China vows to boost imports for balanced trade and consumption upgrading

China will take a slew of incentives to further boost imports so as to drive domestic industrial upgrading and better meet the increasingly diversified consumption demands of people, the State Council decided at an executive meeting chaired by Premier Li Keqiang on Wednesday.

These measures are expected to advance China's win-win strategy of opening up. Expanding imports while keeping exports stable will help raise supply quality and upgrade consumption.

The Chinese government puts great emphasis on boosting imports. Premier Li Keqiang stated in the Government Work Report in March that China will actively expand imports and lower import tariffs on goods such as automobiles and everyday consumer products to promote industrial upgrading and more balanced development of trade and further diversify consumer choices.

China has made notable achievements in foreign trade since reform and opening up. The country has been the world's largest exporter and second largest importer of goods for nine consecutive years, and is now the world's largest importer of energy resources.

"Expanding imports is crucial for upholding free trade. Priority should be given to meeting needs of everyday life and boosting trade in services," Li said, "Our deficit in services trade may be turned into a catalyst for the upgrading of the services sector."

The Wednesday meeting has decided that more support will be given to importing daily consumer goods, medicine, as well as nursing and rehabilitation facilities to meet demand of consumption upgrading and improve supply quality. The government will also cut import tax on particular goods and reduce institutional procedures and unreasonable price increase, so that consumers can benefit from these import duty cuts.

Trade in emerging services will be boosted, and imports of producer services covering research and design, trade logistics, consulting services, energy conservation and environmental protection will be encouraged.

Policies on duty-free shops will be made more flexible with more duty-free products introduced and shopping experiences improved. Imports of technological facilities needed for domestic industrial upgrading will be supported.

The meeting also calls to optimize customs clearance procedures and promote Authorized Economic Operator (AEO) mutual recognition with other countries to better facilitate imports. New approaches to importing trade were called for at the meeting, and cross-border e-commerce and border trade will be further developed. At the same time, a credit information system in foreign trade as well as enhanced intellectual property rights protection are needed so that foreign trade and foreign investment will complement one another.

"Our initiative of boosting imports demonstrates China's commitment to a new round of high-standard opening up, to economic restructuring, and to economic transformation and high-quality development," Li said.

The April statistics from the General Administration of Customs show a good momentum of China's foreign trade in the first quarter of this year. Trade in goods totaled 6.75 trillion yuan, up 9.4 percent year-on-year, and the trade surplus dropped 21.8 percent.

Editor: John Li