This October 2012 briefing paper from Global Financial Integrity, “Illicit Financial Flows from China and the Role of Trade Misinvoicing,” finds that China lost $3.79 trillion in illicit financial flows from 2000-2011.
The report examines trade misinvoicing as a method for Chinese illicit financial flows. It looks at specific commodity groupings most susceptible to trade misvoicing. The report analyzes trade misinvoicing between China and the United States and Chinese assets held abroad in tax havens.
Note that while many of the report’s findings are still valid, GFI’s methodology for computing illicit financial flows underwent a major revision in 2013, including substantial changes to how it looks at trade between China and Hong Kong. GFI recommends citing the illicit financial flows estimates from China found in Illicit Financial Flows from Developing Countries 2002-2011.