Meng Wei, spokesperson for China's National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), at a press conference Sunday Photo: Song Lin/GT

Chinese companies will negotiate with US firms to expand on imports based on market principles and WTO rules, a Chinese official said Sunday in Beijing, responding to one of the key elements in the newly reached China-US first phase trade deal.

China and the US possess a high degree of complementarity in terms of economic and trade cooperation, said Meng Wei, spokesperson for China's National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), at a press conference on Sunday.

"The US has good supply capacity in energy, manufactured goods, agricultural products, medical care and finance services," Meng stated.

Both China and the US are market economies, and Chinese firms will consult with counterparts from the US to expand imports, based on market principles and WTO rules, Meng told the conference.

To expand on imports from the US is in line with Chinese consumers' demand for advanced goods and services, as well as the domestic economy's development toward higher quality, she noted.

China has been striving to promote its high-quality development model, rather than simply pursuing high-speed economic growth, with a surging middle-income class and a recent breakthrough of $10,000 GDP per capita in 2019.

Against the backdrop of mounting downward pressure on the global economy and escalating trade protectionism, China achieved steady GDP growth of 6.1 percent in 2019, according to data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Friday.

Even though the situation remains complex both externally and internally, China's economic growth is resilient and has great momentum. With a huge market and great domestic-demand potential, the promising trend of long-term economic growth will not change, Meng said.

Moreover, China has been ramping up efforts for comprehensive opening up of its market to the world.

Speaking of the Foreign Investment Law that came into effect on January 1, Meng indicated that it offers a critical foundation for China's market-oriented, legalistic and internationalized business environment. 

The negative list for foreign investment has been shortened for three consecutive years, with items narrowing from 93 to 40 in 2019, she elucidated, noting that the list will be shortened again in 2020, as a measure for continued opening up.