Zhang Xiangchen, Director-General of the World Trade Organization Department of the Ministry of Commerce, visited the live broadcast room of Beiqing.com on the afternoon of the 8th, and had an online exchange with netizens on hot issues in the development of the national economy in the past five years after joining the WTO. Beiqing.com exclusive full picture Article report.

Moderator: Hello netizens! Welcome to the high-end interviews of Beiqing.com on time. Today we invite Zhang Xiangchen, Director of the WTO Department of the Ministry of Commerce. In the next hour, Director Zhang Xiangchen and netizens will talk about the various changes that China has brought to citizens' work and life in the past five years since China's accession to the WTO. Please say hello to Director Zhang Xiangchen and all netizens.

Zhang Xiangchen: Hello netizens! I am very happy to participate in this event organized by Beijing Youth Daily to commemorate the fifth anniversary of China's accession to the WTO.

Netizen: You can see China’s progress in WTO work every day. So what do you think is the biggest change in the past five years since China joined the WTO? What change are you most excited about?

Zhang Xiangchen: Before China joined the WTO, we were outside the WTO. In the five years since joining the WTO, we have become a part of the WTO system and an important member. We Speech has its own weight, and the world pays attention to us when we speak. This is the biggest change.

From the perspective of the trade department I work in, we have achieved rapid development in the five years since joining the WTO. Our trade volume has jumped from sixth place before joining the WTO to third place in the world. . This is a remarkable achievement.

Moderator: Director Zhang, is the World Trade Department of the Ministry of Commerce a department established after China’s accession to the WTO?

Zhang Xiangchen: This department should be established when we are about to join the WTO, that is, in November 2000, in order to adapt to the new situation of joining the WTO, because after joining the WTO, we will face more Negotiations, negotiations for China to join the WTO as a member, and some work to fulfill its obligations under the WTO.

Host: At the beginning of five years, we had this idea. What have we done in five years?

Zhang Xiangchen: My colleagues and I have done several things in the past few years. The first is to participate in the Doha negotiations with various departments, which is a new round of negotiations of the WTO. China's participation in the trade organization is an opportunity to formulate new international rules and further discuss opening up markets around the world. The second thing is that as a responsible WTO member, China must accept the annual review of China's trade policies by WTO members to see whether we have fulfilled our obligations. We have to accept deliberation by different committees 17 times every year. My colleagues and I will organize ministries, commissions, and members to participate in the WTC’s deliberations. We are a country of trustworthiness, and we live up to our integrity. This year, the WTO conducted a comprehensive WTO review of China, and the WTO recognized China's great efforts for the WTO.

Host: Then you must be very happy.

Zhang Xiangchen: Yes.

Moderator: What are the biggest changes in our foreign trade policy and foreign trade system in the past five years?

Zhang Xiangchen: Because the WTO is based on market economy, some of the principles and changes we have committed to are all based on the concept of market economy. The changes in our foreign trade system and foreign trade policies are also related to this. For example, in the past, we implemented an examination and approval system for foreign trade rights. This system has been in place for many years. According to our commitment to join the WTO, we will abolish the foreign trade rights examination and approval system within three years of joining the WTO. Because of the approval system for foreign trade rights, which means that any company with import rights or export rights must go to the competent foreign trade department, the past Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation, and now the Ministry of Commerce, to go through the approval procedures. In other words, only a few companies have obtained this import and export rights. But according to the principles of market economy, every enterprise should have the right to import or export. During the WTO negotiations, we committed to abolishing this approval system within a certain period of time. We achieved this on July 1, 2004, half a year ahead of schedule. We abolished the foreign trade rights approval system that had been in place for decades and replaced it with a registration system. If any enterprise wants to obtain import or export rights, it can go to the Ministry of Commerce and register through very simple procedures, so that it can import or export. This is a particularly typical event in the changes in our foreign trade system.

