China was the world's largest goods trading nation in 2013, China's Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) announced over the weekend, citing data from the World Trade Organization.

In 2013, China's goods trade reached $4.16 trillion, with $2.21 trillion in exports and $1.95 trillion in imports, according to a statement published by the ministry on its website on Saturday.

Although China has achieved a milestone in foreign trade, China has a long way to go before becoming a strong trading country, Chinese Commerce Minister Gao Hucheng said in his article published in the People's Daily newspaper on Sunday.

Minister Gao wrote that the country's exported goods are still of relatively low added value and quality, lack independent brands, and in need of effective marketing and sales channels.

In 2013, exports of electro-mechanical products and high-tech products accounted for 57.3 percent and 29.9 percent of the total exported goods respectively. However, the core technologies for a lot of these products are controlled by foreign companies, according to Gao.

Foreign companies in China produced 61.2 percent of China's electro-mechanical goods exported abroad and 73 percent of high-tech goods for exports, Gao said.

China should secure its global market share for exported goods from the labor-intensive sector by upgrade its manufacturing with modern technologies and infusing the high-tech and fashionable elements into its labor-intensive products, Gao said in his article.

Developed countries have been implementing strategies which could secure their lead in new technologies in the emerging sectors, adding even more pressure to China's industrial upgrading, Long Guoqiang, director-general of the General Office of government think tank State Council's Development Research Center, was quoted as saying by a report on the People's Daily on Sunday.

The rising wages for Chinese industrial workers and emergence of labor-intensive, export-oriented manufacturing in other developing countries also mean China has to switch toward high-quality goods export, Long noted.

Innovation, deepening reform that boosts international trade, and greater responsibility on the global trade stage are other factors that will help build China into a strong trading country, according to Commerce Minister Gao.

China is now the largest trade partner for over 120 countries and regions, and imports around $2 trillion worth of goods each year, according to MOFCOM.