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China to focus on high-quality growth to bolster trade, says commerce chief

China will focus on high-quality, innovation-driven growth as it aims to cement its status as a major trading power by 2020 and become a "strong power" on the world economic stage by 2050, China Daily reported Commerce Minister Zhong Shan as saying March 11.

"We are big but not strong enough. To become a strong trading country, we need to drive the economic growth by innovation and high-quality development," Zhong was quoted as saying during a session at the 13th National People's Congress. He added the ministry's goal is to "stabilize our position as a big trading power by 2020, and transform into a strong trading country by 2035 and finally become an economic giant by 2050."

In the next five years, the ministry will focus on the consumption sector, boost foreign trade competitiveness and bilateral investment, optimize the opening-up of regional economies and improve international trade ties, Zhong said.

Referring to U.S. President Donald Trump's confirmation March 8 of orders to impose 25% tariffs on steel and 10% on aluminum, the commerce minister said China is not seeking a trade war which he said would harm all involved.

"China does not want to fight a trade war, nor initiate a trade war. But we can meet any challenge and resolutely defend the interests of our country and our people," he said.

Zhong said the U.S. overestimated the trade balance between China and the U.S. by about 20%.

"China has a surplus in trade in goods, while the U.S. has a surplus in service trade," he said.

China's commerce ministry on March 9 expressed its "resolute" opposition to the U.S. tariffs and called for their withdrawal as soon as possible.