"Despite the strong year-on-year growth delivered in April, growth in foreign trade has been moderate since 2021," he said. "The April growth rate was mainly underpinned by positive short-term factors such as the low base effect over the same period last year, the release of pent-up orders and the lagging impact of inflation in advanced economies. Yet these factors are only temporary and their effect will be difficult to sustain."

He said that currently, there are several major issues with China's trade structure that need to be addressed.

First, trade growth in goods and services has been uneven, with the latter being weaker. Specifically, China still lacks an advantage in digital and artificial intelligence products that come with high value-added services, he said.

Second, domestic traders aren't fully capitalizing on the export advantages of high-end equipment and high-tech products, and the urgency of boosting brand building for these two kinds of goods remains acute.

Most importantly, Ma warned that China's participation in the global value chain is mainly concentrated in mid-processing and manufacturing. This minimizes the proportion of added value and makes Chinese products more prone to substitution by goods made in other countries.

The April guideline noted that exporting innovative products will help improve the quality and value of China's exports. Experts specifically cited new energy vehicles as an example.

In the first three months of this year, China exported 1.07 million vehicles, a 58.3 percent increase on the same period last year, while the value of shipments increased 96.6 percent to 147.5 billion yuan ($21.5 billion), according to data freshly released by the General Administration of Customs.