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Speaker:

Mao Shengyong, spokesperson of the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) and director general of the Department of Comprehensive Statistics.

Chairperson:

Shou Xiaoli, Press Bureau of State Council Information Office

Date:

July 15, 2019

Shou Xiaoli:

Ladies and gentlemen, good morning. Welcome to this press conference. Today, we are releasing China's economic data. We are pleased to welcome Mr. Mao Shengyong, the spokesperson of the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) and director general of the Department of Comprehensive Statistics, to introduce China's economic performance in the first half of 2019 and answer some of your questions.

Now, I'll give the floor to Mr. Mao.

Mao Shengyong:

Thank you. Ladies, gentlemen, friends from the media, good morning everyone. I'll first give you a brief introduction of China's economic performance in the first half of 2019, and then answer some of your questions.

In the first half this year, China's economy remained stable while making further progress. In view of the complex domestic and international environment, under the firm leadership of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core, all regions and departments implemented the decisions and arrangements made by the CPC Central Committee and the State Council, and followed the general principle of pursuing progress while ensuring stability. We adopted the new development philosophy, promoted high-quality development, focused on supply-side structural reform, and further improved our efforts in reform and opening up. We also intensified efforts to ensure stable employment, a stable financial sector, stable foreign trade, stable foreign investment, stable domestic investment, and stable market expectations. Due to these efforts, the Chinese economy has been operating within a proper range, and remained stable while making further progress.

According to preliminary statistics, in the first half this year, GDP reached 45.09 trillion yuan, up 6.3% year-on-year in comparable prices. On a quarterly basis, the year-on-year increase was 6.4% and 6.2% respectively. In regard to the different industrial sectors, the added value of the primary, secondary and tertiary industries was 2.32 trillion yuan, 18.00 trillion yuan and 24.77 trillion yuan respectively, up 3.0%, 5.8% and 7.0% year-on-year.

Mao Shengyong:

First, the agricultural sector posted a sound performance following a bumper harvest of summer grain.

In the first half of this year, the added value of the crop farming sector posted a year-over-year increase of 3.9%, and the growth rate was 0.5 percentage point lower than that of the first quarter. The overall output of summer grain amounted to 141.74 million tons, 2.93 million tons more than last year, showing a yearly growth of 2.1%, which met the highest record (registered in 2017) of summer grain production. The structure of crop farming continues to be improved, as the planting area for cotton and soybean increased. On a year-on-year basis, in the first half, the output of eggs increased 3.6%; the output of milk increased by 1.7%; the output of pork, beef, mutton and poultry decreased 2.1% to 39.11 million tons. Specifically, the output of beef, mutton and poultry were up by 2.4%, 1.5%, and 5.6% respectively, while the output of pork was down by 5.5%.

Second, industrial production was generally stable, and the proportion of high-tech manufacturing rose.

In the first half of this year, the growth of the total value added of industrial enterprises above the designated size was 6.0%, and the growth rate was 0.5 percentage point lower than that of the first quarter. Meanwhile, the growth of the total value added of industrial enterprises above the designated size in June was 6.3%, and the growth rate was 1.3 percentage points higher than that of May, up 0.68% on a month-on-month basis. An analysis by types of ownership showed that the value added of state holding enterprises was up by 5.0%; that of share-holding enterprises up by 7.3%; and enterprises funded by foreign investors or investors from Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan up by 1.4%. 

In terms of sectors, the value added of the mining industry increased by 3.5%; that of manufacturing increased by 6.4%; and that of the production and supply of electricity, thermal power, gas and water increased by 7.3%. The value added of strategic emerging industries grew by 7.7% year-on-year, or 1.7 percentage points higher than that of the industrial enterprises above the designated size. The added value of the high-tech manufacturing increased by 9.0%, or 3.0 percentage points higher than that of industrial enterprises above the designated size, accounting for 13.8% of all industrial enterprises above the designated size, and this proportion is 0.8 percentage point higher than that in the same period last year. The production of new energy vehicles and solar batteries showed a year-on-year growth by 34.6% and 20.1% respectively.

From January to May, the profits made by industrial enterprises above the designated size stood at 2.38 trillion yuan, down 2.3% year-on-year. The decrease was 1.1 percentage points lower than that from the first four months. The profits made by industrial enterprises above the designated size in May grew by 1.1%, while the profits in April decreased by 3.7% on a year-on-year basis. The profit rate of business revenue of industrial enterprises above the designated size was 5.72%, 0.2 percentage point higher than that from the first four months.

Third, the service sector grew rapidly and the modern service industry is booming.