We implement long-term import quotas, import license management, and have restrictions on import quantities. These requirements are essentially inconsistent with WTO regulations, so we are committed to lifting these restrictions after a transition period. On January 1, 2005, we canceled all import quota management for automobiles, including auto parts, and these products. In the future, companies that want to import these products will not need to apply for such quantity restrictions. Both examples illustrate that we have reformed our foreign trade system in accordance with the rules of the WTO and the requirements of the market economy, so that our foreign trade management system and WTO rules are consistent with our commitments and more adaptable to society. the requirements of a socialist market economy.

Netizen: Looking back on the past five years since joining the WTO, are there any beautiful numbers that stand out in your memory?

Zhang Xiangchen: Beautiful numbers should be everywhere. For example, China's GDP exceeds 10 trillion, and our gross agricultural production exceeded 2 trillion in 2004. For example, our foreign exchange reserves exceed 1 trillion. The number of automobiles produced exceeded 4 million. Exciting numbers appear every day. These all demonstrate our achievements in the five years since joining the WTO.

Host: I remember when China first joined the WTO, some people shouted "Let the wolf enter the house." What do you want to say to these people now?

Zhang Xiangchen: I am grateful to them now, because it is a huge and important decision for us to join the WTO, how to get along with the world and how to ensure our economic security after joining the WTO. To develop ourselves, it should be said that we are not completely confident in our hearts, because the road ahead is full of unknowns and challenges. I am grateful to these researchers or commentators who believe that there may be some risks in joining the WTO. They raised these concerns, which provided us with a good reference value for analyzing the situation at that time and dealing with the challenges of joining the WTO. To be honest, I was a little worried at the time, but in the end it did not appear. The risk we were worried about did not happen, and the impact we worried about did not come. But I think in the face of such a big event, we adopted a calm attitude and even considered the difficulties. More attitude, which is appropriate. Precisely because we attach great importance to it and the whole country is focused on meeting the challenges of joining the WTO, we have minimized risks.

Netizen: The Ministry of Commerce can be said to be at the forefront of formulating foreign trade policies in our country. It has contact with many companies and industries. From your contact with them, do you feel that joining the WTO has brought the greatest impact to the foreign trade department? What is change? What benefits has China's accession to the WTO brought to our foreign-invested enterprises?

Zhang Xiangchen: For departments engaged in foreign trade policy, the biggest change is that we now manage foreign trade work and cannot follow the practices we were used to before. As I just said, we must change our foreign trade system in accordance with the requirements of the market economy and the WTO. What we were familiar with before is no longer familiar to us, because our foreign trade law has been revised, our foreign trade approval has been abolished, and the things we are familiar with are gone. How do we manage foreign trade and promote the development of foreign trade? It's a challenge to adapt. The biggest challenge of the WTO is the challenge to the government. How do you use market economy methods to replace the original practices with new rules that are transparent, open, and consistent with the WTO? This adaptation process should be said to be very difficult. . Which industries will benefit from my country's accession to the WTO? I think this benefit is comprehensive and is reflected in various industries. What benefits does this netizen just mentioned to the foreign-invested industry? This benefit should be obvious. Our country has fully opened up its market, lowered tariffs, eliminated quantity restrictions, and also opened up its service industry sectors. We are engaged in finance, insurance, telecommunications, commercial wholesale and retail, distribution, and professional services, including lawyers. , accounting and other fields, we have opened up the market in accordance with our commitments, providing a better environment for foreign-invested enterprises to engage in business activities in China. There is another major change. Due to our commitment to act in accordance with WTO rules, our system has become more transparent than before joining the WTO. We used to manage foreign trade based on internal documents. If we want to develop a policy, we can issue a red-headed document. The rules of the WTO are particularly clear. National policies must be transparent. You must implement published documents and cannot implement secret documents. We This is indeed the case.

