High technology promotes foreign trade
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2004-10-13 16:36

China's foreign trade has had a big impetus since the government began to adopt the strategy of promoting trade through science and technology in 1999, said Wei Jianguo, vice-minister of commerce.

The high-tech industry is playing an increasingly significant role in the country's economic structuring, said at a symposium of ministers during the ongoing international high-tech trade fair in Shenzhen, a special economic zone in Guangdong Province, South China.

The output value of the high-tech sector rose by 31 percent from the previous year to reach US$332 billion in 2003, contributing 25 percent to the country's total industrial output value.

Wei said China's export of high-tech products saw an average annual growth of 40 percent from 1998 to 2003, 20 percentage points higher than that of the total export.

The introduction of advanced foreign technologies also promoted industrial structuring and upgrading in China, he said.

A total US$75.2 billion worth of advanced foreign technologies was imported over the past five years, accounting for 42 percent of the nation's total technological import since 1978 when China began its reform and opening drive.

The Chinese government encourages foreign businessmen to invest in the high-tech field in China and has worked hard to create a sound investment environment, Wei said. Keeping its commitments to the World Trade Organization, China has promulgated and revised more than 2,500 laws and regulations.

Foreign-invested companies have become a major high-tech exporter in China, he said. In 2003, the foreign-funded ventures exported high-tech products worth US$94.3 billion, accounting for 86 percent of the country's total, compared US$7.8 billion and 61 percent, respectively, in 1996.

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