Via a drastic decline in the growth of its exports to the outside world, China plans to reduce its trade surplus to zero by the end of the decade the government said Oct. 11.
Until 2010, the world's fourth-largest economy will target 10% annual growth in foreign trade, down from 24% growth in the first half of the decade, the commerce ministry said. In the next four years, China will target a new foreign trade strategy where exporters abandon the blind pursuit of growth for growth's own sake in favor of "quality growth," the ministry said.
Export-oriented companies, especially private enterprises engaged in labor-intensive manufacturing, must move away from low-price competition and try to gain a competitive advantage through technical innovation, it said.
China's trade surplus in the first eight months of 2006 hit $95.7 billion, well on track to bust last year's record of $101.9 billion.
Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2006
