Xing Huina:

Due to time constraints, we will have one last question.

China News Service:

As we know, China's foreign trade aimed to remain stable in size and achieve high-quality development in 2021. In terms of improving quality, what were the new development and features of China's imports and exports last year? Thank you.

Li Kuiwen:

Thank you for your question. In 2021, China's foreign trade achieved new heights in size and saw new progress in quality. We believe this is reflected in the following aspects:

First, China's foreign trade took an increased share in the international market. According to the latest statistics, in the first three quarters of 2021, China's exports accounted for 14.9% of the global market share, up 0.6 percentage point year on year and 3.9 percentage points higher than that of 2012. This increment equals the global market share of China's export in 2000. In the meantime, since China's imports accounted for over 10% of the global market share for the first time in 2013, this figure has increased steadily. The global market share of China's imports reached 12.1% in the first three quarters of 2021, up 0.5 percentage point year on year. This showcases the great achievements we have made as we enter a new era of reform and opening-up.

Second, new business forms saw even more rapid development. In 2021, the export volume in cross-border e-commerce sector increased 24.5% year on year, and its exports through market procurement trade grew 32.1%. The policies and measures China adopted to promote the healthy, sustained, and innovative development of new business forms and models of foreign trade continue to deliver effect.

Third, platforms for opening-up played a larger role. In 2021, the foreign trade of the comprehensive bonded zones across China increased 24.3%, and that of pilot free trade zones grew by 26.4%. The foreign trade of the Hainan free-trade port surged 57.7%.

Fourth, the vitality of China's market entities grew stronger. In 2021, the number of foreign trade enterprises with actual import and export business performance reached 567,000, 36,000 more than the previous year. Among them, private enterprises have contributed to 58.2% of the growth of the country's foreign trade.

Fifth, the structure of China's foreign trade was further optimized. In terms of the trade structure, the share of general trade increased by 1.6 percentage points in 2021. Nearly 60% of goods exported were electronic products. In terms of regional development, the foreign trade of China's central and western regions amounted to 6.93 trillion yuan, up 22.8%, and 1.4 percentage points higher than the growth rate of China's overall foreign trade of the same period. In terms of trading partners, China's foreign trade with major economies such as EU, the U.S., and Japan increased 17.5%, and trade with Latin America and Africa surged 31.6% and 26.3%, respectively. China and its trading partners jointly safeguarded the stability of global industrial and supply chains and propped up the world's economic recovery.

I would also like to take this opportunity to introduce the efforts being made by Chinese customs in coordinating pandemic prevention and control in port areas and facilitating the growth of foreign trade.

In 2021, despite the fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic, China's foreign trade made remarkable achievements and became a highlight of China's economy. While demonstrating the sector's strong resilience, this also speaks volumes about the unremitting efforts of Chinese customs.

Over the past year, customs departments across China followed the guidance of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, took firm and swift actions based on the guiding principles of General Secretary Xi Jinping's important instructions, thoroughly grasped the new features and requirements of the new stage of development, and implemented the new development philosophy in a complete, accurate, and comprehensive manner. The 14th Five-Year Plan for customs development and that for the development of port areas were introduced and implemented, embarking on a new journey toward socialist modernization in terms of customs development.

In the past year, customs authorities around the country coordinated development and security, strengthened supervision and improved services; enhanced their regulatory capacity; implemented stringent, science-based, and targeted epidemic prevention and control measures at the port; maintained a tough stance against smuggling; vigorously created a more business-friendly environment at the port; and effectively promoted the steady and quality growth of foreign trade.

Over the past year, customs authorities around the country adopted a holistic approach and actively integrated into the overall process of national development, supporting the implementation of major national strategies, including the coordinated development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, the Yangtze Economic Belt, the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Great Bay Area, and the integrated development of Yangtze River Delta. They also served the pilot free trade zones and the construction of Hainan Free Trade Port, promoted high-quality development of the Belt and Road Initiative through joint efforts, expanded the mutual recognition of AEOs, advanced the initiative of "Smart Customs, Smart Borders and Smart Connectivity," completed preparatory work for the RCEP implementation ahead of schedule, and promoted China to open wider at a high standard.

I will report some concrete work as follows:

First, efforts were made in epidemic prevention and control in a science-based and targeted way at points of entry and exit. Since 2021, the customs has taken resolute, rapid, and strong measures to implement science-based, targeted, and strict regulations in epidemic response and strengthened quarantine inspection at points of entry and exit.

