This information comes courtesy of today's print version of China Daily, "The National English Language Newspaper."
China has become the world's third-largest trading nation, following the United States and Germany, thanks to its foreign trade value hitting a record high of US$1.0 trillion in the first eleven months of 2004, and the whole year's figure expected to reach US$1.1 trillion.
Figures from the the General Administration of Customs (GAC) showed the nation's trade surplus reached US$21 billion, with exports soaring to US$529 billion.
The trend isn't expected to reverse.
Zhang Hanlin, a researcher with the WTO (World Trade Organization) Institute of the University of International Business and Economics in Beijing said: "Exports will increase by 20 to 22 percent, and imports will grow 25 percent, increasing overall foreign trade by 20 percent."
Mr. Hanlin cites growth in China's major trading partners -- the European Union, the United States, and South Korea -- reductions in trade tariffs, and this:
"There is not much pressure for an appreciation in the US dollar, which will also stimulate China's exports in 2005."
That pretty much explains this article, which appears in China Daily's online edition.
China has come under pressure to let the yuan, now pegged at about 8.28 to the dollar, float more freely. The United States and others argue the currency level is too low and gives Chinese exports an unfair price advantage.
Beijing has said that while a freely trading currency is an ultimate goal, it will introduce changes only gradually...
"Only if things can be properly handled can it (the currency regime) be liberalised, otherwise problems would quickly appear," said [Economist Cheng Siwei], who is also a vice chairman of the National People's Congress, or parliament...
No further details were given, but government officials have voiced concern that a yuan revaluation may hit job creation by putting a damper on the fast-growing export sector.
Not that there is complete satisfaction with that fast-growing export sector. Again from the print article:
About 58 percent of exports came from the processing trade, and it accounted for 50 percent of imports.
Zhang said: "China does not benefit dramatically from large amount of such foreign trade.
"As more foreign firms moving their manufacturing bases to China, they also bring materials from abroad and sell processed products overseas.
"We need to find out who is making money from this trade. The answer is not China, but rather the multinationals," Zhang pointed out.
I'm not sure that's what I'd want to hear if I was one of those foreign firms.