Since becoming a WTO member in 2001, China has comprehensively honored its tariff reduction commitments, lowering tariffs, upgrading its tariff catalog and improving the tariff structure, said Tu Xinquan, of the University of International Business and Economics in Beijing.

From 2001 to 2017, China's imports in goods jumped from $243.6 billion to $1.84 trillion, with an average annual growth of 13.5 percent, making the country the world's second-largest importer, data from the documents show.

Wang Shouwen, the vice-minister, said China has taken further initiatives to cut its import tariffs on certain medicines and will substantially reduce import duties on automobiles and parts as well as a number of daily consumer goods starting from Sunday.

Reuters and Xinhua contributed to this story.

Contact the writers at zhongnan@ chinadaily.com.cn