Urgency Required in Changing the Growth Mode of China’s Foreign Trade

JIAN Xinhua1( 简新华) and ZHANG Hao2( 张皓)
1Research Center for Economic Development, Wuhan University
2Research Center for Population, Resources, and Environment, Wuhan University

Editorial note:While China’s trade volume has greatly increased since its entry into the WTO,there has not been any major shift to its trade growth model. China’s exports continue to be focused on low value-added, low-cost products with low technological content, resulting in increasing trade frictions,low economic efficiency and growing pressure on natural resources and the environment.

I. Introduction
Since reform and opening up, China has gained its international competitiveness in foreign trade mainly by using the low cost of its production factors and introducing advanced foreign technologies. Although this trade growth model, featuring expanding quantity,