Foreign firms, US ones in particular, benefit from trade surplus

Foreign-funded enterprises in China enjoyed 83 percent of China's total foreign trade surplus and accounted for 58 percent of China's total exports, announced Vice Commerce Minister Yi Xiaozhun at China-US Business Forum in Beijing on Feb. 14.

Out of China's total trade surplus of 101.9 billion US dollars in 2005, 84.4 billion US dollars was earned by foreign companies in China. China's real surplus was only 17.5 billion US dollars if that part was deducted.

Yi added that foreign investors remitted some 270 billion US dollars of their profits out of China, which did not include much of their profits used for reinvestment. "More than two-thirds of foreign operations in China now are making profits," said Yi.

American companies, in particular, stood out due to their strong competitiveness. A survey by the American Chamber of Commerce in China in 2004 shows that 86 percent of US businesses in China saw their earnings increase and 42 percent of them made more profits in China than globally.

Yi concluded that the significant US deficit with China resulted from the massive transfer of manufacturing internationally, including the US manufacturing, to China.

In 2005, the China-US trade reached 211.63 billion US dollars. China exported 162.9 billion US dollars to the US and imported 48.73 billion US dollars.

"The China-US trade and economic cooperation is not so imbalanced as reflected by the record high US deficit with China. The US also has benefited enormously," Yi stressed.

By People's Daily Online