As China continues to expand imports, its vast domestic market and sustained demand are creating economic opportunities for global trade partners, according to recent data and trade experts.
A first shipment of fresh Peruvian bananas recently arrived in Shanghai from Peru's Chancay Port. This new sea route linking the two ports has cut sea transport times from South America to China by one-third.
Meanwhile, in Ezhou, central China's air cargo hub in Hubei Province, fully loaded cargo jets from Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia, land every day, with the Addis Ababa–Ezhou cargo route now running seven flights per week. In the first nine months of this year, the number of cargo flights on this route rose by nearly 60 percent from the same period last year.
"Products like fresh flowers require fast transport. With more frequent flights, products such as fresh flowers and coffee beans can enter the Chinese market more conveniently," said Yue Bin, Deputy General Manager of the Enterprise Management Departmen at Hubei International Logistics Airport Co., Ltd.
Since the beginning of this year, nearly 100 exclusive trade events have been held in China to expand channels for quality products from around the world to enter the Chinese market. Data shows that from May to September this year, China's imports from Africa grew by more than 20 percent year on year.
Growing imports support China’s domestic industrial transformation and upgrading, and ensure the stability of global industrial and supply chains.
This year, with the rapid development of the artificial intelligence industry, imports of high-end storage components have continued to grow. In the first three quarters of 2026, China's imports of storage components increased 1.5 times. The storage modules produced by a company in Shenzhen City in south China's Guangdong Province are widely used in smartphones, smart vehicles and various AI terminals, and the company's imports of raw materials have maintained rapid growth this year.
"Our orders are now scheduled through the second quarter of 2027, and the scale of imported raw material procurement has doubled," said Wang Pengfei, head of the Manufacturing Center of an electronics company in Shenzhen.
In the first three quarters of this year, the value of goods imported in to China reached 16.7 trillion yuan (around 2.5 trillion U.S. dollars), up 22.3 percent year on year, 5.9 percentage points higher than the growth in exports in the same period, and the fastest growth since 2021.
"From 'world factory' to 'world market,' China's enormous market is not only a key support for domestic circulation, but also an important opportunity for world economic development, providing broad space for countries around the world to share in development," said Zhang Yiting, associate researcher at the Institute for International Economic Research under the National Development and Reform Commission.
China's "super buyer" drive creates broad opportunities for global trade
The Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core keeps tightening the "cage of institutions" in Party building, which provides strong guarantees for advancing the cause of building a great country and achieving national rejuvenation on all fronts through Chinese modernization.
Since the 18th CPC National Congress held in 2012, the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core included tightening Party discipline into the integrated plan on Party building in the new era, coordinating efforts to ensure that officials do not have the audacity, opportunity, or desire to be corrupt.
Full and rigorous Party self-governance has been continuously extended to the grassroots level.
In 2024, the CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and the National Commission of Supervision started a nationwide campaign on addressing misconduct and corruption directly affecting the public.
Ping'an Village in Longquanyi District of Chengdu City, southwest China's Sichuan Province, recently completed constructions of new drainage outlets and ditches, and now heavy rain no longer disrupts traveling of the locals. The fund for the constructions was recovered from money that was embezzled by village officials.
"The money was recovered, and now the problem of rainwater accumulation has been solved. And the environment is getting better and better," said villager Wang Yuangang.
Since 2012, the Party has formulated or revised an unprecedented number of internal regulations, building a comprehensive framework of rules to confine power in "a cage of institutions".
"Why establishing rules? Fundamentally, it is to ensure that Party members and officials always keep in mind who they are, for whom they work, and on whom they rely," said Song Wei, researcher with the Institute for Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, Tsinghua University.
"We must uphold the principle that everyone is equal before rules and regulations, no one enjoys privileges in terms of compliance, and no exceptions are allowed in their enforcement, thus making sure that rules and regulations truly become live 'high-voltage lines'," said Li Li, deputy head of the School of Discipline Inspection and Supervision of China University of Political Science and Law.
Xi also launched an unprecedented anti-corruption storm that has swept every corner of public office, netting both high-ranking "tigers" and lower-level "flies". The anti-corruption campaign has continued unabated, with Xi stressing that the fight is an ongoing endeavor.
From January to September this year alone, discipline inspection and supervisory authorities filed more than 800,000 cases, including those against 73 officials at provincial and ministerial level or above, with 680,000 people receiving punishment, including 105 officials at provincial and ministerial level or above.
"The fight against corruption in the new era has been unprecedentedly forceful with clear effects. At the same time, we must recognize that the fight against corruption remains severe and complex, and the task of eradicating the breeding grounds and conditions for corruption remains arduous. Experience has taught us that anti-corruption is a major political endeavor that we cannot afford to lose and must never lose. We cannot pause for even a moment, nor can we retreat a single step. We must carry the anti-corruption fight through to the end," said Sun Songtao, deputy director of the case supervision and management office of the CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and the National Commission of Supervision.
CPC keeps tightening "cage of institutions" in Party building
