Purchasers and exhibitors crowd the exhibition venue of the 135th phase of the Canton Fair in Guangzhou, South China's Guangdong Province, on April 15, 2024. Over 60,000 global purchasers showed up on the first day of the fair. Photo: VCG

The 135th China Import and Export Fair (Canton Fair) concluded its first phase of the year in Guangzhou, South China's Guangdong Province on Friday, with impressive results, including a strong showing by foreign firms and buyers, underscoring the vitality of China's trade sector. 

The conclusion of the first phase of the Canton Fair came just one day after a major consumer products expo concluded in Haikou, South China's Hainan Province, with similarly solid results. The back-to-back trade shows further highlighted the huge opportunities for global traders brought about by China's continuous opening-up, even as some Western countries are resorting to protectionism and "decoupling," experts said. 

At a press briefing on Friday, Guo Tingting, a vice minister of commerce, said that the first phase of this year's Canton Fair saw some major positive developments, including the participation of foreign buyers.

As of Friday, a total of 125,440 overseas buyers from 212 countries and regions attended the Canton Fair in person, up 23.2 percent from last year, and 7.33 million people visited the event, 90 percent of whom were from overseas, according to official data from the Canton Fair.

Meanwhile, more high-tech companies and products participated in the fair. Sales of industrial automation equipment, new-energy vehicles and other products have increased significantly compared with the previous phase, and some have even doubled, according to Guo. 

Guo noted that China attaches great importance to the Canton Fair and foreign trade, and the Ministry of Commerce will run the Canton Fair well to provide more high-quality products to consumers from all over the world, create more cooperation opportunities for global companies, and inject new impetus into the recovery of global economic and trade.

Chinese Premier Li Qiang visited the fair, highlighting the great importance China attaches to it. When visiting an exhibition on the history of the Canton Fair on Thursday, Li said that the fair should play a bigger role in expanding China's high-level opening-up and promoting the building of an open world economy, according to Xinhua.

On Wednesday, Li held a symposium with overseas buyers attending the fair. Li said that China will steadfastly open wider to the outside world at a high level, and promote trade and investment liberalization and facilitation, and will continue to inject stability into global trade and the world economy with the certainty of its own development, and provide broader space for the development of enterprises from all countries.

"The enthusiasm of participants at the Canton Fair showed that there is no problem with the supply chain. And the growing number of foreign participants showed that the industrial and supply chains between China and the world remain very tight and solid," He Weiwen, a senior fellow from the Center for China and Globalization, told the Global Times on Friday.

He further noted that the Canton Fair offers a platform not only for high-quality, affordable Chinese products to reach overseas markets, but also for foreign products to reach the vast Chinese market. "It shows that the Chinese market is open with fair competition for products from all countries to participate and compete," he said. 

After the first phase, the Canton Fair will also hold a second phase from April 23 to 27 and a third one from May 1 to 5, which will focus on daily consumer products and other products. 

Also underscoring China's open market, the 4th China International Consumer Products Expo concluded in Hainan, with a total of 4,019 consumer brands from 71 countries and regions participating in the exhibition.

It is a fact that many of the major expos are seeing great improvements this year, with a lot more foreign participants, said Chen Fengying, an economist and former director of the Institute of World Economic Studies at the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations, attributing the improvements to China's continued opening-up and economic recovery. 

"All these major events are signs that China's economy is resurrecting and gradually moving toward high-level opening-up," Chen told the Global Times on Friday, noting that the expos showed that economic "decoupling" is unattainable.

"The world definitely cannot decouple from China, and China will not decouple from the world. That is a fact," Chen said, "The US and Europe should realize this, instead of hindering exchanges and development through trade and technology wars."