China's trade surplus for 2007 jumped by 47.7 per cent to a record $262.2 billion.
But figures released this morning suggested that policies to reduce the imbalance are starting to bear fruit.
The surplus for December came in at $22.7 billion, below forecasts of $24.5 billion and November's $26.3 billion, while imports grew faster than exports for the third month in a row.
Record nominal high oil prices partly explain the recent buoyancy of imports, but for 2007 as a whole export growth slowed by 1.5 percentage points while import growth picked up by 0.9 percentage points.
The government has introduced measures to cut the surplus, which is swamping the banking system with surplus cash and has been drawing the ire of the United States and the European Union.
As well as letting the yuan rise more swiftly - as demanded by Washington and Brussels - Beijing has reduced tax refunds on about a third of export lines. It has also slapped export taxes on goods such as steel and scrapped import duties on other items.