China-U.S. economic ties once again came under the global spotlight ahead of an upcoming meeting between leaders of the two countries in Beijing.
U.S. President Donald Trump will pay a state visit to China from Wednesday to Friday, the first head of state to visit the country since the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China. His meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping is expected to promote bilateral exchange between the world's two largest economies.
Despite disputes and frictions, China-U.S. economic and trade cooperation has expanded steadily and generated huge benefits for people of both sides. Here are some facts and figures about China-U.S. economic ties:
-- In the first three quarters of the year, bilateral trade increased 13.7 percent year on year to 422.64 billion U.S. dollars. China's exports to the United States grew 11.5 percent, outpaced by a nearly-20-percent expansion in imports from the latter.
-- China has become the largest trade partner of the United States, while the U.S. is China's second largest. Bilateral trade surged to 519.6 billion dollars in 2016 from 2.5 billion dollars in 1979 when the two countries established diplomatic ties.
-- China receives 26 percent of U.S.-exported Boeing aircraft, 56 percent of its soy beans, 16 percent of its automobiles, 15 percent of its farm produce, and 15 percent of its integrated circuits.
-- As the two countries are balancing their economies, the structure of bilateral trade is improving. Over the past decade, U.S. exports to China increased 11 percent annually on average, while China's exports to the United States only rose 6.6 percent.
-- Although China still sees a trade surplus with the United States, it does not mean China benefits while the United States loses. About 40 percent of the trade surplus is actually generated by U.S. companies in China. Trade with China helps each American family save 850 dollars every year. In 2015, bilateral trade and mutual investment created 2.6 million jobs for the United States.
-- The United States has maintained a service trade surplus with China, which surged more than 30-fold from 2006 to 2016. Meanwhile, bilateral service trade only tripled. The United States raked in 52.3 billion dollars from service trade with China in 2016, making the biggest contribution to China's service trade deficit.
-- Two-way investment between China and the United States was also robust. Non-financial investment from Chinese businesses in the U.S. totaled nearly 50 billion dollars by the end of 2016, while U.S. companies had invested nearly 80 billion dollars in 67,000 projects in China.
