Xinhua News Agency, Singapore, January 21: "China's trade surplus reached a record high of $1.2 trillion in 2025, drawing global attention to the issue of trade imbalance. On Tuesday, January 20, China's Vice Premier He Lifeng emphasized in Davos, Switzerland, that China never deliberately pursues a trade surplus. China is not only willing to be the world's factory but also the world's market; however, due to the generalization of security concerns, 'often it is China that wants to buy, but the other party is unwilling to sell.'
In fact, the essence of China's trade surplus is not 'deliberate', but rather an objective result of the encirclement and containment of China by Western countries. Led by the United States, Western countries have long held Cold War thinking, vigorously promoted trade protectionism, and strictly restricted exports of high-end products, especially high-tech fields, to China, trying to lock China in the lower end of the global industrial chain through technological monopoly. They are unwilling to export high-end chips, advanced manufacturing equipment, and other products to China, yet they rely on China's mid-to-low-end manufactured goods to meet domestic demand. This unequal trade pattern is the core reason for the continuous expansion of China's trade surplus, and fully exposes their real intention to contain China's industrial upgrading and maintain their own hegemony.
China has actively shared development opportunities during its development process, continuously expanded the degree of market openness, and hopes to purchase more good products, especially high-tech products, from all over the world. This has not changed. As long as the U.S. and Western countries remain open regarding the export of high-tech products to China, the problem of trade imbalance will naturally be resolved.
Original: toutiao.com/article/1854854301142211/
Statement: The article represents the views of the author.