The Ministry Of Commerce Held A Regular Press Conference (December 12, 2019).

[peak]: Good afternoon, everyone. Welcome to the regular press conference of the Ministry of Commerce. I have no information to inform you today. I would like to answer the questions raised by my friends. Next, please ask questions.

[Phoenix TV reporter]: we are concerned that the WTO appellate body has been in a standstill on the 10 day. There is still a blank period before the consensus is reached. What will China do in the period? Will there be a new way of arbitration in the future WTO? Besides, how many cases are there in the WTO? Will these cases be affected at the moment?

[summit] at the WTO General Council meeting held in December 9th, the General Council's draft resolution on the operation of the appellate body was not approved by the opposition of individual members. At present, there are only 1 members of the appellate body, and the WTO dispute settlement mechanism is basically paralyzed. This is the most severe blow to the multilateral trading system since the WTO was founded. China regrets this.

At present, there are 14 appeals in the WTO. In addition to the 4 cases that have been convened, the remaining 10 cases are unable to complete the appeal. In addition, ten cases are in the process of expert group proceedings. Although there are no cases at the appeals stage, several cases have entered the trial stage of the expert group. If the Appellate Body's paralysis is delayed, the appeal cases and cases in the expert group proceedings will be affected.

The normal and effective operation of the dispute settlement mechanism is crucial for maintaining the stability, authority and effectiveness of the multilateral trading system and maintaining a rule based world trade order. China will continue to firmly uphold the rule based multilateral trading system and support the efforts of all parties to resume the operation of the appellate body. At the same time, we are also studying the interim plan of the Appellate Body in handling the WTO dispute during the paralysis period, and timely put forward the Chinese proposal to strive to resume the effective operation of the dispute settlement mechanism with other members as soon as possible. Thank you.

[China Daily]: we note that the volume of trade between China and Russia has exceeded US $100 billion in the first 11 months of this year. How can the Ministry of Commerce evaluate the outcome of Sino Russian economic and trade cooperation in 2019?

[peak]: since the beginning of this year, under the strategic guidance and promotion of the heads of state of the two countries, the scale of Sino Russian bilateral economic and trade cooperation has steadily expanded, and the quality has been continuously optimized and taken to a new stage. The characteristics of "all directions, deep level and wide fields" have become more prominent.

First, bilateral trade is expected to reach a new high. China now ranks as Russia's largest trading partner, and Russia is China's tenth largest trading partner. According to statistics from the Chinese side, the volume of bilateral trade between China and Russia once again exceeded 100 billion US dollars in the first 11 months of this year, reaching 100 billion 320 million US dollars, an increase of 3.1% over the same period last year. If this growth is maintained, the bilateral trade volume of the whole year is expected to exceed US $110 billion and record a new high. Meanwhile, bilateral trade structure has been continuously optimized. In the first 10 months of this year, China's imports of agricultural products from Russia increased by 12.4% compared to the same period last year, and exports to Russia increased by 66.4%. New trade growth points such as agriculture, service trade, and high-tech products continue to emerge. The two sides are drawing up a roadmap for the high quality development of goods trade and service trade in the year 2024 to ensure the realization of the trade target of US $200 billion.

Two, Russia's "going out" and strategic big projects have achieved remarkable results. In the 1-10 month of this year, China's direct investment in Russia increased by 10.7% over the same period last year. The newly signed project contract was 15 billion 380 million US dollars, more than 5 times that of last year. A number of projects invested by Chinese enterprises in the fields of automobile, manufacturing and e-commerce have been put into operation smoothly. In terms of strategic big projects, the natural gas pipeline between China and Russia was put into operation at the beginning of this month, and the Chinese enterprises successfully joined the "Arctic liquefied petroleum gas -2" project. The Tongjiang railway bridge and the Heihe highway bridge have been closed one after another. The construction of the supporting port is currently being actively promoted. The two sides are forming a joint technological innovation fund, and the cooperation in the fields of nuclear energy, aviation, aerospace, satellite navigation and information technology is also advancing smoothly.

Three, local cooperation is going deep. This year marks the end of the "Sino Russian cooperation and exchange year". The two sides actively implement the Sino Russian Far East cooperative development plan and the "northeast Far East" agricultural cooperation plan, making full use of the second exhibition fair, the sixth Sino Russian exposition, the Russian Oriental Economic Forum and the St Petersburg Economic Forum, and other key exhibition platforms to promote the deep cooperation between the two countries. The demand and potential of bilateral cooperation are constantly being released. At present, China is the main trading partner and the largest source country of foreign investment in the Far East of Russia.

Four is the coordinated development of the system. The agreement on economic and trade cooperation between China and Eurasian Economic Union came into effect in October this year. The two countries, such as trade and economic cooperation, customs and quality inspection departments, worked closely together to continuously upgrade the level of bilateral trade and investment facilitation, and the bilateral economic and trade cooperation between China and Russia changed to a "two wheel drive" mode driven by "project driven + system". The two sides maintain close communication and coordination in the multilateral frameworks such as WTO, BRICs and SCO, support and maintain the multilateral trading system, and promote the construction of an open world economy.

