China to soon pass Japan as third-biggest U.S. export market

China to soon pass Japan as third-biggest U.S. export market    A Beijing official said Thursday that China will overtake Japan as the United States' third largest export destination by the end of the year or early 2008.
   According to a report in the state-owned newspaper Xinhua, China has been the fastest growing U.S. export destination for five consecutive years, said Chinese Vice Minister of Commerce Gao Hucheng.
   China’s foreign trade volume reached $1.17 trillion in the first seven months of 2007, a 24.4 percent increase over the same period last year, according to customs sources.
   Trade between China and the United States surged to $262.7 billion in 2006 from $2.5 billion in 1979, with farm produces and machinery registering fast growth, according to Gao.
   China stood as the U.S.'s ninth-largest export market in 2001 and the fourth in 2005, while Canada served as U.S. largest export market in 2006, followed by Mexico and Japan.
   By 2006, the United States had set up more than 50,000 enterprises in China, with investment totaling more than $54 billion, while China had built more than 1,100 enterprises in the United States with investment of nearly $3 billion, Gao said.