Step one, strengthening assessment of pandemic situation. We have strictly observed the principle of early detection, reporting, quarantine and treatment, and closely monitored and assessed the pandemic situation overseas and the situations of the virus mutation, and changing prevention and control measures, on a daily basis; and required the customs at the land border crossings to implement the principle of "targeted plan for each land border crossing," and further improved and refined their working plans and emergency responses so as to strictly prevent the virus from entering the country through the land border crossings.

Step two, tightening up border quarantine. The customs tightened checks on transportation vehicles before they entered China, and took a series of checking measures for people entering the country, including taking temperatures twice, checking their Health Declaration Forms, medical screening, and sampling testing to fully intercept any potential risks brought by inbound travelers. We have also strengthened the response mechanism of joint prevention and control with relevant local departments in order to transfer all inbound travelers and to have them report the relevant information, achieving seamless and closed-loop management. 

Step three, we adhered to the principle of "virus-prevention amidst people, goods, and the environment." The GACC, according to the working plan of the State Council's inter-agency task force, launched nucleic acid monitoring and testing at points of entry and preventive disinfection and supervision for imported cold-chain food and imported non-cold chain container goods from high-risk areas. They also supervised airlines to ensure they stringently disinfected their aircraft according to the requirements of the State Council's inter-agency task force.

Step four, personal protection has been strengthened. Chinese customs made efforts to implement a safety protection system and supervision system, enhanced training and assessment, and strictly regulated personal protective procedures. Rigorous closed-loop management was applied to people working in high-risk sectors. All the front-line workers at the port were covered by complete vaccination against COVID-19. The authority also accelerated the coverage of booster vaccinations, stressing that personal protective standards and measures should remain the same after the vaccination.

Second, we have spared no effort to promote the steady growth of foreign trade. In 2021, focusing on the concern of market entities, Chinese customs made concerted efforts to pursue high-level opening-up. We actively implemented all policies and measures stabilizing foreign trade and inbound investment to help maintain the momentum of steady and robust growth of imports and exports.

The first effort was to keep improving the business environment at our ports. Except for some exceptional cases, all 38 customs supervision documents involved in imports and exports can be processed at a single window. In addition, the expansion of pilot financial services through the "Single Window System" benefited more than 230,000 foreign-trade companies, consolidating the progress in reducing the customs clearance time for imports and exports. As a result, in December 2021, the average time for customs clearance was reduced to 32.97 hours for imports and 1.23 hours for exports, which was cut by 66.14% and 89.98%, respectively, compared with that in 2017.

Secondly, customs clearance costs have been effectively reduced. We have significantly brought down government-imposed transaction costs by implementing institutional innovation. In 2021, we completed business filing procedures online for 183,000 companies in a simplified and speedy manner. In addition, we have advanced the pilot reform of customs surety insurance. By the end of 2021, the bond insurance has guaranteed a total of 534.02 billion yuan in duties and tax payments by 3,775 companies, helping them reduce costs and increase efficiency. 

Thirdly, we have made great efforts to develop new forms of trade. Measures to reform cross-border e-commerce B2B export supervision have been improving. Since July 1, 2021, customs authorities nationwide have applied a new supervision model to cross-border e-commerce B2B direct export and export to overseas warehouses, enabling companies to better develop the international market. We have supported the expansion of the market procurement trade pilot program and worked with related departments to evaluate new marketplaces covered by the pilot program. Up to now, a total of 31 marketplaces have been included in the market procurement trade pilot scheme.

Finally, we have actively supported the development of new pacesetters of opening-up. We have promoted the high-quality development of comprehensive bonded zones, and supported qualified regions that have demand for such zones to open new ones. In 2021, eight new comprehensive bonded zones were built. Up to now, there are 168 special customs supervision areas nationwide. In addition, we have given full play to the role of pilot free trade zones as the "testing ground." In 2021, we filed and approved preliminary trials on 25 innovative measures to help high-level opening-up. Thank you.

Xing Huina:

Thank you, Mr. Li. Today's press conference is at this moment concluded. Those news organizations that didn't get a chance to raise questions today may continue to keep in contact with us after the press conference. Thanks to friends from the media. Goodbye.

Translated and edited by Zhang Jiaqi, Wang Yiming, Ma Yujia, Chen Xia, Zhang Rui, Wang Wei, Zhang Liying, Li Huiru, Lin Liyao, Liu Sitong, Xu Xiaoxuan, Liu Qiang, Zhang Lulu, Huang Shan, Li Xiao, Zhang Tingting, He Shan, Zhu Bochen, Wang Qian, David Ball, Jay Birbeck, and Tom Arnstein. In case of any discrepancy between the English and Chinese texts, the Chinese version is deemed to prevail.