China on Tuesday issued draft rules to promote construction of overseas warehouses and expand cross-border e-commerce businesses, which have become a vital force in its foreign trade, according to the Chinese commerce ministry.

Companies including Shein, PDD Holdings' Temu and Alibaba's AliExpress, which predominantly ship made-in-China products "cross border" to markets around the world have been rapidly growing in recent years.

This has opened a new avenue for growth for some firms previously focused on domestic consumption, which remains muted by a macroeconomic slowdown, prolonged property crisis and income insecurity.

The commerce ministry's announcement, which covered draft rules for both inbound cross-border e-commerce as well as outbound, said it would also seek to improve cross-border data management and optimise the supervision of cross-border exports.

National ministries and government departments will smooth financing channels and help cross-border e-commerce companies to "go global", the ministry said. (Reporting by Albee Zhang and Casey Hall; Editing by Andrew Heavens and Miral Fahmy)