Over the past 15 years, China has become one of the world’s most important economies, and has been a key driver of the global economy through its WTO membership. Last year, it accounted for almost one quarter — in real GDP — of global growth. When it joined the organization in 2001, it contributed only a half of one percent!

And the value of China’s trade jumped 8 times since then, to be worth about $4 trillion last year. That number is expected to double over the next five years. So China remains the world’s largest trading country, the world’s No. 1 destination for foreign investment and is the world’s second largest-economy by some margin.