BEIJING, Oct. 12 (Xinhua) -- The European Union (EU) continues to be the largest trading partner of China in the first nine months, said the General Administration of Customs on Thursday.

The United States, Japan and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) held their positions in China's trading partners chart as the second, third and fourth largest partners respectively, according to statistics released by the Customs.

Two-way trade between China and the EU reached 194.44 billion US dollars, up 23.3 percent from the same period of last year.

Trade volume between China and the United States rose 24.8 percent to 191.51 billion US dollars in the first nine months, Sino-Japan trade, up 12.3 percent to 150.97 billion US dollars and the trade between China and the ASEAN, up 23.1 percent to 116.33 billion US dollars.

Bilateral trade volume between Chinese mainland and Hong Kong hit 116.75 billion US dollars with a year-on-year growth of 23.3 percent. Enditem