China's trade with other Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) economies reached a historic high, hitting 21.27 trillion yuan (2.95 trillion U.S. dollars) in the first 10 months of 2024.
According to China Customs, trade with other APEC economies grew by 5.7 percent year on year, out-pacing China's overall trade growth rate by 0.5 percentage points.
Among those, China's trade with Vietnam, Peru, Malaysia and Mexico saw a growth rate of 17.4 percent, 16.8 percent, 12.1 percent and 11.7 percent respectively, while trade with China's Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and Taiwan island increased by 11.3 percent and 11 percent, respectively.
China's exports of intermediate goods to other APEC economies grew by 8.4 percent to 5.56 trillion yuan in the first 10 months, accounting for 45.4 percent of its total exports to other APEC economies.
Export of intermediate goods of electronic components, auto parts, accessories for automatic data processing equipment and flat panel display modules registered notable growth of 17.3 percent, 8 percent, 24.8 percent and 24 percent respectively.
During the same period, China also exported a large amount of consumer goods to other APEC economies. For example, textile and apparel exports totaled 906.88 billion yuan, up 3.9 percent; fruit and vegetable exports reached 92.87 billion yuan, up 10.6 percent; furniture and television exports amounted to 181.85 billion yuan, an 8.9 percent increase; and passenger vehicle exports reached 212.35 billion yuan, a sharp growth of 21.6 percent.
In the first ten months, China imported 7.23 trillion yuan worth of intermediate goods from other APEC economies, an increase of 3.5 percent, accounting for 80.2 percent of China's total imports from other APEC economies. Specifically, imports of electromachinery amounted to 2.88 trillion yuan, a growth of 9.6 percent; energy products reached 1.15 trillion yuan, an increase of 6.6 percent; and metal ores totaled 945.1 billion yuan, a growth of 6.4 percent.
Trade between China, other APEC economies sets new record in Jan-Oct period
Trade between China, other APEC economies sets new record in Jan-Oct period
Trade between China, other APEC economies sets new record in Jan-Oct period
It's impossible to build a system of governance that ensures artificial intelligence (AI) systems always operate and police themselves in alignment with both human and machine well-being without the participation of China, American columnist Thomas L. Friedman said in an article on Tuesday.
Friedman, a three-time Pulitzer Prize winner and the author of "The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-First Century," attended the China Development Forum 2025 held on March 23 and 24 in Beijing.
Based on what he saw and heard during the event, Friedman published an article in the New York Times titled "What I'm Hearing in China This Week About Our Shared Future" on Tuesday.
"There is an earthshaking event coming — the birth of artificial general intelligence (AGI). The United States and China are the two superpowers closing in on AGI — systems that will be as smart or smarter than the smartest human and able to learn and act on their own," the article reads.
Friedman cited an M.I.T. Technology Review report on the "16 humanoid robots" that danced on stage during China's televised Spring Festival gala this year which read: "Clad in vibrant floral print jackets, they took part in a signature ... dance, twirling red handkerchiefs in unison with human dancers."
Friedman wrote in his column that "In their day job, these robots work assembling electric vehicles. Dancing was just their hobby."
"The advances that China has made on AI in just the past year have made it absolutely clear that Beijing and Washington are now the world's two AI superpowers," Friedman wrote.
He mentioned a recent report by Morgan Stanley describing China's dominance over the West in the humanoid robot industry, saying the country is home to a majority of the top-listed companies in this sector.
Noting AI systems and humanoid robots offer so much potential benefit to humanity, Friedman warned they could also be hugely destructive and destabilizing if not embedded with the right values and controls.
He repeatedly stressed the importance of collaboration between the U.S. and China in AI.
"Because what Soviet-American nuclear arms control was to world stability since the 1970s, U.S.-Chinese AI collaboration to make sure we effectively control these rapidly advancing AI systems will be for the stability of tomorrow's world," Friedman wrote.
"China has greatly narrowed the gap with us and surpassed the other democracies. This can't be done without Beijing. So guess who's coming to dinner. It's a table for two now," he said.
Friedman wrote in the article that "Once AGI arrives, if we are not assured that these systems will be embedded with common trust standards, the United States and China will not be able to do anything together."
He pointed out that in this case, neither side will trust anything they trade with the other, because AI will be in everything that is digital and connected, including cars, watches, toasters, chairs, implants, and notepads.
"So if there is no trust between the U.S. and China and each of the two countries has their own AI systems, it will be the TikTok problem on steroids. A lot of trade will just grind to a halt, with only soybeans for soy sauce sold to each other," Friedman wrote, saying "It will be a world of high-tech feudalism."
Friedman said he was taken with a speech by Israeli historian Yuval Noah Harari during the conference, who said that "We should build more trust between humans before we develop truly superintelligent AI agents. But we are now doing exactly the opposite. All over the world, trust between humans is collapsing. Too many countries think that to be strong is to trust no one and be completely separated from others. If we forget our shared human legacies and lose trust with everyone outside us, that will leave us easy prey for an out-of-control AI."
Global AI governance cannot happen without China: American columnist
