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On May 14-15, 2026, the Institute of China and Contemporary Asia of the Russian Academy of Sciences hosted its annual international scientific conference, in which Maxim Potapov, Chief Research Fellow of the Center for Asia Pacific Studies of IMEMO, participated and presented a report.

The theme of this year's conference was "15th Five-Year Plan of the Chinese Economy: Tasks and Challenges". Organized by the Center for Socio-Economic Research of China of the Institute of China and Contemporary Asia, the conference featured 30 presentations from representatives of research institutes and higher education institutions from Russia, Belarus, and China. The presentations covered a wide range of issues related to the contemporary development of the PRC and the prospects for Russian-Chinese cooperation. 

In his report "Current Trends in China's Foreign Trade Development", Maxim Potapov noted that China's foreign trade has had a positive balance for over three decades, and it has been steadily increasing. In recent years, the trade surplus has been primarily driven by high-tech enterprises with private domestic capital. Increasing the technological level of domestic production reduces the need to import intermediate goods for processing and assembly of finished industrial products. This allows the economy to maintain its necessary growth, while imports are declining and exports are growing moderately.

According to the speaker, the foreign trade of the PRC is sufficiently diversified in terms of both geography and product range. By effectively reducing its dependence on foreign trade and neutralizing sanctions from developed countries aimed at restricting its exports, China is restructuring its production value chains by shifting final production links for export products to markets in South and Southeast Asia.