National Business Daily:

 

COVID-19 has dealt a heavy blow to the global economy and China is now faced with a challenging foreign trade and investment environment. Against this backdrop, the CPC Central Committee underlines that the fundamentals of foreign trade and investment should be stabilized. Minister Zhong, what's your take on the fundamentals? What are MOFCOM's considerations? Thank you.

 

Zhong Shan:

 

Thank you for your question. We will resolutely implement the decision and plan of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council to stabilize the fundamentals of foreign trade and investment. I would like to answer your question from three perspectives.

 

First, it is of great significance to stabilize the fundamentals of foreign trade and investment. Foreign trade and investment are important in reform and opening-up and have yielded major outcomes. Over the past four decades, China's foreign trade and investment have been growing rapidly, making significant contribution to our economic and social development, especially to the following areas. First, their contribution to economic growth. Foreign trade and investment have become important driving forces for China's economic growth. Second, their contribution to fiscal and tax revenues. Foreign trade and investment contribute to over 25% of China's tax revenues. Third, their contribution to employment. They provide jobs directly or indirectly for over 200 million people, 80 million of whom are migrant workers from rural areas. Fourth, their contribution to the development of an open economy in China. The efforts to help China's trade and investment "go global" and to expand import and attract foreign investment have greatly facilitated China's engagement in globalization. Hence it is fair to say that stabilizing the fundamentals of foreign trade and investment is of great significance to China's reform and opening-up, as well as its overall economic and social development.

 

Next, I would like to talk about the main tasks. In terms of foreign trade, the priority is to stabilize foreign trade entities. China is home to over 300,000 foreign trade entities, including private businesses, state-owned enterprises and foreign-invested companies, which, impacted by the pandemic, have faced unprecedented difficulties. Some of the problems can be overcome by the entities themselves, but others require government support to tackle. The CPC Central Committee and the State Council attach great attention to this respect and have been providing support and assistance policy-wise in taxation, financing, insurance and industrial and supply chains to ease the pressure on foreign trade companies and reinvigorate them. We believe that as long as the foreign trade entities are stable, there will be stable development in China's foreign trade.

 

In terms of foreign investment, we have two missions to accomplish. The first is to expand FDI inflows. This requires opening-up on a larger scale, extended market access, a shortened negative list and opening-up platforms of higher quality. In particular, we need to develop pilot free trade zones and the free trade port to attract foreign investors. The second is to the stock of foreign investment stable. To this end, we should implement the Foreign Investment Law, foster a business environment featuring fairness, equity and transparency, safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of foreign investors and protect intellectual property rights, so that foreign investors are confident, comfortable and enthusiastic about their investment and development in China. We are confident that with an improving business environment, growing economy and expanding market access, China will remain an ideal destination that smart foreign investors would not give up.

 

Furthermore, we should maintain China's position as a major trader and investment destination, and make sure that foreign trade and investment continue to contribute to China's social and economic progress. We believe that under the leadership of the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core, and through the effort of the entire nation, we will successfully stabilize the fundamentals of foreign trade and investment. Thank you.

 

CGTN:

 

As we know, MOFCOM issued the final decision to impose anti-dumping and countervailing duties on Australian barley. Some argue that it is a countermeasure by China that has something to do with the deteriorating China-Australia relationship. What's your comment? Thank you.

Zhong Shan:

 

Thanks for your question. Indeed, the barley case has been a much-discussed topic recently. Today, I want to give a brief overview about this issue.

 

First, China initiated an anti-dumping and countervailing probe into imports of barley from Australia in line with Chinese laws and WTO rules. The investigation was launched at the end of 2018 and we made the final determination on May 18 this year. Throughout the process, we have protected the rights of all parties concerned in China and Australia and heard opinions of stakeholders.

 

Second, after a one-and-a-half year investigation into the case, the Chinese investigators determined that the Australian barley has been dumped and subsidized, which caused substantial injury to China's industries.

 

Third, China has exercised caution and restraint in taking trade remedy measures. Since the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Australia, this case on Australian barley is the only trade remedy investigation launched by China against Australia. In the same period, Australia has launched 100 trade remedy investigations on China, including three cases against China in this year. Meanwhile, China has not launched trade remedy investigations on any country this year before this case. Therefore, amid the spreading global pandemic, I call on the WTO members to unite against the virus and take trade remedy measures with caution. Thank you.

 

Xinhua News Agency:

 

China has made great contribution to the global COVID-19 response by providing large quantities of anti-epidemic supplies to the rest of the world. But there are also claims that such exports are restricted by the Chinese government or of poor quality. Minister Zhong, what's your view on that? Could you share with us what China has done in this regard? Thank you.

 

Zhong Shan:

 

Thank you for the questions. First of all, I want to point out that China did not restrict the export of anti-epidemic supplies and remains open. Since the pandemic broke out, China has exported huge quantities of anti-epidemic supplies to 199 countries and regions, making important contribution to the global epidemic response. We have acted as a responsible major country with the vision of a community with a shared future for mankind. China's actions have received appreciation and recognition from many countries.

 

Regarding the second question about the quality of exported supplies from China being questioned by some countries, I wish to say that the Chinese government attaches great importance to the quality of anti-epidemic supplies we export. We have established a triple monitoring system that covers the production, standards certification, and port regulation of anti-epidemic supplies. Supplies exported by China are by and large of sound quality.

 

Our exports of anti-epidemic supplies can be generally divided into three types: gratuitous aid that China has provided to over 150 countries and international organizations, goods that foreign governments asked the Chinese government to help procure, and direct purchases by foreign companies from Chinese companies via commercial channels. So far, no quality problem has been found with the first two types of products. With respect to the third type, issues have emerged in two aspects. First, there have been problems related to standards certification and quality of products exported by Chinese companies. The Chinese government has taken serious measures to punish the companies concerned and suspended their export of anti-epidemic supplies. Second, some foreign companies used non-medical supplies for medical purposes. Take face masks as an example. China exports both medical and non-medical face masks. Some foreign companies sent non-medical masks to hospitals and some of these masks were even used for clinical purposes, which could be rather dangerous. To our knowledge, these companies have already been punished by relevant authorities of their own countries. The responsibility lies with the importing party. Moving forward, China will, as always, continue to provide support to countries in need of anti-epidemic supplies to jointly battle COVID-19. Thank you.