Abstract

Since President Trump took office, the US has been reluctant to fulfill its responsibility of promoting the globalization of trade. This has led the world to a turning point. It poses a challenge as well as an opportunity for China. In the international arena, China should keep promoting economic globalization and free trade. With the guidance ofthe Belt and Road Initiative and its principle of“Consultation, Contribution and Shared Benefits”, China has been actively promoting“connectivity”. It means both“coming in”and“going out”. On the 14thand 15thof May, 2017, China hosted the“Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation”in Beijing. There are 76 major projects in the final outcome of the summit, including the decision that“China will hold the China International Import Expo from 2018”. In the 2018 Bo'ao Forum for Asia, President Xi proposed to open up China's market through expanding imports and other measures. Therefore, as the one of the biggest global market, China should fulfill its role as a market provider and focus on optimizing its import trade structure.

It is of great practical significance for China to actively provide markets for other countries and optimize its import trade structure. On the one hand, the improvement of China's status as a market provider can strengthen China's position in international economy. A country's importation reflects how much other countries are economically dependent on it. Studying the influence of the changes in China's import trade structure and its role as a market provider can help us better understand China's position in international economy and deepen OBOR countries' economic dependence on China's market. It will also offer us fresh ideas on how to pursue mutual benefits and achieving a win-win situation. This will provide a theoretical basis for how China can give full play to the management of its import trade structure, which is an important means of supply management under the“new normal”. The thinking of China's macroeconomic management is undergoing major changes, mainly equally emphasizing demand management and supply management. Improving the import trade structure is an important part of improving the economic supply. In the adjustment of import trade structure, we must pay attention to different types of imports, their quantities and the overall structure optimization in order to achieve the economic growth expectations.

This book focuses on the status and structure of China as a market provider, and analyzes the changes in the status and structure of China' as a market provider and its impact. It consists of seven chapters. The first chapter is the introduction. Chapters 2 through 5 focus on the issue of the status of China as a market provider. Chapters 6 and 7 focus on the structure of China as a market provider. The main findings of this book are as follows: First, China surpassed Japan in 2007 to become the largest supplier of primary commodity markets in East Asia, in 2003 and 2009, China exceeded the United States as the largest provider of intermediate products and final capital markets in East Asia. However, China's position as a final consumption goods market still falls behind the United States and even Japan. China's position as a market provider of consumer goods in East Asia will also increase. China's position as a market provider of intermediate products and primary products in East Asia will decline, and its status as a market provider of final capital goods in East Asia may decline or change insignificantly. Second, China is the major market provider of primary products in most of the countries along the“Belt and Road”region, and is a major intermediate product market provider for Southeast Asian countries, Central Asian countries and West Asian countries. China's position as a final capital goods and final consumption goods market provider for the“Road and Belt”countries is quite low. China's status as a provider of primary goods and intermediate goods for the countries along the“Belt and Road”region will further increase, and its status as final consumer goods and final capital goods market provider will not rise significantly. Third, as the largest market provider of final product in the East Asian region, China will play an important role in the transformation of the East Asian trade model. The transformation of China's foreign trade development mode is a direct stimulus for the transformation of East Asian trade. The increase in China's domestic demands is the most important factor in the transformation of the East Asian trade model. Fourthly, the improvement of the status of China as a market provider can actively promote RMB as the currency for financing. In order to improve the role of RMB as a“currency anchor”in East Asia, China should focus on promoting its status as a provider of final consumer goods in East Asia. Fifth, at present, there is no large-scale industrial overseas shift in China, and domestic private consumption has not fully played its role in the transformation of import trade structure. Therefore, in the short term, it is unlikely that China will transform its import trade model. However, in the long run, the transformation of China's import trade model will happen. Sixth, the recent years has witnessed a rapid increase in the ratio of China's primary goods market, but it has already shown a clear downward trend. The proportion of intermediate products market provided by China will be relatively stable or declining, and the proportion of the final product market provided by China will gradually increase. Changes in the structure of China's market for other countries will also have certain impact on its economic growth. Seventh, China's market for primary goods and intermediate goods still takes up a relatively large part of the whole market. Judging from the development trends, there will be a change of focus from intermediate products to final products in China's importation. That is, China's ability to provide a final product market to other countries will continue to increase along with the upgrading of China's industrial structure. However，this transformation still has a long way to go. Eighth, final demands trigger a country's importation. Each final demand directly influences the induced ability of imports of different industries and directly promotes the changes in the market structure provided by China. For example, industries with increased inventory and strong ability to induce the imports of valuables constitute the main body of China's market for Korea.