SELLING a made-in-China garment to a Hong Kong middleman at an artificially low price, then invoicing it on at the correct value is a neat way for a mainland company to build up its foreign exchange reserves.
Unfortunately, it plays havoc with the calculations in China's balance of payments statistics.
Unless someone is brave enough to put it forward, this is one of the economic items least likely to be on the agenda at the National People's Congress.
And that will be a source of relief to those on the platform, because answering any questions about which way the country's trade gap is headed, and its likely impact on the economy, would be depressing and would have to be hedged, because it is doubtful anyone knows what is really happening.
The chorus of warnings about the constraints which the balance of payments will impose on China is growing by the week. The voices cover a wide range, from Hong Kong-based economists to United States-based dissidents.
Of a list of 10 problems endangering China's economy, US-based Princeton China Initiative (PCI) ranks the balance of payments issue third, behind the appalling problems facing state enterprises and facing the management of the banking system.