Chinese customs authorities announced 16 measures on Thursday to further optimize the business environment at ports and facilitate customs clearance for enterprises.
While helping foster new drivers of foreign trade, the measures also focus on leveraging the existing strengths and volume of traditional foreign trade, according to the General Administration of Customs (GAC).
In terms of imports, efforts will be made to safeguard the import of energy and mineral products as well as agricultural and food products, according to the GAC.
Regarding exports, the administration will continue to facilitate the export of automobiles and support the export of locally distinctive agricultural and food products. As these products are among the top players in China's foreign trade, it is crucial in stabilizing the foreign trade fundamentals, the GAC said.
"Traditional stock in foreign trade includes high-quality agricultural products, the advantageous electronic products, and consumer goods that people use. These are our traditional strengths in export products, which is also the existing stock in foreign trade. Innovative methods will be used to support the export in these traditional industries, which will improve the existing stock in foreign trade," said Lin Shaobin, deputy director of the Department of General Operation of the General Administration of Customs.
Currently, more than 630,000 companies in China are involved in import and export activities, serving as the driving force behind the country's efforts to expand its presence in international markets, said the administration.
The latest measures will support these enterprises in expanding their international markets. For example, in supporting the export of advantageous products, efforts will be made to enhance technical trade consultation services and assist companies in dealing with unreasonable foreign trade restriction measures.
China unveils new measures to further facilitate foreign trade
A veteran agricultural scientist and deputy to the National People's Congress (NPC), China's national legislature, shared his decades-long mission to reduce the country's reliance on food imports and safeguard its food security by developing high-yield, disease-resistant wheat varieties.
Gao Derong, a researcher from the Lixiahe Regional Institute of Agricultural Sciences in east China's Jiangsu Province, detailed his relentless pursuit of better wheat varieties while taking a question at a press conference on the sidelines of the ongoing "two sessions", a major event in China's political calendar.
He has dedicated more than 30 years to wheat breeding and succeeded in the fight against Fusarium head blight, a serious fungal disease of cereals, including wheat and other small-grain crops, by implanting "disease-resistant genes" inside seeds.
"After 30 years of countless and repeated trials, we finally developed our first Fusarium head blight resistant variety in 2021. It exhibits strong disease resistance and high yield, with a yield of up to 600 kg per mu (0.066 hectare) in a demonstration plot. This means farmers can use fewer pesticides, produce more wheats, and secure a more stable harvest," said Gao.
Addressing the tight rotation schedule in the rice-wheat rotation system in south China, his team developed time-smart varieties like "Yangmai 25," which can be sown as late as December and still achieve a yield of 6,00 kg per mu.
"We have also cultivated a high-quality weak-gluten wheat variety tailored for biscuits and pastries, reversing China's long-standing reliance on imports. These grain varieties, like elite guard teams, help us hold our rice bowl firmly and contribute to securing our food security," Gao said.
As an NPC deputy, Gao extends his research from the lab to the field, gathering farmers' concerns alongside experimental data.
"My duty as a deputy is also written in the fields. 'Can we construct high-standard farmland at an accelerated pace?' 'Can we have more targeted agricultural subsidies?' These are the voices I often heard in the fields, which I carefully recorded like experimental data and transformed into suggestions," he said. Gao said he will continue working to enable the land to yield more grain, help farmers increase their incomes, and contribute to ensuring national food security.
This year's "two sessions," the annual meetings of China's top political advisory body and national legislature, opened in Beijing Wednesday and Thursday, respectively. As the world's second-largest economy embarks on the inaugural year of its 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-2030) period, these gatherings will serve both as a review of past achievements, and as a strategic compass guiding the nation's future development.
NPC deputy vows to fortify China's food security through seed innovation
