CHINA has established itself as the world’s second-largest economy, with GDP in 2024 reaching approximately 134 trillion yuan ($18.39 trillion). With nearly $6 trillion in total imports and exports and foreign exchange reserves of $3.2 trillion, China contributes around 30 percent to global economic growth.
It has set a 5pc GDP growth target for 2025. Government expenditure is projected to reach 11.86 trillion yuan, with tax reductions and interest rate adjustments planned to stimulate market vitality.
In its medium to long-term strategy, China is transitioning from “high-speed growth” to “high-quality development”. Research and development investment has reached 2.68pc of GDP, exceeding the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development average, with strategic focus on artificial intelligence, information technology, new energy, advanced materials, life sciences, biotechnology, and transportation equipment manufacturing. Environmental sustainability has become a strategic priority, with China committed to peaking carbon emissions before 2030 and achieving carbon neutrality before 2060.
Despite facing trade restrictions from some countries, China remains committed to promoting economic multilateralism through platforms such as the Belt and Road Initiative.
The claim that China imposes high tariffs on the US while the US maintains lower tariffs on Chinese goods — leading to trade deficits and manufacturing job losses — is fundamentally wrong. Manufacturing locations, after all, are decided on the basis of comparative advantages rather than tariff rates. Considering China’s trade deficit with the US in services and China’s industry subsidies that comply with World Trade Organisation rules, trade restrictions aimed at suppressing China’s industrial advancement are neither reasonable nor acceptable.
Bilateral trade with the US represents only about 10pc of China’s overall foreign trade volume. China’s position is clear: if the US persists with trade confrontation, China has both the confidence and capacity to respond effectively.
China is implementing a comprehensive opening-up strategy characterised by greater scale, broader scope, and deeper institutional integration. The “greater scale” component focuses on export diversification, enhancing supply capabilities and competitive advantages to deliver high-quality, reasonably priced products globally. Simultaneously, China is substantially increasing imports to meet domestic consumption upgrades and supply chain improvements, utilising platforms such as the China International Import Expo to diversify import sources and expand service trade in education, transportation and cross-border e-commerce. The “broader scope” element emphasises developing digital and green trade. Finally, the “deeper integration” aspect promotes institutional openness. China is working closely with the WTO and other international organisations to advance reforms in trade rules, technical standards, and regulatory frameworks.
China’s vast market of over 1.4 billion people with a per capita GDP exceeding $13,000 creates substantial import demand for agricultural products, energy, and industrial goods from the Global South countries.
Through the Belt and Road Initiative, China provides infrastructure development support to Global South countries without imposing conditional requirements, unlike Western aid models. Drawing from its successful experience in domestic infrastructure development, including high-speed rail networks, China offers valuable technical support and development models to these countries. Also, China’s foreign direct investment creates employment opportunities in host countries.
Published in Dawn, April 28th, 2025
