Containers filled with beef cattle from Australia arrive in southwest China's Chongqing on October 21, marking the first cattle import from Australia since the signing of the China-Australia free trade agreement (XINHUA)

In June, China signed Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) with Australia and South Korea.

On November 9, the Senate of the Australian Federal Parliament passed the China-Australian FTA, after the Australian House of Representatives approved it in October. On November 30, South Korea's parliament ratified its FTA with China during their plenary session.

Both FTAs came into effect on December 20.

China is carefully knitting a global free trade network by inking bilateral free trade agreements with as many countries and regions as possible. This could offset any impact that the United States-led Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement--signed by 12 pacific-rim countries--could have on China, given that it is not part of the deal.

According to the Ministry of Commerce, China is now the largest trading partner of over 120 countries in the world. The country has signed 14 FTAs with 22 countries and regions--evidence that the Chinese economy has deeply integrated into the world economic system.