China seeks balanced trade, investment with US: MOC

Sun Jiwen, a spokesperson of China's Ministry of Commerce, speaks during a regular briefing in Beijing on Thursday, May 25, 2017. [Photo: China Plus/Xu Yanqing]

China is willing to work with the United States to realize balanced development of trade and investment, a research report by the Ministry of Commerce (MOC) said Thursday.

"Looking into the future, China is willing to make joint efforts with the United States to encourage Chinese enterprises to participate in U.S. infrastructure construction, further open up markets, promote two-way investment and advance bilateral investment treaty negotiations to further strengthen China-US trade and economic cooperation at local levels," said the Research Report on China-US Economic and Trade Relations.

China will also consider increasing imports from the United States in agricultural products, energy, high-tech products and services, to increase the total benefits while realizing a balanced development of trade and investment, according to the report.

Both China and the United States benefit from trade and economic cooperation. China has maintained a trade surplus in goods, but the United States has also gained tangible benefits.

China is the United States' largest export market outside North America, and an important export destination for soybeans, cotton, aircraft, automobiles and integrated circuits. In 2016, the United States had a trade surplus in agricultural products of 16.4 billion U.S. dollars.

Over the past 10 years, the average growth rate of U.S. exports to China was nearly three times the growth rate of U.S. exports as a whole, and twice the growth rate of China's exports to the United States.

The United States has maintained a long-term surplus in service trade. In 2016, the United States exported 51 movies to China, obtaining revenue of 16 billion U.S. dollars. Chinese tourists and students in the United States spent more than 51 billion U.S. dollars.

With respect to investment, US-funded enterprises in China have maintained good performance and gained high profits. Sales revenue in 2015 totaled 517 billion U.S. dollars, and profit reached 36.2 billion U.S. dollars.

Investment from Chinese enterprises in the United States is growing rapidly. Chinese investment projects have taken place in 46 states and 425 congressional districts, creating over 140,000 local jobs.

According to the U.S.-China Business Council, in 2015, U.S. exports to China and China-U.S. two-way investment contributed 216 billion U.S. dollars to the United States GDP, and supported 2.6 million local jobs.