Trends and Regional Disparities in the High-Quality Development of International Trade: Evidence from China

This study examines the spatiotemporal evolution of high-quality development in international trade (HQDIT) in China since its WTO accession. We propose a multidimensional index system to measure the HQDIT index and leverage diverse statistical models to examine its dynamic and spatial patterns. The results demonstrate a fluctuating yet upward trend in China's HQDIT, with the national average index increasing from 0.214 to 0.365. The Eastern region registered the most pronounced improvement, followed by the Central region. Furthermore, the spatial distribution of the HQDIT remains highly uneven. The Eastern region maintains a significant lead, while the Western and Northeastern regions continue to lag, resulting in a dual pattern of “high-quality and high-growth” versus “low-quality and low-growth”. The Dagum's Gini decomposition reveals that intra-regional disparities in the Eastern and Western regions first widened and then narrowed, whereas those in the Central and Northeastern regions remained relatively stable. Finally, spatial autocorrelation analysis demonstrates that the HQDIT exhibits significant spatial clustering. The Eastern region forms a high-quality agglomeration area, while the Western region consistently emerges as a low-development depression.