The bilateral trade volume between China and the United States is
expected to hit US$73.5 billion this year, an all-time high figure,
trade experts predict.
Along with the stable development of the Sino-US relations, this
year has seen rapid growth of trade. The final settlement of the
permanent normal trade relations (PNTR) issue, in particular, has
helped fuel the trade growth between the two giants.
Chinese statistics show that the two-way trade in the first 10
months of this year reached US$61.32 billion, up 23.4 percent from
the same period last year. The figure for the first ten months of
the year is about the same volume of US$61.48 billion for the whole
of last year.
China exported US$43.37 billion worth of goods to the US during the
ten months, up 27.2 percent. The main exports were footwear,
clothing, toys, electric appliances, general machinery and machine
tools, hardware products, lamps and furniture.
During the period China imported US$17.96 billion worth of US
products, mainly agricultural products, aircraft, power station
equipment, equipment related to petroleum exploitation, electronic
products, chemical products and machinery. The amount of imports
increased by 15.1 percent over the same period last year.
The US continues to be China's second largest trade partner after
Japan, and China is the fourth largest trade partner of the US.
In
the meantime, direct investment from the US into China has kept
increasing over the past two decades. During the first 11 months of
this year, the number of newly approved US-invested ventures in
China totaled 2,301, involving a contractual investment of US$7.33
billion. The materialized investment from the US totaled US$3.59
billion.
According to the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation
(MOFTEC), the total number of US-invested ventures in China reached
30,929, involving a contractual investment of US$59.7 billion. The
actually used investment was US$29.3 billion, making the US the
largest overseas investor in China for three consecutive years.
The US investment covered a wide range of areas including
machinery, metallurgy, petroleum exploitation, electronics,
telecommunications, chemical, textiles and light industries, food,
agriculture, medicine, real estate, finance, insurance, foreign
trade, accounting and shipping services, according to MOFTEC.
Trade experts in Beijing say that China and the United States are
highly complementary in trade and economic cooperation. The growing
trade and economic cooperation have benefited both sides.
"It not only helps reinforce bilateral political ties, but also
create huge job opportunities," said an expert with the MOFTEC. "
It has also helped enhance mutual understanding and friendship
between the Chinese and the US peoples. Trade and economic
relations have become an important component of China-US
relations."
(Xinhua 12/24/2000)