Save them for a rainy day

China should use overseas resources if they are affordable and save its reserves to stabilize home supplies and global prices

China registered a trade deficit of $1.02 billion in the first quarter of this year, the first in seven years, because of a slowdown in exports amid shrinking global demand. But despite that, it is likely to maintain an annual trade surplus for the full year.

Though varying factors across the world, including the US government's deficit, the lingering European sovereign debt crisis and the unrest in the Middle East and North Africa, have heightened the sense of economic uncertainty, they are unlikely to derail global recovery. Besides, China's exports will probably rebound thanks to the strong demand from Japan, which is struggling to emerge from the impact of the earthquake, tsunami and the nuclear plant accident.