The decline in China-Japan trade in 2013 was the result of many factors, but the main causes were economic, Shen Danyang, spokesman for the Ministry of Commerce, said on Tuesday.
Economic factors, including the slow global economic recovery and the slowdown in China's economic growth in the past year, were responsible for the dip in trade, Shen said.
However, he also pointed to rising political tensions between the two nations.
Japan's wrongdoings, including the "purchase" of the Diaoyu Islands in 2012 and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's visit to the Yasukuni war shrine in late December, have surely hurt the normal development of bilateral trade between China and Japan, Shen said.
China-Japan trade in 2013 declined 5.1 percent year-on-year to $312.55 billion, according to the ministry. China's exports dropped 0.9 percent to $150.28 billion and its imports fell 8.7 percent to $162.28 billion, it said.
Copyright 1995 - . All rights reserved. The content (including but not limited to text, photo, multimedia information, etc) published in this site belongs to China Daily Information Co (CDIC). Without written authorization from CDIC, such content shall not be republished or used in any form. Note: Browsers with 1024*768 or higher resolution are suggested for this site.
License for publishing multimedia online 0108263 Registration Number: 20100000002731 
