China ready to push foreign trade to higher level: minister

China has the capability and confidence to make new progress in promoting the development of trade at a higher level, Minister of Commerce Wang Wentao said on Tuesday.

Wang noted that China, as the world's second-largest economy is making steady progress toward its goal of becoming a trader of quality. He made the comments while delivering a special report on the nation's foreign trade development at an economic climate seminar held in Beijing on Tuesday.

China's foreign trade in 2023 withstood downward pressure, maintaining stability in terms of both its scale and total volume, said the minister. Meanwhile, the structure became more optimized and its partners became more diverse in 2023. The nation's foreign trade demonstrated very strong resilience and competitiveness, said Wang.

According to data released by China's General Administration of Customs on December 7, 2023, China's foreign trade has seen increasing positive factors, with imports and exports expanding by 1.2 percent year-on-year in November last year. Notably, China's exports ended a six-month declining trend in November, and imports grew for a 10th consecutive month. The latest figures reflect the dynamics of China's indigenous growth drivers and the vibrancy of the country's foreign trade.

Despite risks and challenges, the fundamentals of China's long-term economic growth have not changed, and the advantages of China's strong production capacity, super-large market and improved infrastructure also provide strong support for the development of the nation's foreign trade.

"We have the capability and confidence to make new progress in promoting the high-quality development of trade at a higher level," Wang said, noting that this is in the context of a global economic downturn and weak demand.

The tone-setting Central Economic Work Conference in December last year emphasized the importance of fostering new drivers of foreign trade by expanding trade in intermediate goods, trade in services, digital trade and exports of cross-border e-commerce. In this regard, Wang also pointed out that the ministry will make efforts to expand high-level opening-up and to deepen international economic and trade cooperation.