China has become a top trading partner of over 120 countries and regions including the United States, the European Union, as well as Japan, and this shows that the country has emerged from the shadows of the pandemic and will generate strong momentum for global economic recovery.

According to the General Administration of Customs (GAC), China's total import and export of goods expanded 32.2 percent year-on-year to 5.44 trillion yuan ($834.49 billion) in the first two months of 2021.

The trade value of goods between China and the US grew 69.6 percent year-on-year to 716.37 billion yuan during the same period. China's imports from the US also rose 56.1 percent to 190.98 billion yuan, the most pronounced among all countries.

Soybeans and oil are the top two US exports to China. As the world's largest producer of pigs and the largest consumer of pork, China had become the major buyer of US soybean, according to a report published by Forbes in February.

China is also one of the biggest customers for US oil, with the trade volume jumping 133.02 percent to a record $6.76 billion, the Forbes report stated.

Data from GAC shows that the Association of Southeast Asian Nations has remained the largest trading partner in the first two months of 2021, with bilateral trade volume reaching 786.2 billion yuan, an increase of 32.9 percent. ASEAN first overtook the EU to become China's number one trading bloc in 2020.

According to Eurostat, EU's statistical office, China was the EU's largest trading partner as of January. In the first month of 2021, the EU exported goods worth 16.1 billion euros (about $19.2 billion) to China, up 6.6 percent year-on-year.

Since July 2020, China has been the EU's top trading partner, a position previously held by the US, according to Eurostat.

A growing number of countries have a close economic and trade relationship with China, and China's development has also been intertwined with the global economy, said Zhang Xiaotao, an expert at the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade. China's booming foreign trade plays a significant role in stabilizing the growth of the world's economy, he added.

Zhang's view is also echoed by Helge Berger, IMF's China mission chief and assistant director in the Asia and Pacific Department, who said in an interview with People's Daily in February that China has been an important contributor to the recovery of global trade.

"Higher growth in China has also brought higher imports as firms are importing raw material and other inputs and consumers order goods from abroad. This has bolstered demand in China's trading partners and beyond," Berger said.

A report published by Brazil's central bank stated that the country's trade surplus in 2020 had increased by $2.9 billion compared to 2019, buoyed by its primary products exports to China.

According to a survey released by the American Chamber of Commerce on March 9, as many as 81 percent of the 345 respondents see their industries in China growing in 2021, while two thirds of them plan to increase investment in their China businesses this year.

In addition, more than 60 percent of EU companies identified China as one of the top three destinations for present and future investments, a survey by the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China last year showed.

"The EU-China Comprehensive Agreement on Investment will further accelerate the high-quality development of bilateral economic and trade relations, boost the rapid growth of two-way investment, as well as bring trades in goods and services to a new level," Zhang said.

Source: People's Daily, Xinhua, China Discipline Inspection and Supervision Newspaper