China's Foreign Trade Posted Positive Growth for Five Consecutive Months, Highlighting Its Strong Resilience

　　According to the latest data released by the General Administration of Customs, China's foreign trade stood at RMB 2.84 trillion in October, rising 4.6% compared with the same period last year (the same period below). Specifically, exports totaled RMB 1.62 trillion, up 7.6%; imports totaled RMB 1.22 trillion, up 0.9%; the trade surplus reached RMB 401.75 billion, up 34.9%.

　　In the first 10 months of 2020, China's imports and exports of goods totaled RMB 25.95 trillion, up 1.1%. Specifically, exports totaled RMB 14.33 trillion, up 2.4%; imports totaled RMB 11.62 trillion, down 0.5%; the trade surplus was RMB 2.71 trillion, up 16.9%.

　　

　　Li Kuiwen, a spokesperson for the General Administration of Customs and Director-General of the Department of Statistical Analysis, said, “Since June, imports and exports have achieved positive growth for five consecutive months, and the international market share of exports has also been increasing. This highlights China's strong resilience in development and the steady improvement in its foreign trade against the severe recession in global economy and dramatic shrinkage of external demand.

　　It is learnt that, in the first 10 months, China's foreign trade imports and exports mainly present five characteristics:

　　01General trade imports and exports increased with the proportion raised.

　　02Imports from and exports to the top five trading partners, including ASEAN, EU, USA, Japan and the Republic of Korea grew.

　　03The imports and exports of private enterprises increased with the proportion raised.

　　04Exports of mechanical and electrical products, textiles and plastic products increased, while exports of clothing, footwear and bags declined.

　　05Imports of iron ore rose in both quantity and price, while imports of commodities such as crude oil, soybeans and natural gas rose, but prices fell.

　　The 2020 China International Fair for Trade in Services (“CIFTIS”) was held in Beijing on September 4-9, with the theme of “Global Services, Shared Prosperity”. At the SummitForum on China International Economic Cooperation “Go Global” held during the CIFTIS, Jiang Zengwei, former Deputy Secretary of the Party Leadership Group and Vice Minister of the Ministry of Commerce, former Secretary of the Party Leadership Group and President of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, said that since the beginning of this year, the COVID-19 has accelerated the momentous changes unseen in a century; and the international order, world economic order and global economic cooperation were facing new problems and challenges. The global industrial chain, supply chain and logistics chain have been seriously affected. Jiang Zengwei put forward three suggestions on how to carry out foreign economic and trade cooperation in the post-epidemic era:

　　

　　(Picture source: Official website of the Ministry of Commerce)

　　1. We should continue to promote the “Belt and Road” cooperative development in the post-epidemic era, keep to the high-quality opening-up policy and explore new platforms and opportunities for enterprises to engage in international cooperation. The key to China's transition from a big country in foreign trade to a strong one is to improve enterprises’ capacities in operation, management and risk resistance. Most of China's foreign trade enterprises are micro, small and medium-sized enterprises, so we should provide more social services, including legal consultation and commercial consultation.

　　2. We should give play to the role of economic and trade cooperation in the two circulations in the post-epidemic era, strengthen the advantages of economic and trade cooperation and accelerate the formation of the new development paradigm with domestic circulation being the mainstay and the two circulations reinforcing each other. This is an important direction for our future international economic cooperation and will also benefit international economic cooperation and development. The Chinese market boasting a population of 1.4 billion is rather attractive to other nations. It should be more sophisticated and open to allow the access of foreign capitals. The two circulations also provide more conditions for foreign trade enterprises. We should promote the cooperative and integrated development in various fields, not only to boost the export of trade in services, but also to "bring in" advanced foreign technologies.

　　3. The post-epidemic era has brought more opportunities for the development of the Digital Silk Road. The COVID-19 pandemic has confined the normal communication between people, and stopped the work and production in most countries. The development of cross-border e-commerce and the Digital Silk Road in the post-epidemic era has provided conditions for China's international economic cooperation. Most foreign countries are still relatively weak in digitization. China's e-commerce and cross-border e-commerce are developing rapidly and have played an important role in promoting the resumption of work and production and stimulating the economy. We should make full use of this platform to promote the online sales model and advanced ideas of China's cross-border e-commerce to more countries, so as to drive bilateral economic and trade cooperation.