China's trade with other Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) economies reached 19.41 trillion yuan (about 2.73 trillion U.S. dollars) in the first three quarters of this year, official data show.
The figure represents a 2 percent year-on-year increase and accounts for 57.8 percent of China's total foreign trade value, said Lyu Daliang, spokesman of the General Administration of Customs (GAC), at a press conference on Monday.
Lyu highlighted the robust performance in high-tech product trade. "Both the imports and exports of high-tech products between China and other APEC economies exceeded 2 trillion yuan, up 7.9 percent and 12 percent respectively, with each representing over 60 percent of China's total imports or exports of similar products," he said.
"During the same period, China's trade with the Republic of Korea reached 1.74 trillion yuan, marking a 2 percent year-on-year increase. Exports to South Korea grew by 0.6 percent to 771.28 billion yuan, while imports from South Korea rose by 3.1 percent to 967.17 billion yuan. By product category, trade in mechanical and electrical products and agricultural products increased by 6 percent and 3.3 percent year on year, respectively," Lyu said.
The data come as global leaders are scheduled to attend the 32nd APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting in the Republic of Korea later this month.
China's trade with APEC economies tops 19.4 trln yuan in first 9 months: official
China's Commerce Minister Wang Wentao met with visiting German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul in Beijing on Monday, and called on German companies to seize opportunities and deepen cooperation with Chinese partners in traditional and emerging sectors.
Wang noted that economic and trade cooperation between China and Germany has helped both sides develop industrial integration, interconnected markets, and complementary technologies, stabilizing and deepening bilateral relations, while also promoting the healthy development of China's trade and economic relations with the European Union (EU).
"We welcome German companies to seize new opportunities, consolidate cooperation in traditional sectors including machinery, automobiles, and chemicals, and tap the potential for cooperation in emerging businesses such as clean energy, intelligent manufacturing and biopharmaceuticals," said Wang.
Wang also noted that the current trend of politicizing trade and economic issue is on the rise, and global industrial and supply chains are being severely disrupted as a result. China and Germany, as well as China and the EU, should uphold free trade and safeguard the multilateral trading system with the WTO at its core, Wang said.
Wadephul said Germany opposes protectionism and considers China its most important trading partner. He added that Germany wants to maintain and expand the positive momentum of cooperation.
"China is a driver of innovation and a major hub for high technology in many aspects. We are very keen to maintain exchanges with China both economically and scientifically," said Wadephul.
China and Germany are the world's second and third biggest economies. According to German data, China was once again Germany's largest trading partner in the first three quarters of this year.
China’s commerce minister meets with German FM, calling for deepening cooperation