In the first half of this year, the service sector took on a sound momentum of development. Respectively, the year-on-year growth of information transmission, software and information technology service, that of leasing and business service, that of transportation, storage and postal service, and that of financial sector stood at 20.6%, 7.8%, 7.3%, and 7.3%, which is 13.6 percentage points, 0.8 percentage point, 0.3 percentage point and 0.3 percentage point faster than the growth of the tertiary sector.

In the first half of this year, the Index of Services Production increased by 7.3% year-on-year, and the growth rate drop by 0.1 percentage point from the first quarter. In June, the index was up by 7.1%, 0.1 percentage point higher than that in May. The Business Activity Index for services was 53.4% in June, which continued to stand above the 50-point mark separating growth from contraction. The index was 60.3%, showing a high-level performance.

The business revenue of service enterprises above the designated size from January to May increased by 10.1% on a year-on-year basis, and the growth rate was 0.3 percentage point faster than that from the first four months. Of those, the business revenue of strategic emerging services, high-tech services and technology services demonstrated fast growth, which increased by 12.5%, 12.3% and 12.0% respectively, or 2.4 percentage points, 2.2 percentage points and 1.9 percentage points faster than the growth of the service enterprises above the designated size.

Mao Shengyong:

Fourth, the market sales increased steadily, with the growth rate and proportion of online retail continuing to increase.

In the first half of this year, the retail sales of consumer goods totaled 19.52 trillion yuan, up 8.4% year on year, 0.1 percentage point faster than the first quarter. In June, the total retail sales of consumer goods was 3.39 trillion yuan, up 9.8% year on year, 1.2 percentage points faster than the previous month, and up 0.96% month on month. In a breakdown by location of business units, in the first half of this year, the retail sales of consumer goods in urban areas was 16.69 trillion yuan, up 8.3% year on year; that in rural areas was 2.83 trillion yuan, up 9.1% year on year. From the perspective of the types of consumption, revenue from the catering sector reached 2.13 trillion yuan, up 9.4%; retail sales of commodities totaled 17.39 trillion yuan, up 8.3%. Sales of goods representing consumption upgrade grew rapidly, with that of cosmetics companies above designated size growing 13.2% year on year, 4.8 percentage points faster than the total retail sales of consumer goods.

In the first half of this year, China's online retail sales totaled 4.82 trillion yuan, up 17.8% year on year, 2.5 percentage points faster than the first quarter. Of this, online retail sales of physical goods was 3.82 trillion yuan, up 21.6%, accounting for 19.6% of the total retail sales of consumer goods, and 1.4 percentage points higher than that in the first quarter.

Mao Shengyong:

Fifth, investment reported stable growth, with that in high-tech industries growing rapidly.

In the first half of this year, China's fixed asset investment (excluding rural households) totaled 29.91 trillion yuan, up 5.8% year on year, 0.2 percentage point faster than January-May, and 0.5 percentage point lower than that in the first quarter. Of this, the private investment was 18.03 trillion yuan, up 5.7%. In a breakdown by industry, investment in primary industries fell by 0.6%; investment in secondary industries grew by 2.9%, with that in manufacturing up 3.0%; investment in tertiary industries rose by 7.4%, with that in infrastructure up 4.1%.

Investment in the high-tech manufacturing sector grew by 10.4% year on year, 4.6 percentage points faster than the total; that in the high-tech services sector grew by 13.5%, 7.7 percentage points faster than the total. On a month-on-month basis, investment in fixed assets (excluding rural households) increased by 0.44% in June.

In the first half of this year, China's fixed asset investment (excluding rural households) totaled 29.91 trillion yuan, up 5.8% year on year, 0.2 percentage point faster than January-May, and 0.5 percentage point lower than that in the first quarter. Of this, the private investment was 18.03 trillion yuan, up 5.7%. In a breakdown by industry, investment in primary industries fell by 0.6%; investment in secondary industries grew by 2.9%, with that in manufacturing up 3.0%; investment in tertiary industries rose by 7.4%, with that in infrastructure up 4.1%.

Investment in the high-tech manufacturing sector grew by 10.4% year on year, 4.6 percentage points faster than the total; that in the high-tech services sector grew by 13.5%, 7.7 percentage points faster than the total. On a month-on-month basis, investment in fixed assets (excluding rural households) increased by 0.44% in June.

Mao Shengyong:

Sixth, the growth rate of imports and exports increased slightly, and the trade structure continued to improve.

In the first half of this year, the import and export value totaled 14.67 trillion yuan, up 3.9% year on year, 0.2 percentage point faster than the first quarter. Of this, the export value was 7.95 trillion yuan, up 6.1%; the import value totaled 6.72 trillion yuan, up 1.4%. The trade surplus was 1.24 trillion yuan, up 41.6% year on year.