Today our foreign trade department and the Ministry of Commerce have formulated policies that not only require extensive solicitation of opinions beforehand, but also publish them online before implementation so that these companies can comment. If we think these comments are valuable, we will process these drafts and finally announce the implementation. . Moreover, when the implementation is announced, there will be a transition period between the implementation period and the date of announcement, so that the vast number of enterprises can have an adaptation process and a transition period. This adds transparency and predictability to the business operations.

Netizen: Director Zhang, in the past five years, your work has been closely related to China's accession to the WTO. Are you satisfied with your work performance in the past five years?

Zhang Xiangchen: I should say that I tried my best, but I can’t say that I am very satisfied. Because the tasks we face when joining the WTO are very arduous, and this negotiation can be introduced by netizens, the negotiation work we are doing now is different from the negotiations before joining the WTO. Our negotiations to join the WTO are for China to join. This organization requires an entry fee. How to cross into it? We had to talk to Americans and Europeans. Everyone agreed, and finally we joined. Now we are engaged in multilateral negotiations. As a member of the WTO, we negotiate with 150 members to negotiate a world rule. This nature and characteristics are different. How do we reflect China's interests well in negotiations, how do we get more WTO members to support our position, so that our position is supported, and finally reflected in multilateral negotiations, this is a new test for us.

Moderator: It seems that although you have experienced many battles, you still need to strengthen yourself.

Zhang Xiangchen: Yes, we have good role models before us, such as Brazil and India. They have been working hard in the multilateral trading system for decades and are very experienced. How to win over allies? How to stick to your position and how to make the direction of negotiation develop in a direction that is beneficial to you has its own laws, or rules of the game. We in China are adapting to these rules of the game. As a team, because our overall strength in China is very strong and we have many talents in China, our Chinese delegation to the WTO, under the leadership of Ambassador "Sun Zhengyu", has performed Very good, also won the praise of the diplomatic circle in Geneva.

Netizen: In the past five years, trade disputes have continued in China. The word "anti-dumping" has continued to appear in some industries in China during these five years. How do you view this issue?

Zhang Xiangchen: This netizen feels that it is very accurate. Indeed, we have had a lot of trade frictions in the past five years. We are in a period of high incidence of trade frictions, and this period of high incidence will last for a long time. But I want to clarify that the increase in trade friction is not directly related to my country’s accession to the WTO. It is related to the rapid development of our country, because my country’s foreign trade is growing very fast and reaches a new level every year. Our products, our Services occupy an increasing share in the international market, and there are more and more products and services from other countries. In this process, trade frictions are difficult to avoid. Imagine if our trade volume stayed at the US$2.8 billion in 1978, then we would have no trade frictions. The pain of trade frictions is caused by our development, and we can only solve these trade frictions through development. Now that we have joined the WTO, we have the platform of the WTO, such a tool, and such a weapon to protect our own interests. We have a place to speak. We can use the WTO's dispute settlement mechanism to safeguard China's interests. Protect the interests of our business. My colleagues, my colleagues in the Legal Affairs Department, my colleagues in the industrial and trade fields, they are doing this work every day.

Netizen: In the past five years, can you disclose the progress of China in formulating regulations after China's accession to the WTO?

Zhang Xiangchen: The achievements in regulatory construction since joining the WTO have been widely praised by WTO members. Some people say that China has performed very well since joining the WTO. It is precisely because we have done so well in this regard. Before and after joining the WTO, we reviewed and revised 3,000 laws and regulations in a row. Laws were passed by the National People's Congress, regulations were passed by the State Council, and there were also departmental regulations, such as those passed by government departments such as the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation and the Ministry of Commerce. This quantity is unique in the world.

When we were undergoing review by the WTO, some WTO members said that if all countries in the world were like China, they would take seriously the commitments they have made and modify their laws and regulations to make their commitments consistent with WTO rules. Consistent with this, the WTO will be more authoritative and influential in the world.

Netizen: What role will China play in the WTO in the past five years?

Zhang Xiangchen: I just said that we are a new member. We have just joined the WTO and are still adapting to the rules of the WTO. We are playing an active and constructive role in the WTO. Role. Because we joined the WTO because we support the principles of the multilateral system and we hope to promote fairness and openness in trade, we are advancing in this direction.

