Beijing will not relax its efforts to sell Chinese products overseas next year and seek a bigger share in the global market, the Chinese vice trade minister said yesterday.
China, which may have replaced Germany to be the world’s largest exporter this year, is a “big trading nation,” but not yet a “powerful trading nation,” Vice Commerce Minister Zhong Shan (鐘山) said.
“China’s exports in 2010 will grow and there’s no doubt about that,” Zhong said, declining to provide detailed forecasts.
China’s exports were hit hard by the global financial turmoil, falling 18.8 percent in the first 11 months from a year earlier.
But the market share for Chinese products has increased this year as sales from other countries have fallen even more deeply, Zhong told a forum at the University of International Business and Economics in Beijing.
Other countries have blamed China’s unofficial policy of repegging the yuan to the dollar since the summer of last year for making its products artificially competitive.
China will feel pressure on its yuan policy but will maintain “basic stability” Zhong said, in a reiteration of long-standing government policy.
He said export growth is vital for China to drive economic growth and create jobs at home.
For example, Zhong said exporting 30 million shirts benefits the Chinese economy more than exporting one Boeing 747, referring to a domestic debate over how much China should support existing labor-intensive export industries versus how much it should move up the value chain.
“Exporting 30 million shirts means we can create jobs for 10,000 people,” Zhong said.
“With the 10,000 people employed, their families, or 30,000 people, can have a well-off life,” he said.
China is under pressure from its trading partners to balance its outsize trade surplus, and Beijing has also listed trade balance as one of its key economic policy targets.
But Zhong said that does not mean a reduction in exports.
“Obama has told China to import more and export less, to save less and spend more, but what is United States doing? It is trying to expand its own exports,” Zhong said.
“I don’t want to say whether the United States is wrong or right,” he said. “But we can’t say easily that China has been exporting too much.”
Separately, Premier Wen Jiabao (溫家寶) said yesterday that China “absolutely won’t” agree to requests for the yuan to appreciate.
In a live interview with Xinhua news agency broadcast live online, Wen said a stable yuan has contributed to stability in global markets.
But Wen called for policies to curb property speculation, an indication the government is ready to tighten policies to prevent the economy from overheating.
Wen said property prices have risen too quickly in some areas and that tax and interest rates are among tools that could be used to control speculation.
China’s property prices climbed last month at the quickest pace since July last year, adding to concern that record lending may create asset bubbles in the world’s fastest-growing major economy.
Wen said in the interview that China isn’t experiencing inflation and that consumer price increases will be kept in a “reasonable range.”
“China will keep its loose stance at least in the first half of next year as inflation is expected to stay within tolerable levels,” said Shen Minggao (沈明高), chief economist for Greater China at Citigroup Inc. “There won’t be significant changes to maintain policy stability, but some industries with excess capacity have seen credit tightened.”
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