With Gusty Winds and Rough Seas: How “Going Global” Can Proceed Steadily and Far — Cracking Zhejiang’s Foreign Trade Breakthrough Code

China News Wenzhou, March 28日电 (Zhou Jian): “Africa is currently in a phase of rapid development. We hope to establish long-term cooperation with Zhejiang’s high-quality suppliers in key areas such as renewable energy.” Recently, at an international procurement matchmaking conference held in Hangzhou, Zhejiang, Amuti Denis Bilengji, the chief representative of the Uganda National Chamber of Commerce, said so.

The eager expectations of overseas buyers reflect Zhejiang’s thriving foreign trade.

In recent years, the international situation has been marked by changes and intertwined uncertainties, with a significant increase in external variables. Amid stormy seas and choppy waves, Zhejiang’s private-sector economy “big ship” continues to press forward despite difficulties: in 2025, the province’s total import and export value reached 5.55 trillion yuan, up 5.4%. Exports are especially eye-catching—its scale broke 4 trillion yuan for the first time, up 7.2%, ranking No. 2 nationwide.

Why has Zhejiang foreign trade maintained a strong development momentum? A deep analysis provides a clear answer: it wins by quality, building core competitiveness with premium products; it keeps trade routes flowing, running with “trade acceleration” through diversified layout; and even more, it empowers through policy—providing an exit-and-go safety net for companies heading overseas with a package of practical measures.

Win Globally with Quality Strength—Hard-Core Capabilities Go “Mainstream”

Right now, benefiting from the dual advantages of “high cost-performance + hard-core technology,” “Made in China” is once again attracting global customers. Behind this, there are no shortage of Zhejiang enterprises that have been refining their craft for years, delivering results through long-term effort.

Not long ago, at the 2026 Italy Milan Optical Eyewear Exhibition, the Wenzhou delegation shone brightly: eco-friendly material glasses attracted international clients to stop and inquire, ultra-thin lens-plate glasses were sampled by overseas professional buyers, and an AI smart pair of glasses won more than 50k units of intended orders in one go, becoming the focus of the entire event.

“Twenty years ago, we couldn’t even get registered. Now, the Wenzhou exhibition delegation is already the largest one here.” Wu Huisheng, the person in charge of Wenzhou Jinqiao Import and Export Co., Ltd., who attended the exhibition, was full of pride. In his view, the key to why Wenzhou eyewear has won international market attention lies in deep cultivation of technological innovation.

Wenzhou eyewear companies travel overseas to attend exhibitions. Courtesy photo by Xie Xu

Competition in global markets is becoming increasingly fierce. If you don’t move forward, you fall back; even moving slowly means falling back. Zhejiang companies understand this well. In recent years, Zhejiang has deeply implemented the campaign of “replacing old birds with new ones, and rising like the phoenix from the ashes,” while vigorously promoting upgrades and improvements of traditional industries. From traditional manufacturing to smart manufacturing, from OEM for branded products to independent brands, from price competition to value-led development—countless Zhejiang enterprises set innovation as their sail and quality as their oar, securing favorable positions in international markets.

While improving the quality and efficiency of traditional products, Zhejiang foreign trade’s “new forces” are also showing strong momentum.

The “New Three” products represented by electric vehicles, lithium batteries, and solar PV have continued to iterate and upgrade, expanding their share worldwide. In 2025, Zhejiang’s exports of the “New Three” and green products such as wind power generator sets grew by 28.1% and 98.2%, respectively. In Ningbo, the exports of the “New Three” totaled 38.51 billion yuan, up 76.3%. Industrial robots are also in demand in international markets, rising sharply by 113%.

The cultural industry is another “golden calling card” of Zhejiang foreign trade. From November to December 2025, active overseas users of Zhejiang-authored web literature surpassed 200 million; overseas plays for individual micro-dramas hit 1 billion; NetEase’s “Wanyun Shi Liu Sheng” launched its international version, and in two weeks overseas players reached 9 million… In addition, AI technology helps the industry reduce costs and improve efficiency in areas such as planning and translation, and cultural going-global has pressed the “acceleration button.”

The 2026 Zhejiang Provincial Government Work Report points out that during the “15th Five-Year Plan (2026–2030)” period, Zhejiang will coordinate to advance the renewal and upgrading of traditional industries, the growth of emerging industries, and the scientific layout of future industries. From top-level design to on-the-ground practice, “Made in China” will unleash even stronger vitality driven by innovation.

Link Up into a Network—Going Overseas with Calm Confidence

Efficient and convenient logistics corridors are solid support for Zhejiang enterprises to connect with the world.

Look at the supervised operations site of the Wenzhou Sidelda Customs—everything is busy: shipment after shipment is orderly moved onto large trucks, preparing to head overseas via international road transport (hereinafter referred to as “TIR”).

“What we care about is the speed.” An executive at a Wenzhou luggage-and-bags company, Xia Chenghe, did the math: for example, shipping to Moscow, TIR takes only one-fifth the time of sea freight and one-third that of rail. This means faster cash flow for the companies and quicker turnover of goods, greatly reducing costs.

