Favorable policies drive China's record-breaking export growth in 2024

China's export growth accelerated significantly in 2024, driven by supportive policies that enhance both existing and incremental trade, allowing the country to reach an unprecedented export scale of over 25 trillion yuan (around 3.4 trillion U.S. dollars), according to the General Administration of Customs (GAC) on Monday.

China's total goods export reached 25.45 trillion yuan last year, marking a 7.1 percent increase year on year and sustaining growth for eight consecutive years, and showing strong momentum and vitality, said Lyu Daliang, GAC spokesman and director of the GAC's Department of Statistics and Analysis while unveiling China's 2024 export data at a government press conference in Beijing

Addressing questions about whether the recent acceleration in export growth was driven by seasonal factors or "rush to export" effects, Lyu explained that the fourth quarter of 2024 saw a 9.2 percent increase in exports, up 2.9 percentage points compared to the first three quarters.

"We believe this is both a continuation of the long-term positive trend and a reflection of the effectiveness of policy implementation. In particular, the package of stock and incremental policies introduced by the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee on September 26 has continued to release its effects, providing stronger support for exports. At the same time, there are also factors related to companies adjusting their export rhythms. According to companies, the postponement of shipping schedules after the typhoon in September last year, the earlier Spring Festival holiday this year, and the potential escalation of trade protectionism have all disrupted normal production and operations," said Lyu.

At the same press conference, in response to questions from Bloomberg News about China's growing trade surplus, which reached 7 trillion yuan in 2024, GAC Deputy Director Wang Lingjun talked about concerns over potential exacerbation of trade protectionism.

"First, China does not pursue a trade surplus. The specific scales of export, import, and trade imbalances are the results of comprehensive factors such as international supply and demand relationships, industrial division of labor, and market competition; they are not artificially created. Second, China's trade surplus as a percentage of GDP remains within a reasonable range and has significantly decreased from historical highs, and it is lower than that of other major exporting countries. Third, some countries misuse export controls to limit exports to China. I want to import more, but you prevent me from doing so, while you are overly anxious about the trade surplus, which is inherently contradictory," said Wang.

China actively expands imports, hosting the China International Import Expo for seven consecutive years, steadily expanding unilateral opening up, broadening market access, proactively lowering tariffs, and pushing import values to record highs, said Wang.

Regardless of the external environment changes, China will steadfastly expand its openness, firmly oppose trade protectionism, and use a determination for openness and pragmatic measures to build bridges for communication, sharing opportunities, discussing cooperation, and promoting development with all countries, Wang added.

Favorable policies drive China's record-breaking export growth in 2024

Researchers from the Center for Excellence in Brain Science and Intelligence Technology (CEBSIT) under the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) have made new progress in invasive brain-computer interface clinical trials, with the second successful case involving a paralyzed patient.

According to the research team, the patient suffered a spinal cord injury in 2022 that resulted in high paraplegia. After more than a year of rehabilitation, only head and neck movement was possible. In June this year, the patient underwent implantation of a BCI system.

Following two to three weeks of training, the patient was able to control electronic devices such as a computer cursor and a tablet. To meet further needs, researchers expanded the application from two-dimensional digital screens to three-dimensional physical devices. An intelligent wheelchair and a robotic dog became new control targets.

This shift required the system to not only decode simple intentions such as "left" or "right," but also to deliver continuous, stable, and low-latency precise control to cope with complex real-world environments and interactive tasks.

According to an expert, as the patient became more proficient, the level of mental concentration required was significantly reduced.

"The experience is very close to how we normally control our own bodies. Once you are very skilled, it doesn't require much mental effort -- just like being able to chat while driving," said Zhao Zhengtuo, researcher from CEBSIT.

To achieve this, the team made multiple technical breakthroughs.

At the data source level, they developed high-compression, high-fidelity neural data compression technology and innovatively combined different compression methods. This allows effective information to be extracted efficiently even in noisy neural signal environments, improving overall brain-control performance by 15 to 20 percent.

The team also replaced traditional calibration methods with an "online recalibration" technology that silently and continuously fine-tunes decoding parameters in real time to maintain high system performance. Control speed has also been significantly improved, with intentions and actions now almost synchronized.

Notably, the research team has partnered with a local federation for persons with disabilities to enable the patient who can control a computer via the BCI to participate in online data annotation work, such as verifying the accuracy of AI recognition in vending machines. This makes the patient China's first paraplegic to earn income through labor using a brain-computer interface.

Researchers revealed that a third patient has now had a BCI implanted for nearly two months. Future applications will focus on more refined movements.

"[The next step is] to use the intention of finger movements to control robotic fingers to interact with the external world," said Poo Mu-ming, scientific director of CEBSIT, and also a CAS academician.

Chinese researchers complete 2nd successful case in invasive brain-computer interface trial in Shanghai