China News Service, Beijing, June 18 (Reporter Zhang Su) In May of this year, Japan's imports and exports to China both hit a new high in the same month since 1979.

At a regular press conference held on the 18th, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian said that China hopes that Japan will proceed from safeguarding its own interests and international order, and reduce artificial restrictions and unnecessary political interference in non-market-oriented China-Japan economic and trade cooperation.

  Japan’s Ministry of Finance announced on the 16th that trade statistics showed that in May, Japan’s imports and exports to China both hit a new high in the same month since 1979.

China accounts for more than 20% of its imports and exports, and its importance as a country of trade with Japan is still rising.

A reporter asked what China has commented on this.

  Zhao Lijian first pointed out that the economies of China and Japan are highly complementary and are an important part of the supply chain of East Asia and the global industrial chain.

China is Japan's largest export destination, and Japan is also firmly ranked as China's second largest trading partner.

Despite the severe challenges of the new crown pneumonia epidemic, the pragmatic cooperation between China and Japan last year showed strong resilience and great potential.

  Statistics show that in 2020, the trade volume between China and Japan will reach nearly US$317.5 billion, a year-on-year increase of 0.8%.

In the first five months of this year, Sino-Japanese trade increased by 23.5% year-on-year.

Zhao Lijian also noticed that the China-Japan Chamber of Commerce recently released the "2021 Edition of the White Paper on China’s Economy and Japanese Enterprises", stating that in the context of the epidemic, 63.5% of Japanese companies in China are still profitable, and 92.8% of Japanese companies in China said that there is no reason. The epidemic or changes in the trading environment have adjusted their production plans in China, and 90.4% of Japanese companies plan to further expand the scale of procurement in China.

  "This fully shows that the Chinese government's efforts to prevent and control the epidemic and improve the business environment have been highly recognized by foreign-funded enterprises in China, and China's development is generally optimistic." He said.

  Zhao Lijian said that Japan once deeply participated in China's reform and opening up, which brought huge benefits to China and Japan's own economic development.

As the most dynamic and potential big market in the world, China will continue to work hard to create a more stable, fair, transparent, and predictable investment and business environment for foreign investors.

  He also pointed out that recently, the Japanese government has cooperated with the US to curb the Chinese economy and is implementing or is studying a series of policies to engage in the so-called “decoupling” of the industrial supply chain from China, creating obstacles to the normal economic and trade cooperation between China and Japan and providing mutually beneficial cooperation between the companies of both countries Bring risks.

  Zhao Li insisted that China hopes that Japan will proceed from safeguarding its national interests and international order, respect market laws and free trade rules, listen carefully to corporate voices, follow the trend of the times, provide a fair, just, transparent, and non-discriminatory business environment, and maintain the global industrial chain. The safety, reliability and stability of the supply chain will reduce the artificial restrictions and unnecessary political interference on the non-marketization of China-Japan economic and trade cooperation. (Finish)