Netizen: Regarding the issue of intellectual property rights, in the past five years, some countries have been constantly raising questions to our government. In the past five years, have we done anything to formulate laws and regulations on intellectual property rights?

Zhang Xiangchen: In terms of laws and regulations for intellectual property protection, if you give China a score, it should be 100 points. Because no country can find any fault with its intellectual property laws and regulations. When we joined the WTO, we made a commitment that China would strictly implement the WTO's Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights. All laws and regulations in the field of trade-related intellectual property rights in China are consistent with the provisions of the WTO, including patent law, copyright law, trademark law and all intellectual property protection regulations and rules.

Moderator: Did we have any problems in execution?

Zhang Xiangchen: No country, including today’s developed countries, can say that there are no problems in enforcing intellectual property protection. The same goes for us in China. A complete protection system for intellectual property rights in any country is not established overnight. We also admit that reports in newspapers and TV shows which pirated discs we have seized and how many counterfeit and inferior products we have destroyed. This shows that China is taking unprecedented measures. large-scale actions to strengthen the protection of intellectual property rights. In fact, when we strengthen the protection of intellectual property rights, it is not entirely to fulfill our international obligations. Because if China wants to develop its economy, we must regard the protection of intellectual property rights as a national strategy, and that is exactly what we have done. Just as this netizen said, some members feel that we have not done enough in terms of enforcement of intellectual property rights protection and are somewhat dissatisfied. During the WTO review, we used our examples to explain to them how much work we have done and what kind of efforts we are still making. We cannot say that we give ourselves 100 points in terms of law enforcement. Because that's not the case. But we must admit that China has completely established a protection system consistent with the WTO in just a dozen years, which should be praised and affirmed. And in terms of law enforcement, China has taken the largest actions to improve the level of intellectual property protection.

Netizen: After the five-year transition period, after our country’s local enterprises take off their protective clothing, which industries in our country do you think face the greatest challenges?

Zhang Xiangchen: First of all, let’s clarify this concept. If this netizen says that we have taken off our protective clothing, it means that our country’s protection level has dropped to the lowest level. We need to cooperate with international companies. Competition is fiercer. I admit this, this metaphor is okay. At the same time, I want to make it clear that after the transition period, it does not mean that China has given up all the protective clothing and armor that are in compliance with the WTO to protect its industry. We have many legal tools and weapons to protect our companies. When we join the WTO, we do not mean to liberalize the market 100%, and no country can achieve this. We want to achieve an open market environment that is consistent with the development of my country's market economy. In the field of service trade and insurance, we do not allow foreign capital to hold a controlling stake in life insurance. Foreign capital is also not allowed to hold large shares in the automobile industry. Foreign capital is not allowed to hold large shares in the telecommunications industry. But in terms of tariffs, we have maintained relatively high tariffs on some important agricultural products. These are all our legitimate means and are the results we have strived for since joining the WTO. The WTO has given us legal weapons to protect the interests of enterprises, such as anti-dumping. Foreign countries can carry out anti-dumping against us. We in China are also using this weapon to protect our enterprises. The amount of our anti-foreign dumping efforts is also increasing.

Moderator: Can you reveal this number?

Zhang Xiangchen: I am not doing this specific work, and I do not have this number, but the fact is that WTO statistics show that China is a developing country that applies these trade remedy measures, including anti-dumping. Measures of a major country.

Netizen: It has been five years since China joined the WTO. How big a role has China played in the Doha negotiations?

