Establish the forefront of openness and win-win, take the road of multilateralism
What enlightenment has China brought from its accession to the WTO 20 years ago?
Question: You have served as Deputy Director-General of the World Trade Organization (WTO) for more than half a year.
This year coincides with the 20th anniversary of China's accession to the WTO. As one of the main participants in the WTO accession negotiations that year, looking back on these 20 years, what do you think are the main changes brought to China by the WTO's accession?
What is the biggest revelation?
Zhang Xiangchen: December 11 of each year may be just an ordinary day for many people, but for me and my colleagues who participated in the WTO accession negotiations, this day is an important anniversary, especially this year.
The worries and anxiety of the Chinese people about the impact of WTO accession 20 years ago are still vivid, but now China has firmly established itself as the world's largest trading country.
History has fully proved that China’s choice back then was correct, and that the Party Central Committee’s decision was wise.
I have full respect for the leaders, predecessors and colleagues who have contributed to China's accession to the WTO.
In my opinion, the most important change in the past 20 years is that China has integrated into the process of economic globalization with the help of its accession to the WTO, and achieved leapfrog development through market opening and economic and trade system reforms.
The biggest enlightenment given to us by joining the WTO is that if a country wants to rejuvenate, it cannot build an isolated island on its own. Instead, it must advance in the logic of historical advancement, develop in the trend of the times, and make full use of all favorable factors in the international environment. While embracing the world, it also allows the world to share development opportunities.
The experience of China’s accession to the WTO can be summarized in four points: one is to achieve the organic integration of economic globalization and the promotion of domestic economic system reform; the second is to achieve an organic combination of expanding market access and complying with internationally accepted economic and trade rules; third is to achieve full play The main function of the enterprise market and the function of government market supervision are organically combined; the fourth is to realize the organic combination of giving full play to the role of the main channel of the multilateral trading system, implementing independent opening up, and expanding bilateral and regional cooperation.
General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: "These 20 years have been 20 years for China to deepen reforms and fully open up, 20 years for China to seize opportunities and meet challenges, and 20 years for China to take the initiative to take responsibility and benefit the world." Historical opportunities have always been. For those who are prepared, and fleeting.
Shaoguang lives up to the early travellers. If it had not joined the WTO, it would be hard to imagine that China would achieve the development results it is today.
Not only is it a matter of paying a greater price, but more importantly, the Chinese nation will miss a historical opportunity for development and progress.
How do you see the different evaluations of WTO members on China's fulfillment of its commitments?
Question: Not long ago, the WTO conducted the eighth trade policy review of China. Many members fully affirmed China’s continued opening-up efforts in the past few years and its contribution to the world economy. Some members believe that China’s performance is in line with theirs. Expectations are inconsistent, thinking that China’s approach does not seem to conflict with WTO provisions on the surface, but it actually violates WTO principles and spirit.
What do you think of these two different viewpoints?
Zhang Xiangchen: China has made very extensive commitments in its WTO accession negotiations, and these commitments have been fulfilled after its accession to the WTO.
China’s central government has cleaned up more than 2,300 laws and regulations, and local governments have cleaned up more than 190,000; the overall tariff level has been drastically reduced from 15.3% to 7.4%, which is less than 9.8% of the WTO commitments; import quotas and licenses have been cancelled, and foreign trade operations have been fully liberalized. Right... China's process of fulfilling its promises is a process of making contributions to the world.
At present, China is the largest trading partner of more than 120 countries and regions, and these countries and regions have all obtained tangible benefits from China's opening up.
Because of this, Lamy, the former Director-General of the World Trade Organization, gave China a high score of "A+" for its performance in fulfilling its promises. The current Director-General Ivira also appreciates China's constructive role in the WTO.
Now some people question China's fulfillment of its promises, but they can't produce any evidence. They just keep saying that China's performance is inconsistent with their "expectations."
The WTO is a rule-based organization, based on black-and-white clauses and unmistakable commitments, rather than subjective assumptions.
The WTO is based on a market economy, but the world’s market economy is not only one model. China implements a socialist market economy, which is characterized by the market’s decisive role in the allocation of resources. Government role.
The WTO should fully demonstrate inclusiveness so that members of different economic models can compete fairly and develop together under the framework of multilateral rules.
What role did China play in the WTO?
Question: I was fortunate enough to witness the historic moment of China's accession to the WTO in Doha 20 years ago, and I still have ups and downs every time I think about it.
In the past 20 years, how much role has China played in the WTO?
