Container terminal of Rizhao Port in Shandong province. (PHOTO: XINHUA)

By Staff Reporters

The average annual growth rate of China's GDP between 2013 and 2021 reached 6.6 percent, contributing to more than 30 percent of the world's economy growth on average, according to a recent report by National Bureau of Statistics.

The country's GDP hit 114.4 trillion RMB in 2021, equaling 1.8 times that of 2012 calculated at constant prices. And the economic aggregate of China comprised 18.5 percent of the global economy in 2021, when valued by annual average exchange rates, rising by 7.2 percent compared with that of 2012.

Trade is a crucial factor of China's contribution to the world economy.

China's trade volume has been climbing steadily for the past decade, with 5.3 trillion USD in goods and services in 2020, leading the world for the first time. In 2021, the country remained first with the figure increasing to 6.9 trillion USD, and the trade in goods was 6.05 trillion USD which surged by 56.5 percent than that of 2012.

In particular, the trade between China and countries along the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) routes has been accelerating. By the end of 2021, China had signed documents of BRI cooperation with over 170 countries and international organizations.

The total import and export value between China and BRI countries soared from 6.5 trillion RMB in 2013 to 11.6 trillion RMB in 2021, with an annual growth of 7.5 percent, and the accumulated direct investment of China in BRI countries reaching 161.3 billion USD.

Other areas of foreign trade also witnessed huge progress. By January 2022, the number of China-Europe freight trains exceeded 50,000, with the value of transported goods reaching 240 trillion USD.

In addition, China has established 21 free trade areas, and signed 19 free trade agreements with 26 countries and regions. The country also joined the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) free trade agreement, which entered into force on January 1, 2022.