Passage 1
China Leaps Towards Top 10 Traders
Chinese see early GATT membership as one way of dealing with bilateral pressures from its main trading partners—the US, Japan and Germany—all of which are restive about their yawning trade gaps with China.
US trade representatives are also reporting that China is making a special effort to discuss new projects. Since the end of 1989，American businessmen have been returning to China with "zest", according to a US official.
But the larger deals in the petrochemical, power and transport sectors will take time to bring to fruition. In the meantime, the Chinese continue rapidly to expand and improve the range and the quality of their exports.
Progress made by China in the past decade is impressive. A decade ago, China ranked 20th as a world trader. Then exports of $ 18bn represented 4 per cent of Gross Domestic Product （ GDP）and less than one per cent of world trade. Projected exports this year of $ lOObn would represent 20 per cent of China's GDP and more than 2.5 per cent of world trade.
The growing sophistication of Chinese products is also reflected in the shift towards exports of manufactured items from 50 per cent in 1980 to 80 per cent last year. While China's success owes much to cheap labour costs-textiles and footwear accounted for one third of 1992's $85bn in exports-­exports of machinery, electronic products and transport equipment are the fastest growing areas.
Big deals in the petrochemical, power and transport sectors would see little progress in a long time if improvement in exports' equality didn't take place.