The foreign trade strategy needs a big adjustment, from the original commitment to export to moderately encourage imports, from the keen on trade surplus to trade balance. This is not an expedient measure to avoid trade frictions, but should become China's basic national policy and become the main tone of China's foreign trade at this stage.
In 2009, China’s foreign trade suffered unprecedented hardships. First of all, due to the impact of the international financial crisis, the total volume of imports and exports has changed from a growth rate of 25.9% per annum for 7 years to a decrease of 13.9%. Secondly, international trade frictions have become fierce. In this year, China encountered 116 trade investigations involving more than 16.7 billion U.S. dollars. From textiles and clothing, footwear, toys, aluminum products, tires to steel products, there are more and more categories involved, and the case value is getting bigger and bigger. For 13 consecutive years, China has become a country with more anti-dumping in the world, and 70% of the international anti-subsidy investigations are aimed at Chinese exports.
The influence of foreign trade dependence of more than 60% on the Chinese economy is self-evident. It will take time for the western economy to completely get rid of the crisis. The demand for Chinese products will not be released soon, and it will be affected by domestic production and employment. Trade protectionism will prevail for quite some time.
From this point of view, we must turn our attention to the domestic market. The foreign trade strategy needs a big adjustment. From the original commitment to export to moderate encouragement of imports, from the enthusiasm for trade surplus to trade balance. This is not an expedient measure to avoid trade frictions, but should become China's basic national policy and become the main tone of China's foreign trade at this stage. The significance is that as a responsible big country, we are obligated to integrate the global economy. At the same time, our goal is to strengthen the country and enrich the people and benefit the people.
I. China's foreign trade strategy should be committed to trade balance China's foreign trade has been developing rapidly in the past 30 years, mainly due to the rapid rise of the economy. At the beginning of the rise of the economy, it just caught up with the wave of restructuring of the global industry and trade division of labor. In the 1980s, developed countries shifted the processing links of traditional manufacturing, service industries and high-tech industries. China seized this opportunity and vigorously promoted the processing trade with the goal of “export-oriented†and gradually developed into a “world factoryâ€. "And export bases of various products.
Obviously, China's foreign trade strategy is greatly influenced by traditional mercantilism. Mercantilism is based on the belief that a country's national strength is based on the wealth that can be obtained through the trade surplus. When I arrived at Cairns, I created the theory of foreign trade multipliers, and vigorously advocated a trade surplus, stressed that the trade surplus was conducive to increasing national income, and suggested that efforts should be made to expand exports.
In fact, this understanding is one-sided, or can only adapt to a certain period of time. The theory of international trade is a discourse made from different angles, and it should be absorbed in combination. For example, Adam Smith's international division of labor "cost theory" and David Ricardo's "comprehensive doctrine theory" all clarify the root cause of international trade. It is precisely because of the international division of labor that the production efficiency of goods is higher and the cost is higher. Low, forming a comparative advantage, the output of goods is only possible, will be beneficial to both sides of the trade. The centralized production of favorable commodities for exchange in accordance with their respective favorable conditions will enable the more efficient use of resources, labor and capital of various countries, which will greatly increase labor productivity and increase material wealth.
From these theories, we can realize that: in the past, international trade is based on the common interests of the parties, and only if they are beneficial to each other, the transaction is possible. Second, the output goods are the strong products of the country, while the strong products are the comprehensive elements of the country. Third, international trade has strengthened the international division of labor and the flow of factors. For each monomer, it has its own strengths and its own weaknesses, which are expressed as the output of the former. The input, output and input of the latter are dependent on each other and promote each other. It is a unity of contradictions; fourth The ultimate goal of international trade is to achieve rational use of global resources and better allocation of factors, increase wealth effects, and serve all mankind.
From this review, China's foreign trade strategy has reached a point where there is an urgent need for adjustment. An extensive export-oriented development model based on the comparative advantages of resources and cheap and intensive labor will be difficult to sustain.
We already have $2.4 trillion in foreign exchange reserves, and the reserves are among the highest in the world. In 2009, China's foreign trade exports reached 1.2 trillion US dollars, surpassing Germany and becoming a global exporter. China has had a huge trade surplus for many years. We have completed the stage of wealth accumulation in the process of strengthening the country. We are fully qualified to implement the transformation of foreign trade strategy. We encourage and import to foster and form new factor advantages, balance the balance of payments, reduce trade friction, promote the world economy, and stabilize. The domestic economy will eliminate the hidden dangers of inflation and further enhance and strengthen itself and win the status of the world.
In accordance with the principle of complementing international trade advantages, China's imports are preferred in China's shortcomings, weaknesses or shortcomings, importing advanced technologies and developing complete sets of equipment necessary for the national economy to promote domestic industrial upgrading and productivity. The introduction of advanced technology and equipment is a long-term task. At present, it should be done: the introduction of technology emphasizes core technology, and the introduction of equipment is as critical as possible, such as the development of leading industries such as electronics, information, aerospace, bioengineering, new energy, and new materials. The introduction of required technologies and equipment, the introduction of technologies and equipment required for infrastructure construction such as energy and transportation, the introduction of technologies and equipment required for technological transformation of traditional industries, and the introduction of technologies and equipment required for agricultural modernization.
Due to trade security and macro-strategy considerations, the foreign trade direction of our export resource products will also be transformed into the import of energy and resource commodities. In particular, we should expand the import of consumer goods. In the past, imported goods were concentrated in industrial supplies; with the improvement of people's living standards, we should start to focus on consumer goods, increase the variety of varieties available, broaden the consumption field, optimize the consumption structure, effectively promote consumption upgrading, and at the same time, stimulate and stimulate domestic The follow-up and production of new consumer goods by enterprises stimulate manufacturers to pay more attention to production quality, raise standards, and make the process of importing consumer goods a prelude to alternative production.