What outstanding contributions have been made to safeguarding multilateralism and jointly building an open world economy?
Zhang Xiangchen: After China joined the WTO, it has successfully completed the transition from rule learner to rule maker.
In addition to fulfilling its promises, China has also played an active and constructive role in the process of global trade liberalization since its accession to the WTO.
For example, the 2015 "Information Technology Agreement" expansion negotiations were the first important agreement on the elimination of tariffs reached by the WTO in this century. China is not only an important participant, but also the largest contributor.
In recent years, the multilateral trading system has been frequently hit by trade protectionism. China has always held high the banner of multilateralism and actively participated in WTO reforms, which has played an important role in maintaining the authority and effectiveness of the multilateral trading system.
China has actively participated in discussions on new international trade issues and has led the organization of consultations on investment facilitation and plastic pollution and trade issues.
In specific areas such as fishery subsidies, intellectual property rights, and e-commerce, China's role has always been positive and constructive.
What are the practical challenges facing China in the multilateral trading system?
Q: You used to serve as the Permanent Representative of China to the WTO, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary and other positions. You have worked on the shores of Lake Leman for several years. We have seen many times in news reports that you represent China in the debate on the conference to refute certain Some western countries.
As the largest developing member of the WTO, what are the practical challenges China faces in the multilateral trading system?
Where do the pressures and obstacles come from?
Zhang Xiangchen: The multilateral trading system is a platform for countries to elaborate their respective positions and jointly formulate rules. With different positions, disputes and confrontations are inevitable.
But the debate must follow the rules, communicate effectively with each other, and strive to find the intersection of interests, instead of accusing each other, let alone imposing it on others.
In the past few years, I have only fulfilled my duties in resisting trade protectionism, safeguarding the core values of the WTO, and interpreting doubts about China's policies.
There is a key word in your question-"the largest developing member", which may be the source of many challenges and pressures.
As a developing country, China itself faces the problem of unbalanced and insufficient development, and there are still a lot of problems that need to be solved urgently.
At the same time, China's economic volume has leapt to the second place in the world. Last year's GDP exceeded 100 trillion yuan. People will no longer look at China from the perspective of 40 or 20 years ago.
Some developed members come to China with magnifying glasses and microscopes, and many developing members have an increasing expectation of China's contribution.
How to maintain its own legal rights and make more contributions to the multilateral trading system under the conditions within its capacity is China's responsibility and a new test.
In my opinion, to deal with this test, one is to "be sober" and the other is to "responsible."
Will the members of the WTO no longer "cannot sit at a table"?
Question: 26 years have passed since the WTO replaced the General Agreement on Tariffs in 1995.
In recent years, against the tide of globalization, protectionism and unilateralism have risen. In particular, the United States has threatened to withdraw from the WTO and launched trade wars everywhere. This has caused serious impacts on global trade stability and the world economic order, and has also made the WTO once affected by the international community. The recognized and optimistic international institutions are on a precipice, and there is even an anecdote of the suspension of the Appellate Body.
Some public opinion believes that the multilateral trading system has become a "chicken rib", and that WTO members can no longer "be at a table." Bilateral cooperation and regional cooperation are now the mainstream.
What do you think for this?
Except for the United States, what are the attitudes of other major members towards the WTO?
Zhang Xiangchen: Facts have proven that there will be no winners in the trade war.
Bilateral cooperation and regional cooperation can be a useful supplement to the multilateral trading system, but the premise is that the WTO must be healthy and strong, otherwise there will be a "spaghetti bowl" phenomenon, and global trade will fall into a state of fragmentation and disorder.
The problem now is precisely that the WTO is in crisis.
In the context of economic globalization, there is no either-or choice.
The economic interests of various countries need to be coordinated. There are many comprehensive issues such as agricultural subsidies. No regional or bilateral agreement can deal with them. They can only be solved under a multilateral framework.
The WTO’s two-tiered, independent, and neutral dispute settlement mechanism is not a tasteless one. It is still the “jewel in the crown”. It is just temporarily blown to the ground by the hurricane of anti-globalization. After the baptism of the storm, its value will eventually be re-understood. .
The multilateral trading system is the cornerstone of international trade and its role is irreplaceable. This is the consensus of most WTO members.
In the past few years, the WTO was severely impacted. Most members did not give up their support for the multilateral trading system, but instead aroused a sense of crisis and urgency.
More than 100 members collectively voiced their opposition to unilateralism and sabotage of the Appellate Body.
After the appellate body temporarily "shut down", more than 20 important members including China and the European Union have established an "ad hoc arbitration mechanism" through consultations and have started operation.
