Foreign Trade in the Electronics Industry and Its Development Policy

Abstract

In 1983, the export volume of China's electronics industry increased by 55.6% and its import volume grew by 11.9% over the previous year. Export products evolved from pocket radios, electronic components and devices, and specialty electronic materials to over 80 different types of equipment. In the past, China imported mainly TV and radio/tape recorder parts and components. But nowadays 75% of imports consist of production technology and complete or stand-alone manufacturing equipment. In the past, China exported mainly to Hong Kong and Macao, but now the country exports to over 70 countries and regions including the United Sates, Western Europe, Southeast Asia, and Africa. Several hundred Chinese electronics enterprises have imported foreign advanced technology and equipment since 1979 and in the past three years alone they have imported $600 million worth of technology and equipment from Japan, the United States, and Western Europe. The electronics industry is a rapidly developing emerging industry. To a great extent, the technological condition of a country's electronics industry determines the country's technological progress. To invigorate all areas of the national economy, the Chinese government has given an important place to the electronics industry and resolved to accelerate its development.