The 2020-2021 year was the "Sino Russian scientific and technological innovation year" determined by the two heads of state. We will take this opportunity as the main line to achieve the goal of US $200 billion trade, continue to promote pragmatic cooperation between China and Russia in all fields, create a higher level and closer Sino Russian economic and trade relations, and constantly enrich the connotation of the comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership between China and Russia in the new era. Thank you.

[Bloomberg correspondent] the first question is, when can China expect to reach a stage agreement? Is it expected that the US will postpone the tariffs originally imposed in December 15th? The second question is, in the negotiations, China mainly focuses on lowering the levy tariff rate or phasing out the tariff. The third question is, if the US side imposed tariffs in December 15th, how did China react?

[summit] on the Sino US economic and trade consultations, the two sides' economic and trade teams have maintained close communication. I have no more details to tell you at the moment. Thank you.

[Global Times English Edition]: No. 11 is the eighteenth year when China joined the WTO. What is the impact of China's entry into WTO on China's economy and the world economy?

[peak]: this year is the eighteenth year since China joined the WTO. China's accession to the WTO has both developed itself and benefited the world. Over the past 18 years, China has unswervingly expanded its opening up to the outside world, and its economy has been developing rapidly and becoming more and more integrated into the world. At the same time, China's development has opened the window of opportunity for the world economy, has become the main source of power and stabilizer for world economic growth, and has the highest contribution rate to global economic growth. Since China's accession to the WTO, the volume of Global trade in goods has increased from US $12 trillion and 600 billion in 2001 to US $39 trillion and 340 billion in 2018. China has made great contributions.

At present, the multilateral trading system is at a critical moment. China is willing to work with all its members to firmly uphold the rule based multilateral trading system and its core values, continue to play a constructive role, support the WTO in carrying out necessary reforms, and make new contributions to the stability and growth of the world economy. Thank you.

[South China Morning Post reporter] asked questions about Sino US economic and trade issues. Last week, the Chinese side announced tariff elimination on commodities such as soybeans and pork imported from the United States. What new progress is there in this regard?

[peak]: as far as I know, the Customs Tariff Commission of the State Council is now applying in accordance with the relevant enterprises to carry out tariff elimination work for some soybeans, pork and other commodities in an orderly manner. Thank you.

[Shanghai Securities News]: we have noticed that imports in November have risen for the first time since August. What is the reason for the improvement of the spokesman's imports?

[peak]: Overall, China's import demand has remained stable this year. In 1-11, China imported 12 trillion and 950 billion yuan, which was flat compared with the same period last year. In November, it imported 1 trillion and 290 billion yuan, an increase of 2.5% over the same period last year. Import growth in the month of November was mainly driven by domestic demand. First, there is a strong demand for imported consumer goods in the domestic market, for example, imports of cosmetics and skincare products increased by 38.4% in the first 11 months, 109% of imports of electric vehicles, 12.1% of clothing and apparel imports, and 26% of imports of pharmaceuticals. Two, in November, the PMI of manufacturing sector returned to the expansion area, and the demand for imports of raw materials and other commodities rose. Imports of some commodities increased, while the imports of iron ore, crude oil, coal, natural gas and copper increased by 5.2%, 6.7%, 5.4%, 3.8% and 5.8%, respectively. The imports of some industrial intermediate products are also increasing, for example, the imports of integrated circuits and automatic data processing equipment have increased by 20% and 7.2% respectively. Three, the policy effect is gradually emerging. Relevant departments have promulgated a series of policies and measures to expand imports, including lowering import tariffs and improving the level of import trade facilitation.

We will continue to actively expand imports, expand market openness, improve trade facilitation, and provide more choices for producers and consumers. Thank you.

Xinhua News Agency: we have noticed that in the guidance of promoting the development of high quality trade, China will gradually increase the proportion of self trading partners, emerging markets and developing countries in China's foreign trade, and expand the scale of trade with neighboring countries. How will the Ministry of Commerce implement the above requirements?

[peak]: promoting the diversification of trade market has always been a development direction of China's foreign trade. According to China Customs statistics, the proportion of emerging markets in China's imports and exports increased from 51.7% to 57.7% in 2009-2018 years, increasing by 6 percentage points.

Emerging markets and developing countries such as "one belt and one road" have huge economic growth potential and market potential. We will rely mainly on the strength of the market to give full play to the main role of enterprises and expand the scale of trade with these countries and regions. As a government department, we mainly focus on the following aspects from the perspective of environmental construction:

First, create a more preferential and convenient rule environment for enterprises. By speeding up the construction of the free trade area, signing higher standard FTA with more countries, lowering the overall tariff level, and further promoting the liberalization and facilitation of trade and investment. The two is to strengthen the mechanism of trade and investment protection for enterprises. We should strengthen the role of the original intergovernmental economic and trade cooperation mechanism, and push forward the working group on Trade and construction with more willing countries to strengthen exchanges and cooperation so as to create a favorable trading environment for enterprises. The three is to strengthen public services such as trade promotion. Timely update the market information of the country's trade and investment environment information, foreign investment cooperation, country guides and other market information, support trade organizations and trade promotion agencies to build public service platforms, and actively help enterprises to participate in trade promotion activities at home and abroad. The four is to encourage the development of new modes of trade. We should give full play to the promotion role of cross-border electricity suppliers and market procurement to import and export, and encourage enterprises to improve the international marketing network system. Thank you.

Peak: do you have any questions? If there are no questions, today's conference is over. Thank you.