China is an important driving force for global trade

China's GDP grew by 5.2 percent in 2023. The steady economic growth has been one of the important engines of global economic recovery.

In 2023, the country's total imports and exports of goods rose 0.2 percent year-on-year to 41.76 trillion yuan ($5.94 trillion), which was better than expected. China's total import and export volume of services reached 6.58 trillion yuan, an increase of 10 percent over the previous year.

In terms of exports, thanks to its complete manufacturing system, China was able to meet the needs of different markets and show stable overall competitiveness in the international market. In terms of imports, the country saw an increase in imports of manufacturing raw materials and key components to meet its needs of steady expansion of domestic production. In addition, imports of consumer goods rose, reflecting a pick-up in domestic demand.

In 2023, China held key exhibitions, such as the China International Import Expo, China International Consumer Products Expo, China International Fair for Trade in Services, China International Supply Chain Expo and China Import and Export Fair, which allowed more foreign enterprises to share in the opportunities from the large Chinese market.

At the sixth China International Import Expo (CIIE) in 2023, a total of 442 new products, new technologies and new services were debuted. The sixth CIIE's innovation incubation special section attracted more than 300 innovative projects from 39 countries, outnumbering those of the previous two CIIEs combined. The value of tentative deals reached for one-year purchases of goods and services during the sixth CIIE was $78.41 billion, an increase of 6.7 percent over the previous edition.

2023 marks the 10th anniversary of the construction of China's pilot free trade zones. In 2013, the China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone was inaugurated, and China's first negative list for foreign investment access was unveiled. After seven reductions, the negative list of foreign investment access in the pilot free trade zone had been shortened from the original 190 items to 27, and the manufacturing items had been completely removed. The opening-up of the service sector continued.

In 2023, China's cross-border e-commerce imports and exports totaled 2.38 trillion yuan, up 15.6 percent year-on-year. Among them, the export was 1.83 trillion yuan, up 19.6 percent year-on-year, and imports reached 548.3 billion yuan, up 3.9 percent year-on-year. The rapid development of cross-border e-commerce not only met the diversified and personalized needs of domestic consumers, but also helped Chinese products reach the world, making e-commerce an important driving force for the country's foreign trade development.