Forest transition theory aims to summarize the factors that can curve deforestation and promote reforestation and forest rehabilitation in the last 2 decades based mainly on experiences from developed countries.However, the underlying mechanisms how these drivers contribute to forest transition are still not clear.Moreover, the developing countries are now located in quite different settings related to forest recovery from that in developed countries in the past, especially when considering the rise of globalization since 1980s, making it more complex to understand forest transition.This study supplements the forest transition theory discussion by exploring the links between general exports, ecological security concerns and forest quantity and quality transition in China.We also expand the research scope of forest transition by integrating forest quantity and forest quality analysis for the first time to better understand the dynamics of forest resources change.Our results suggest that forest quantity transition in China is mainly the result of public silvicultural investment responding to ecological security concerns in the last three decades, but this investment has negative effects on forest density.Furthermore, unlike the cases of traditional "leakage effect" where developed countries or regions realize local forest conservation by transferring deforestation to developing countries or regions through agricultural and forest products trade, our study identifies another kind of "leakage effect", which is that the development of exports-oriented economy in Chinese developed coastal area is the most significant factor in improving forest density in less developed inland China through the interprovincial migration.