China’s foreign trade reviving global recovery, experts say

Chinese overseas commerce soared 41.2 percent year-on-year in the January-February period, amounting to $834.49 billion. Exports rose to $468.87 billion, customs data shows.

The nation’s resilient economy and greater opening-up could give more confidence to its trading partners, as well as the global economic recovery, overseas experts and organizations told China Daily News.

“China’s presence looms large,” said Tong Shiping, a professor of economics at Japan’s Dokkyo University. He added that “at the same time, a market of 1.4 billion people remains attractive to global investors.”

Commenting on the double-digit growth in China’s exports to its major trading partners, Tong said that it shows a growing dependence on Chinese products across the world. “The rise in exports will play a locomotive in the rapid recovery of China’s economy.”

China’s exports to the United States skyrocketed 75.1 percent year-on-year during the two-month period. Exports to the European Union grew by 51.9 percent. The Association of Southeast Asian Nations saw a 43.2 percent increase in supplies from China.

“China is doing better, driven by strong gains in manufacturing,” said Diane Swonk, chief economist at major accounting firm Grant Thornton. She added that “China has become an even larger export platform post-pandemic than it was prior. Part of that is due to the outsize role it plays in the production of PPE [personal protective equipment]. Another reason is that moving manufacturing facilities back to the US never occurred.”

Data showed that in 2020, exports of countries and regions such as Japan, the EU, and Latin America declined significantly. However, their exports to China still showed a steady upward trend.

“In many parts of the world, both on bilateral and multilateral terms, China’s trade with its partners is expanding and deepening year after year,” said Cavince Adhere, a China-Africa relations expert based in Nairobi. Adhere pointed out that China has surpassed the United States to become the EU’s top trading partner and has been Africa’s largest trading partner for 11 years. “China’s economic vibrancy injects optimism for a better showing for the global economy.”

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