China's foreign trade up 9.7% in 2018

The optimization of the business environment has contributed to the country's good foreign trade performance last year, the spokesperson said, adding that China has introduced a series of policies and measures to cut taxes and fees.

According to the World Bank's "Doing Business 2019" report released in October 2018, China, one of the year's top 10 improvers, advanced 32 spots to 46th place in the global rankings, with the country's cross-border trade ranking jumping from 97th to 65th, the spokesperson said.

The country also reduced import tariffs on drugs, automobiles, parts and components, and daily consumer goods to boost import growth as well.

As to the highly concerning China-US trade volume, Li illustrated that China's combined imports and exports to the United States totaled 4.18 trillion yuan in 2018, up 5.7 percent year-on-year. Exports to the US reached 3.16 trillion yuan, up 8.6 percent, while imports amounted to 1.02 trillion yuan, down 2.3 percent.

The trade surplus between the two countries was 2.14 trillion yuan, an increase of 14.7 percent. China and the United States are at different stages of development, and the expansion of the trade surplus reflected the complementarity of the two economies, Li added.

China formally implemented the e-commerce law on Jan 1, 2019, which provides legal support for cross-border e-commerce customs supervision, consumer rights protection and intellectual property rights protection, the spokesperson said.

Total trade volume through the cross-border e-commerce platform of customs increased by 50 percent to 134.7 billion yuan in 2018, with exports up 67 percent to 56.12 billion yuan, and imports up 39.8 percent to 78.58 billion yuan, Li said, adding that customs will further improve the information system for cross-border e-commerce retail, and better serve consumers.

China will improve the quality of foreign trade while ensuring its steady growth in 2019, by implementing the decisions of the Central Economic Work Conference, according to the spokesperson.