Zhang Xiangchen: China has started the Doha negotiations since the day it joined the WTO and participated in the process of China's formulation of international rules. We initially played a positive and constructive role because China plays different roles in it. Role, first of all, we are a new member. As a new member, we are required to consider our difficulties in the next step of opening up the market. Because we have just joined, we have just reduced tariffs and opened up the service market. If we make further commitments to open the market, we will receive special treatment. We are a developing member. The world trade system is unfair and unbalanced. It is mainly developed countries that distort the world trade pattern, especially the United States that maintains high tariffs on the EU. Together, we ask developed countries to honor their commitments and cut their subsidies and cut their high tariffs in accordance with the Doha Declaration. This will create good conditions for developing countries, including Chinese products, to enter the international market relatively smoothly. In the past five years, China has participated in all important Doha negotiations. During the negotiation process, 67 proposals were submitted, in which we put forward our propositions, suggestions, and requirements. Some proposals were supported by many WTO members. At the fifth WTO Ministerial Conference held in Hong Kong last year, our Chinese delegation made important contributions to promoting the conclusion of the Hong Kong Conference Declaration.

Netizen: Since 2005, we have entered the post-transition period of the WTO. What is the direction of my country’s trade policy?

Zhang Xiangchen: As I mentioned just now, on the one hand, we are facing increasingly fierce international competition, and at the same time, we are also facing some new and rare opportunities. The achievements we have made in the past five years since joining the WTO have improved our international competitiveness, strengthened our confidence, and turned China into a hot spot for world investors. We should take advantage of these favorable conditions to further undertake the transfer of international industries and bring our national economic development to a new level. We should make good use of this opportunity and seize it to develop ourselves. After entering the post-transition period, our tasks will be more arduous. We need to coordinate our trade system with the pace of economic development. I myself predict that our trade system will be fairer, more transparent, and more predictable.

Netizen: As China’s export competitiveness continues to increase, the number of trade remedy measures initiated and arbitrated against China by WTO member countries is also increasing. What do you think of this? How should local governments and enterprises respond?

Zhang Xiangchen: The competition for these trade remedy measures and the increase in trade frictions are caused by the high-speed economy. We should treat them with a normal mind. Waiting with a normal mind does not mean taking them lightly or taking them lightly. We should keep a calm mind and be prepared to take advantage of the coming troops and the earth to cover them when the water comes. Because we have the legal weapons of the WTO, we have the mechanisms, institutions, and talents to respond to trade remedy measures. We should encourage companies to actively respond to these trade frictions. In the past, we in China had a tradition that we were unwilling to litigate. However, it is impossible not to litigate internationally. It is tantamount to giving up one's rights. We have now established the so-called "four-body linkage", a system in which the Chinese government, local governments, intermediaries and enterprises cooperate and support each other, encouraging enterprises to bravely use the "weapons" of the WTO when encountering trade frictions. Protect yourself. Both the central and local governments should provide more support to enterprises and train them so that they have the ability to litigate.

Netizen: As one of the six provinces in central China, Hunan is located in the hinterland and has no advantages at all. How can we seize the opportunity of gradual opening up after joining the WTO under the background of "going global"?

Zhang Xiangchen: Because I am not an expert in this field, I cannot comment or put forward my own suggestions in vain. However, I think that after joining the WTO, all regions and provinces have provided new development opportunities. Each region and province should combine its own characteristics, find new growth points, adapt to my country's rapid development situation, and enable regional economic development strategies to Reflected in international competition, taking advantage of the two markets.

Moderator: Thank you.

We are very grateful to Director Zhang for taking time out of his busy schedule to answer the questions of netizens. We are also very grateful to all the netizens for visiting our Beiqing.com. We will see you next time.

Zhang Xiangchen: Thank you.

Host: Goodbye.

Brief introduction of Director Zhang Xiangchen

Zhang Xiangchen, male, born in 1965, is the Director of the World Trade Organization Department of the Ministry of Commerce and the Director of the WTO Notification and Consultation Bureau of the Chinese Government. He holds a doctorate in law from Peking University and served as a senior visiting scholar at the School of International Relations at Johns Hopkins University in the United States in 2002. Main works: "Political and Economic Relations between Developing Countries and the WTO", "Sino-US Relations after the WTO". (