Negotiations on domestic regulation of trade in services have been completed, investment facilitation and negotiations on issues of small, medium and micro enterprises have made great progress, and negotiations on e-commerce issues have achieved initial results. Although the 12th meeting of trade ministers originally scheduled to be held in the near future was postponed due to the epidemic, Negotiations on fishery subsidies, trade and public health are still in full swing.
Doesn't China need to value the WTO?
Question: In the past two or three years, there has been a domestic voice saying that China joined the WTO with all the hardships that year. I didn’t expect that the WTO will gradually weaken, be marginalized and even have the right to speak out. In that case, the Chinese side There is no need to value the WTO so much. You can even “leave the group” and focus more on other international affairs.
Is this view desirable?
There is also a voice that believes that the "entry into the WTO dividend" has been released a long time ago, and it has no effect on China's opening up and international status, is it true?
Zhang Xiangchen: When it comes to the dividends of China's accession to the WTO, it can be said that it has already been used to the extreme, and new breakthroughs are indeed needed, but such breakthroughs are not abandoning the WTO to find another way.
Economic globalization continues, the digital economy is in the ascendant, and the opening of the market is endless.
Tariffs have dropped to zero, and there are restrictions on domestic regulations and systems in various countries, and new business models are emerging one after another.
Therefore, the WTO needs to formulate new rules in due course, and China needs to continue to take new steps in opening up.
Unilateralism will not benefit any country. "Withdrawing from the group" can neither solve other people's problems, nor can it solve their own problems.
Maintaining true multilateralism and supporting the multilateral trading system with the WTO at its core conform to China's own interests and the common interests of the world.
The value of the multilateral trading system lies in its inclusiveness. Members, large and small, trade under the framework of a common rule system.
The WTO can provide a stable and predictable policy environment for international trade, which is very important to every member and is where the common divisor of the interests of all parties lies.
In the current complex international situation, the role of the WTO is by no means dispensable.
The WTO's research shows that in the global fight against the new crown epidemic, international trade has shown two characteristics, one is "susceptibility" and the other is "resilience."
The global industrial supply chain has been hit, but it has not been completely destroyed, and the momentum of recovery cannot be underestimated.
The "susceptibility" is due to the close economic ties, and the "resilience" comes from the WTO rules and framework, which provides a basic guarantee for international economic and trade cooperation.
Will China's current and future membership of the WTO still have more advantages than disadvantages?
Question: I remember that 20 years ago, there was a basic judgment from top to bottom and a consensus was reached, that is, the advantages of China's accession to the WTO outweigh the disadvantages.
Afterwards, China's foreign trade and related development achievements have fully verified this point.
But in terms of the status quo of the WTO, will China still have more advantages than disadvantages as a member at present and for a period of time to come?
Zhang Xiangchen: The advantages of China's accession to the WTO outweigh the disadvantages. This is an undisputed result.
At that time, the Chinese government made a judgment that the advantages outweigh the disadvantages, and that is, "through hard work, strive to achieve that the advantages outweigh the disadvantages". This premise is indispensable.
China has become a beneficiary of economic globalization, and every gain in it is "achieved by the Chinese people working hard and stubbornly under the strong leadership of the Communist Party of China". It is the result of "China's initiative to strengthen international cooperation and practice mutual benefit and win-win results." "Of course, it is also inseparable from the institutional guarantee provided by the WTO.
For example, after joining the WTO, China has received unconditional most-favored-nation treatment, which provides stability and predictability for Chinese companies to participate in international cooperation and competition.
China has shared the fruits of liberalization such as the abolition of textile export quotas.
As the world's second largest economy and the largest trader in goods, China has no reason to abandon the path that has been proven to be the right path in practice.
The WTO cannot do without China, and China also needs the WTO.
The impact of trade protectionism in the past few years has been a stress test on the WTO, which is equivalent to a destructive test.
The WTO has indeed been hit hard and has exposed some institutional flaws.
But it also proves that the current achievements and core values of the WTO are precious.
Based on this understanding, China will continue to work with other members to maintain, support, and enhance the status and role of the WTO, and strive for common benefits in the process of promoting global trade and investment liberalization and facilitation.
Where should the WTO reform work?
Question: Many people in the industry said that the more they see the importance of rules in global economy and trade, the more they feel the urgency of accelerating WTO reform.
What do you think are the outstanding problems in the WTO itself?
Where should the reform focus be?
In this regard, do we have a new "Chinese plan"?
