Balance of Imports and Exports Cultivates Competitive Advantage, China Moves Forward to Trade Power

In response to the international financial crisis, imports from China have played a huge role in stabilizing the world economy. In 2009, Australia, Brazil, South Africa and other countries continued to increase their exports to China by more than 20%. China has become the largest export market for Japan, Australia, Brazil, and South Africa. From the contribution to the global economy, due to the impact of the crisis, global trade fell by 22% in 2009, but over the same period China’s import value still exceeded US$1 trillion, replacing Germany as the world’s second largest importer, not only to curb global trade. The sharp decline has served as a "stabilizer" and has also made Chinese demand a new driving force for the recovery of the world economy and the reversal of imbalances.

According to the forecast of the Ministry of Commerce, the size of China’s import market will reach US$2 trillion in 2010, which indicates that China’s import trade has entered a new stage of development.

The Road to a Powerful Country of Trade After reform and opening up, especially since China joined the World Trade Organization, China’s trade development pattern has already faced the challenge of structural adjustment and change. From the perspective of the development laws of some of the world’s most powerful trade nations, the transition from an export-oriented strategy that relies on comparative advantages to a trade-balanced strategy that fosters competitive advantage is the only way for major trading nations to become strong countries in trade, and it is also a higher level of open economies. Specifically, the role of imports in the development of China's national economy can be manifested as: optimizing trade structure, promoting trade balance, accelerating industrial upgrading in China, and enhancing the competitiveness of China's products.

Huo Jianguo, dean of the Institute of International Trade and Economic Cooperation of the Ministry of Commerce, said in an interview with this reporter that the effect of imports on a country’s trade structure is mainly reflected in three aspects:

First of all, it can effectively make up for the insufficiency of a country's resource products. Each country has its own short board of resources, and its lack of imported resource products can improve the efficiency of the use of global resources and play a key supporting role in its economic development. Secondly, advanced equipment imports can promote technological advancement and industrial upgrading in a country. It takes at least 10 years for many first-class technologies and equipment to be developed and put into use. When a country directly imports advanced machinery, equipment, and other finished products, especially imports are high. When technology products are used, they can quickly increase the technological level of a country, shorten the technological gap, and promote industrial upgrading, thereby improving the country’s industrial structure. Third, a competition mechanism can be introduced. While a country is importing, it is also a national equivalent. The introduction of a competition mechanism by enterprises can effectively promote the improvement of the technological level of domestic enterprises through effective competition, so as to achieve the goal of improving the competitiveness of domestic industries. Therefore, developed countries generally seldom adopt restrictions on the import of advanced technologies. Instead, they use imports to improve their trade structure and improve their international competitiveness.