Beijing pushes e-commerce sector towards two-way flows

China issued guidance on Monday for its e-commerce sector that seeks to co-ordinate domestic development with international markets, a week after a delegation of European lawmakers visited to discuss related challenges and competition. The European Union lawmakers had pressed China about a surge of products that entered the bloc and access to the Chinese market in what was the first European parliamentary visit to the world's second-largest economy in eight years. Last month, the EU agreed to overhaul its customs system, including a crackdown on mainly Chinese e-commerce platforms that could face fines if they sold illegal or unsafe products in the bloc. China's new guidance for its sector, jointly issued by various ministries and regulators, called for striking a balance between promotion and regulation and efficiency and fairness, while integrating the digital and real economies. It also mentioned forming pilot zones for cross-border e-commerce activities that would be used for special initiatives, establishing rules and standards and expanding platforms into overseas markets. "We will encourage e-commerce enterprises to establish direct procurement bases overseas, expand imports of high-quality and distinctive products and create an e-commerce 'express lane' for global goods to enter the Chinese market," the statement said. The guidance, which did not mention e-commerce trade with Europe, was jointly released by the commerce ministry, the ministries of industry, agriculture and tourism and the cyberspace and market regulators. China's foreign ministry has said the EU delegation's visit can improve the bloc's understanding of the country and support stable bilateral ties. The visit signalled a cautious re-engagement after strains over trade imbalances, the Russian-Ukrainian conflict and tensions surrounding rare-earth export controls. (Reuters) Edited by Cecil Wong