Country's continued commitment is translating into tangible opportunities

China's drive to expand imports is emerging as a crucial feature of its high-level opening-up strategy, underscoring Beijing's commitment to sharing the opportunities of its vast domestic market with the rest of the world and, at a time of heightened economic uncertainty, offering predictable demand and a stable source of growth, market analysts and foreign business leaders said.

The emphasis on import expansion is consistent with President Xi Jinping's statements that China will remain committed to opening up, and its development is not pursued in isolation, but in a way that seeks shared growth with the world. 

Xi has said on multiple occasions that China will strengthen the domestic market and import more high-quality products, emphasizing that opening up is a long-term commitment rather than a short-term policy choice.

Delivering a written speech atthe APEC CEO Summit in Gyeong-ju, Republic of Korea, last year, Xi said that China can provide more growth opportunities for the global business community. It is now the world's second-largest market of consumption and imports, and the only developing country that hosts a national-level international import expo and continually opens its market to the world.

"The Chinese market is huge and promising. We are continually advancing high-standard opening-up, and strive to help all sides succeed through greater openness and connectivity," said Xi.

Foreign business leaders and market analysts said the policy direction shows that China views its megasized market not merely as a national advantage, but as a platform for mutually beneficial engagement. Rising imports of high-quality goods, advanced technologies and services are helping align domestic demand with global supply, while enabling a wider range of economies to participate in and benefit from China's long-term growth trajectory.

The comments came as Commerce Minister Wang Wentao said the government will organize more than 100 import promotion events this year to bring together global sellers and Chinese buyers, ensuring that quality products and services not only gain access to the Chinese market, but, more importantly, secure solid sales.

Wang said China remains dedicated to turning its vast market into one that benefits the whole world, expanding the pie of cooperation, jointly tackling development challenges, upholding the multilateral trading system and free trade, and injecting positive momentum into the global economy.

"China welcomes all countries to capitalize on the new opportunities presented by its promotional series, aimed at making the country a preferred export destination for more countries across the world," he said. 

He Yadong, a spokesman for the Ministry of Commerce, said that beyond targeted policies to improve import facilitation, refine sourcing and link imports with investment and consumption, the government will promote the "Export to China" initiative and expand imports with solid measures in the next phase. 

China's goods imports reached 18.5 trillion yuan ($2.67 trillion) in 2025, making it the world's second-largest import market for the 17th consecutive year, statistics showed.

Meanwhile, China's imports from more than 130 countries and regions recorded growth, while the nation has emerged as a major export destination for nearly 80 countries.

Market watchers said China's import expansion is increasingly focused on quality upgrading rather than volume growth alone. At its core, these measures encourage a leap from quantitative satisfaction to qualitative enrichment, using consumption upgrading to drive supply-side innovation and power high-quality economic growth, said Denis Depoux, global managing director of management consultancy Roland Berger.