At the starting point of the Wenzhou Ruian TIR route, containers are loaded onto trucks. Photo by Sun Lin

Behind the growth in foreign trade volume, hub development is also speeding up. During the “14th Five-Year Plan (2021–2025)” period, Zhejiang has continuously strengthened the construction of a three-dimensional opening corridor of sea, land, and air: Ningbo-Zhoushan Port opened the world’s first China-Europe North Pole container fast shipping route, completing the “final piece” of the global route network; Zhejiang’s China-Europe freight trains (Yiwu–Europe) radiate more than 50 countries and regions across Eurasia, becoming an important bridge connecting “Made in Zhejiang” with Eurasian markets; the number of transport airports increased to 9, and aerial logistics corridors have been continuously upgraded…

In addition to improving physical corridors, localities across the province have, based on their own realities, actively built “online stepping stones” to solve companies’ difficulties in going overseas.

In Honghe Town in Jiaxing, known as “China’s Famous Town of Mao-knit Sweaters,” the local area targeted the challenge of having many small merchants and a lack of foreign trade qualifications. Working with a technology company, they built a dedicated cross-border e-commerce platform. “With platform construction and empowerment under the ‘1039’ model, merchants only need to file for registration in the designated market cluster area, and they can complete customs clearance and export through our agency platform, bringing benefits for ‘grouping together’ to explore emerging markets.” said Xue Qiumin, the company’s general manager.

Overseas-Chinese strength is Zhejiang’s unique advantage in building trade corridors. As one of China’s national key overseas-Chinese towns, the province leverages the trade networks of overseas Chinese compatriots to help Zhejiang enterprises sail overseas.

At the recent “Overseas Chinese Connect the World—Trade Thrives in Lishui” overseas-chinese trade integration special event, more than 20 overseas Chinese businessmen discussed opportunities for going overseas in person with local manufacturing enterprises in Jinyun through on-site inspections, business promotion, and other exchanges. “We hope to take this opportunity to carry out friendly cooperation with overseas Chinese businessmen, so that the company’s overseas business becomes stronger and stronger.” said Wei Wei, an export and trade manager at Zhejiang Taotao Auto & Vehicle Co., Ltd., who attended the event.

Obviously, from sea freight to land routes, from online platforms to overseas-Chinese bridges… the increasingly dense international trade network is enabling countless Zhejiang enterprises to truly feel: going overseas can be this calm and convenient.

Frontline Services—Unity Between Government and Enterprises to “Clear Barriers”

Italy’s Milan Optical Eyewear Exhibition, Germany’s Nuremberg International Toy Fair… At the start of 2026, Zhejiang rapidly launched the action of “sending thousands of delegations and tens of thousands of enterprises to expand markets and compete for orders,” leading Zhejiang merchants to head to locations around the world to seize opportunities. It is reported that this province plans to organize more than 2,000 delegations this year, mobilizing 20k enterprises to go overseas to expand markets and compete for orders, injecting strong impetus into Zhejiang companies’ going global.

What enterprises think about, the government thinks about; what enterprises are anxious about, the government is anxious about. For a long time, Zhejiang’s government has taken proactive action and provided frontline services to stand guard over companies’ foreign trade. Going back to the time of international trade frictions in 2025, the province quickly made policy decisions “with real measures,” rolling out the “20 Articles to Stabilize Foreign Trade” to help affected companies get through the damage, and to recover the markets they had lost.

With intelligence at the helm amid stormy seas, Zhejiang continues to increase policy support for the future. At the beginning of the year, it issued the “Guiding Opinions on Accelerating High-Quality Development of Specialized Markets,” which clearly proposes continuing activities such as providing “foreign-trade-related legal services supported by ‘Zhejiang’” to support business operators. This includes international market rules training, legal and policy consultation, responses to economic and trade frictions, intellectual property protection, and more.

Merchants in Yiwu, the “World’s Capital of Small Commodities,” have felt this deeply. Challenges such as overseas trademark pre-registration and patent litigation previously caused them major headaches when they “went global.” To address this, the Yiwu Municipal Administration for Market Regulation has built a one-stop intellectual property service platform. Through institutional innovation and targeted services, it provides strong support for “small commodities” to boldly enter the “big world.”

Data attests to the results: in the first two months of 2026, Yiwu added 439 customs filings for independently owned intellectual property rights, accounting for nearly four-tenths of the province’s total newly added figure and up by more than 76% year over year. In the same period, local exports of independently branded products also grew by more than 70% year over year. Intellectual property protection has become the “suit of armor” for Yiwu’s small commodities going overseas.

As can be seen, Zhejiang’s foreign trade has been steady and far-reaching—not due to luck, but because of inevitable results achieved through efforts from multiple sides. Entering the “15th Five-Year Plan” period, the external environment is still severe and complex. However, Zhejiang has set clear goals: to speed up adjustments to the trade structure, expand exports of high-tech products and key components, components and parts, and semi-finished products; to strengthen and optimize the “sweet potato economy,” leveraging the strengths of a large overseas- Chinese community; by 2030, the share of goods trade exports in the national total will remain basically stable…(End)