On April 7, 2013 President Xi Jinping pointed out in a keynote speech at Boao Forum for Asia 2013 that, according to predictions, China will import commodities worth $10 trillion or so and its overseas investments will reach $500 billion, while outbound tourists may exceed 400 million.

In recent years, statistics on imports, overseas investments and outbound tourism all imply that the country's economic development is not isolated or exclusive, but is a result of cooperation with the rest of the world. The more China develops, the more opportunities for development it will bring to Asia and the world at large.

In the past decade, the country's economic aggregate has risen from the world' s sixth to the second, and the proportion of Chinese economy to the world's total from 4.4 percent to 10 percent. The contribution rate of the domestic economy to world economic growth exceeded 20 percent. In a period of rising protectionism in various forms, China's imports have kept up three consecutive years of positive growth.

Today, the connection among countries around the world is becoming closer and their interdependence deepening. The mainstream of peace, development and win-win cooperation is becoming stronger. Meanwhile, the world is far from peace, with major economies still struggling to recover and the global financial environment full of risks.

According to China's General Administration of Customs, in 2010, 2011 and 2012, the country's total import value rose by $1394.83 billion, up 38.7 percent over the previous year, $1743.47 billion, up 24.9 percent and $1817.83 billion, up 4.3 percent. The major import items include staple commodities like oil and iron ore.

As for promoting import growth, Yu Guangzhou, Minister of China's General Administration of Customs, said the country's customs-related supervision policies will actively interact with the state's trade and industrial policies. More attention will be paid to the improvement of supervising and serving and of the management mechanism as well as making customs clearance more convenient. On the precondition of effective control, the speed of customs clearance is also important.

"It's important to bring into play the role of supervisory policies and bonded tax as well as tax reduction and exemptions. More support should be offered to the import of energy resources, advanced technologies and equipment as well as consumables needed in China, said Yu.

Spokesman of China's Commercial Ministry, Shen Danyang, said that while stabilizing exports, the ministry will keep on with measures to promote imports.

There are three major measures: First, to optimize the structure of import tariffs, to adjust the catalog of encouraged imports and to make use of financial and fiscal policies to boost the growth of imports.

Second, to strengthen the development of the import promotion system. More support should be shown to African and South Asian commodity exhibitions, and companies should be organized to conduct trade-promotion activities overseas.

Third, to steadily expand import-based pilot programs and bring into play the radiating and exemplary role of import trade clusters.

The Chinese economy will maintain a sound momentum of development, with a sharp increase in overseas investments.

China's interest integration with Asia and the world has never been as deep or extensive as it is today. Now and for the coming years, the local economy will maintain a sound momentum of development. Domestic demand, particularly in terms of consumption, will continue to expand, accompanied by a sharp increase in overseas investment.

Statistics from the Ministry of Commerce show that in 2012, Chinese investors made direct investments in 4,425 overseas companies based in 141 countries and regions around the world, with an accumulative non-financial direct investment of $77.22 billion, up 28.6 percent over the previous year.

By the end of 2011, local investors had set up 18,000 direct-investment-based companies in 178 countries and regions around the globe, reaching an accumulative non-financial overseas direct investment of $322 billion. Chinese investments in Europe and Africa have seen rapid growth.

It was pointed out at the National Working Conference on Commerce at the end of 2012, that it's important to accelerate the pace of going global and to enhance Chinese enterprises' capability in international operations, including updating the distribution of advantageous industries around the world. Financial institutions should receive more support in the establishment of global service networks while trade companies and logistics companies should be offered more help to speed up outgoing pace. New ways of overseas investments and foreign cooperation should be sought. The areas covered by overseas contracted projects should be expanded, while the capability of program designing, consulting as well as investment financing and operations should be strengthened. More efforts should be made to promote overseas investment administrative regulations, to simplify the procedures.

China's influence and right of speech in the world tourism system has also greatly improved.

According to statistics from China National Tourism Administration, in 2011 the Chinese travelers made 70.25 million visits outside the country, up 22 percent year on year. In 2012, the number reached 83.18 million, up 18.4 percent. According to statistics from World Tourism Organization, in 2012 Chinese citizens' consumption during outbound tourism for the first time jumped to the top of this index, with consumption totaling $102 billion, while in 2011, it was $72.6 billion.

According to China's National Tourism Administration, statistics reveal the country's growing influence and right of speech in the world tourism economy.

In the past ten years, China has fully fulfilled its WTO accession commitments in terms of the tourism industry, with more sectors being opened up. Many domestic tourism companies have started to operate outside China. Meanwhile, the country's foreign exchanges with others are expanding. In 2002, only 29 countries and regions were on the approved list for Chinese outbound group travels, and now the number has risen to 146. Great achievements have been made in cooperation with Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan. The Chinese mainland's two-way tourism has become the largest tourism market in the world, with visits having exceeded 100 million.