New global top trader coming to stage

Markets outside the US, the European Union and Japan accounted for 62.1 percent of China's overall exports in 2012, compared with 54.6 percent in 2010.

Private enterprises made up 41.7 percent of China's total exporters in export volume in the first half of this year, compared with 31.7 percent in 2010.

Trade with major partners are more balanced as imports registered $1.8 trillion in 2012, up 30 percent compared with 2010.

Reforms and opening-up were the major reasons for the strong performance of China's foreign trade in recent years, Shen said.

China signed free trade agreements with 18 economies to reduce tariffs and facilitate trade and investment, which greatly boosted the country's trade.

The special economic zones, including the free trade zone piloted in Shanghai, also helped drive trade growth, according to Shen.

"In the following two years, China's foreign trade will be more splendid than the first half of the 12th Five-Year Plan," Shen said.

"The domestic economy will bring more support to the country's trade development as the government deepens reforms and further opens up the market. Policies of stabilizing trade and encouraging the strategic emerging industries will also be in favor of trade development," Shen added.

The country's drive to establish a global free-trade network, including the China-Japan-South Korea FTA, the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, and the China-Australia FTA, which is in negotiations, will speed up the country's trade growth, according to Shen.

"It's sure that China will be the world's largest trader, but the added value of its exports is still much lower than the US," said Wang Haifeng, a researcher with the Institute for International Economic Research of the National Development and Reform Commission.

"We need to invest in talent, technology and improving the trade mechanism."