The Ministry of Commerce (MOC) restated its belief that China can meet its 10 percent growth target for exports and imports in 2012 at a regular press briefing Tuesday.

Shen Danyang, the spokesman for China's Ministry of Commerce, introduced China's commercial and trade information for the first half year of 2012, including domestic market operation, foreign trade, investment in foreign countries and economic cooperation, outsourcing services, as well as China-Africa economic and trade cooperation since 2009. He followed this up with a question-and –answer session.

In the first half year of 2012, China's imports and exports reached US$1.84 trillion, up 8 percent compared with the same period last year. Exports alone exceeded US$954.3 billion, up 9.2 percent and imports reached US$885.4 billion, up 6.7 percent. In addition, China's surplus exceeded US$68.9 billion, up 56.4 percent, according to the General Administration of Customs of China.

Shen said that shrinking demand from abroad, the rising costs of labor and raw materials, and worsening trade conflicts hit China's export and import growth rate for the first half year. However, as a result of measures taken by the State Council, exports in the first half year have seen a 9.2 percent increase.

Commenting on the reasons for declining foreign investment, Shen said that the slow global economy recovery was a key factor which has led to widespread instability, especially the unresolved Euro crisis which has hit global cross-border investment. Touching on internal reasons, Shen mentioned rising costs and tightening land supply as factors which had impacted levels of foreign investment. Besides, the base number of foreign investment was very high in 2010 and 2011.

The issue of falling Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) has also raised the question of what measures can be taken to attract more foreign investment. Discussing the issue, Shen said that the use of foreign capital had decreased in the first half of 2012, having been hit by the real estate crisis, among other factors. However, it is expected that China's economy will rebound in the second half of 2012 as a result of adherence to the policy of "maintaining growth and expanding domestic demands." It is anticipated that this will lead to a subsequent increase in foreign investors' confidence regarding China.

Discussing the issue of investor confidence, Shen said: "On July 6, China was selected as the most popular country for investment by multinational corporations, according to the World Investment Report 2012 of United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). This shows that multinational corporations still have great confidence in China."

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