The Ministry of Commerce is wrapping up its year with a two-day conference that includes the release of some key economic numbers and discussions on such topics as plans for 2017 and U.S. President-elect Donald Trump.
Commerce Minister Gao Hucheng said at the conference that began Monday that China attracted foreign investment of about nearly 130 billion U.S. dollars in non-finance sectors during 2016. That ranked China first among developing countries in foreign investment for a 25th straight year.
And it came as China's non-finance investment in foreign countries increased 55 percent in the first 11 months of 2016.
Those numbers were good but senior Commerce Ministry officials said they will be looking for more than just fast development in 2017.
"We should get rid of our complex for speed. We can't control the impact of the exogenous factors in the world economy, so we should look at them objectively," said Li Gang, sr. official, Ministry of Commerce.
"We should be aware of the challenges of the structural reform. We should continue the use of innovation as the driving force, and push our exporting products to the middle and high end of the chain."
The United States is one of China's most important economic partners. Investments from the United States grew 55 percent in the first 11 months of this year. But things could change once U.S. President-elect Donald Trump takes office in January.
Donald Trump was tough on China during his presidential campaign. He once said he would impose a 45-percent tariff on Chinese goods entering America. The Commerce Ministry says it will wait and see what the new administration really does instead of reacting to Trump's threats.
"From what has been said, it may affect us. But we should look at his specific measures after he takes office, rather than the comments he made to win the election," said Li Guanghui, sr. official, Ministry of Commerce.
"China and the U.S. are interdependent in trading relations.Trump probably probably will consider this kind of trade relations, given America's interest."
Li says that keeping the win-win cooperation and mutual benefits between China and the U.S. matches the interests of both countries.