Zhang Xiangchen: Most of the WTO rules were formed more than 20 years ago, and they need to keep pace with the times to respond to the call of the times. However, the WTO reform is not to be overthrown and restarted. The core values of the WTO, especially the principle of non-discrimination, must be adhered to.
For issues that all members cannot reach consensus for a while, some members should be allowed to try first and explore new paths.
However, the plurilateral approach is not a substitute for multilateral negotiations. The ultimate goal should still be to form multilateral rules so that every member, especially the developing member, is not left behind.
Issues that endanger the survival of the WTO, such as the dispute settlement mechanism, should be dealt with first in the reform.
The appellate body must resume its operations as soon as possible, and the basic characteristics of two-tiered, neutral, and independent must be maintained.
At present, the global epidemic situation is still severe. The WTO should also cooperate with the international community to solve the problem of unfair vaccine distribution as soon as possible and maintain the stability of the supply chain of medical products and services.
China has always supported the development of WTO reform in the right direction. In 2018, it put forward three basic principles and five-point proposals on WTO reform. After that, it put forward an overall reform proposal in 2019, including four major areas and 12 reform proposals. .
What needs to be clarified is that there will be no crowds who respond to WTO reforms. The first step is to carry out meaningful policy dialogues, step by step, accumulate results, and expand consensus.
Since interest coordination involves 164 members who are at different stages of development and have different demands, the reform process must be gradual and cannot be accomplished overnight. You must have enough patience with the WTO reform.
What is the future direction of WTO?
Q: As the Deputy Director-General of the WTO at the most difficult moment, do you have enough confidence in the future of the WTO?
Zhang Xiangchen: Multilateralism is the road, but it is by no means a smooth road.
Some people say that I am a fundamentalist of the multilateral trading system.
Indeed, I believe that as long as economic globalization continues, the WTO will have the meaning of existence and development.
This understanding is not blind.
The WTO’s real dilemma stems from the trend of anti-globalization, which is fundamentally due to the unbalanced distribution of benefits from economic globalization.
Developed countries have generally benefited a lot, while some developing countries feel that they have gained little or nothing.
In developed countries, there is also the problem of imbalance in the distribution of interests of different groups. Multinational companies make a lot of money, but the income and living standards of the middle class and working class have not improved significantly, and the social gap between the rich and the poor has sharply widened.
The governments of some developed countries failed to introduce effective domestic policies and measures in a timely manner to alleviate these conflicts. On the contrary, they "wrapped the pot" externally, discredited others, and slapped big sticks everywhere.
But in any case, this kind of "reverse wave" cannot change the mighty mainstream of economic globalization. The promotion of trade and investment liberalization and facilitation conforms to the world's development trend, and conforms to the objective economic law of countries in the effective allocation and utilization of resources on a global scale.
The tide of economic globalization and the counter-current of anti-globalization have a process of collision and growth.
I believe that the WTO will still be in a difficult time for a period of time, but as long as all parties undergo reflection and exploration to gradually reactivate the process of trade liberalization on a global scale, the WTO will surely regain its value and rejuvenate.
What needs to be done before opening up to the outside world?
Question: Looking at WTO entry 20 years later, what do you think China needs to focus on in opening up to the outside world?
Zhang Xiangchen: Reform and opening up are accompanied by the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.
More than 40 years ago, China began to gradually break through the shackles of the planned economic system, break through step by step, and move toward a socialist market economy.
Twenty years ago, China's accession to the WTO opened the door to the world market.
Today, China still needs to adhere to reform and opening up if it wants to link the domestic and international dual cycles and achieve high-quality development.
If 20 years ago we were advancing bravely in rapids, then today we are sailing against the current, and we will retreat if we do not advance.
General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out that "openness is a distinctive mark of contemporary China."
Opening up cannot stop, and there is no end.
We should seize the opportunity of joining the WTO for 20 years and build a consensus in the whole society to further open up to the outside world.
Under the new development pattern, China needs to continue to promote "on the border" opening, lower tariffs and non-tariff barriers, and expand service trade market access. At the same time, it should pay more attention to institutional opening "behind the border" and take the initiative to standardize international economic and trade rules. , To achieve a smoother domestic circulation and a higher level of foreign circulation, the two connect and promote each other.
"All walkers tend to trend." We must maintain the status of the main channel for the formulation of international rules of the multilateral trading system, adhere to the multilateral and regional "walking on two legs", and expand the high-level openness with the mindset of helping the world with good health. A new chapter of a win-win situation between China and the world.
Gong Wen