China's top ten trade partners of 1999 based on amount of trade are, from largest to smallest: Japan, the US, European Union, Hong Kong, Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), Korea, Taiwan, Australia, Russia and Canada.

Japan kept its top ranking. Last year, Sino-Japanese trade totaled US$66.2 billion, up 14.3% from the year before. Chinese exported US$32.4 billion to Japan, up 9% while Japan imported US$33.8 billion, up 19.9%.

The US was China's second largest trading partner. Sino-US trade reached US$61.5 billion, a 12.1% increase.

Compared with 1998, with the exception of Russia and Australia exchanging places, there wasn't much change in 1999's rankings. Russia slipped one notch down primarily because Chinese exports to Russia fell from US$1.8 billion to US$1.5 billion, down 18.5%. At the same time, Sino-Australian trade rose 26%.

China's trade with these ten trading partners reached US$319.5 billion, which accounted for 88.6% of China's total trade.