China is making its best effort to promote free trade.  Last Sunday, China's minister of Commerce published an article on Wall Street Journal calling for strengthening trade ties between U.S. and China.   On Thursday, Chinese Vice Premier Wang Qishan called for the European Union (EU) and China working together to ward off potential surge of protectionism amid the global economic slump, and promised to send its companies on new multibillion dollar spending sprees in Europe.

Meanwhile, China has been negotiating with many countries on free trade agreement (FTA).  So far, China has signed FTA with ASEAN, Chile, Pakistan, New Zealand, Singapore and Peru, and is negotiating FTA with Australia, the Gulf Cooperation Council (including six countries of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, UAE, Oman, Qatar and Bahrain), Iceland, Norway, Costa Rica and the Southern African Customs Union.

In a separate news, China has replaced the United States to become Brazil's biggest trading partner, said Brazil's Ministry of Development, Industry and Exterior Trade on Monday.