economies of many trading partners.