BEIJING, Oct. 5 (Xinhua) -- Over the past decade, China has extended its dominance in exports of textiles and clothing, shoes, suitcases and other labor-intensive products, while building up new competitive edges in exports of products featuring high technology and added value.
Official figures from China's commerce authorities show that the country's foreign trade enjoyed an average annual increase of 21.7 percent from 2002 to 2011. Over the same period, the world average level of foreign trade growth stood at just 10 percent.
Data also show that in the first seven months of this year, 38 percent of the U.S. textile imports came from China. More than 71 percent of Japan's and 38 percent of the European Union's textile imports also came from China.
A total of 58 types of machinery and electronic products China exported were the world's most popular, and another nine types ranked second, according to a survey conducted by the China Chamber of Commerce for Import and Export of Machinery and Electronic products.
A decade of rapid development has made China increasingly important in the global production system. Some made-in-China products such as laptops, copier devices, microwave ovens and tableware took up over half of the global export market's share.
The country's merchandise exports increased more than fourfold between 2002 and 2011, reaching 1.9 trillion U.S. dollars last year. And its proportion in global exports has increased from 5 percent to 10.4 percent over the past decade, according to figures from China Customs.
Meanwhile, China has been reinforcing its import strength. Statistics show that China's imports have ranked the second in the world since 2009, narrowing the gap with the United State by 77.6 billion U.S. dollars from 2009 to 2011.