While attending three important international and regional conferences this month, Chinese leaders have put forward sweeping initiatives, including calls for further trade liberalization, to promote global trade and strong economic growth.

The intensive diplomatic activities were carried out against the backdrop of a turbulent global financial market and more practices of trade and investment protectionism by some developed countries.

CHINA TO GIVE ZERO-TARIFF TREATMENT TO NEARLY ALL IMPORTS FROM LDCS

Addressing the G20 summit in Cannes, Chinese president Hu Jintao said he believed that countries around the world should firmly be committed to free trade and oppose protectionism.

The countries, Hu said, also should move forward the Doha Round negotiations, reaffirm the commitment of not taking new protectionist measures, and work to build a fair, equitable and non-discriminatory international trading system.

Meanwhile, Hu stressed that major efforts should be made to reform the international monetary and trading systems and commodity pricing mechanisms.

He also called on the international community to work to make commodity pricing and regulating mechanisms more equitable and transparent. He urged the countries, too, to expand production capacity, stabilize supply and demand, strengthen supervision and curb speculation so as to maintain stable commodity prices at reasonable levels.

Hu announced that, to further help the least developed countries (LDCs), China will, in the context of South-South cooperation, give zero-tariff treatment to 97 percent of the tariff items of exports to China from the LDCs that have diplomatic relations with China.

Speaking to APEC business leaders in Hawaii, the Chinese president renewed the pledge to help those countries most affected by the world economic woes.

Because of the global economic crisis, exports from the LDCs have gone down from 176.7 billion U.S. dollars in 2008 to 156.3 billion dollars in 2010.

The zero-tariff treatment is a substantial move made by China to facilitate development and push ahead the Doha Development Agenda, which has been widely praised by the international community and developing nations.

The Phnom Penh Post reported on its website on Nov. 9 that Cambodian Minister of Commerce Cham Prasidh spoke positively of China's move which he said had set a good example for other countries. He also urged the United States to follow suit.