The country further improved the mode and structure of trade. The import and export value of general trade increased by 5.5%, accounting for 59.9% of the total import and export value, 0.9 percentage point higher than the same period last year; the export value of mechanical and electrical products increased by 5.3%, accounting for 58.2% of the total export volume. The import and export value of private companies increased by 11.0%, accounting for 41.7% of the total import and export value, 2.7 percentage points higher than the same period last year.

In June, the import and export value totaled 2.56 trillion yuan, up 3.2% year on year. Of this, the export value totaled 1.45 trillion yuan, up 6.1%; the import value totaled 1.11 trillion yuan, down 0.4%.

In the first half of this year, the delivery value of exports of companies above designated size reached 5.84 trillion yuan, up 4.2% year on year. In June, the figure reached 1.06 trillion yuan, up 1.9%, 1.2 percentage points faster than that registered in May.

In the first half of this year, the delivery value of exports of companies above designated size reached 5.84 trillion yuan, up 4.2% year on year. In June, the figure reached 1.06 trillion yuan, up 1.9%, 1.2 percentage points faster than that registered in May.

In the first half of this year, China's consumer prices rose 2.2% year on year, 0.4 percentage point higher than that in the first quarter. Of this, consumer prices in both urban and rural areas rose by 2.2%. By category, the prices of food, tobacco and alcohol rose 3.9% year on year, the prices of clothing rose 1.8%, housing prices increased 2.0%, the prices of daily necessities and services rose 1.1%, the prices of transportation and communications fell 1.0%, the prices of education, culture and entertainment rose 2.5%, the prices of medical care increased 2.6%, and those of other goods and services rose 2.2%. Among food, tobacco and alcohol prices, grain prices rose 0.5%, pork prices increased 7.7% and the prices of fresh vegetables rose 9.2%. The core CPI excluding food and energy prices rose 1.8% year on year, 0.1 percentage point lower than the first quarter. In June, the consumer prices rose 2.7% year on year, unchanged from the previous month, down 0.1% month on month.

In the first half of this year, producer prices rose 0.3% year on year, 0.1 percentage point higher than that in the first quarter. In June, producer prices remained flat year on year and down 0.3% month on month. In the first half of this year, the purchasing prices of producers rose 0.1% year on year, the same as that in the first quarter. In June, the purchasing prices of producers fell by 0.3% year on year and 0.1% month on month.

Mao Shengyong:

The employment situation generally remained stable, and the total number of rural workers working outside their hometowns continued to increase.

In the first half of the year, 7.37 million new urban jobs were created across the country, meeting 67% of the annual employment target. The surveyed urban unemployment rate was 5.1% in June, up 0.1 percentage points from May. The urban unemployment rate among the people aged between 25-59 was 4.6%, 0.5 percentage points lower than the overall national urban figure. The jobless rate in 31 major cities and towns was 5.0%, the same as May. In June, the average weekly working hours of employees in enterprises nationwide was calculated at 45.7 hours. By the end of the second quarter, the number of rural laborers forming the migrant workforce operating outside their hometowns reached 182.48 million. This was an increase of 2.26 million or 1.3 percent year-over-year. The gain in the second quarter was 0.1 percentage points higher than the first quarter.

Mao Shengyong:

The growth rate of residents' income exceeded that of national economy, and the income gap between urban and rural residents further narrowed.

In the first half of the year, national per capita disposable income was 15,294 yuan, a nominal gain of 8.8% year-over-year, with a 0.1 percentage points increase in the pace between the first and second quarters. With actual growth of 6.5 % after adjusting for inflation, the figure was 0.2 percentage points higher than the national economic growth rate. Classified according to residents' permanent residence locations, urban residents' per capita disposable income was 21,342 yuan (actual growth 5.7%). Rural residents' per capita disposable income was 7,778 yuan (actual growth 6.6%). The per capita disposable income ratio between urban and rural residents stood at 2.74, down 0.03 year-over-year. The median per capita disposable income of national residents was 13,281 yuan, a nominal gain of 9.0% year-over-year.

Mao Shengyong:

Supply-side structural reform further deepened, and the economic structure has seen continuous progress in optimization.

We have consolidated the results achieved in the priority tasks of cutting overcapacity, reducing excess inventory, deleveraging, lowering costs and strengthening identified areas of weakness. In the second quarter, the national industrial capacity utilization rate was 76.4%, or 0.5 percentage points higher than the first quarter, and one percentage point higher than the average achieved since 2013. Among the figures, the industrial capacity utilization rates of the non-metallic mineral products industry, the ferrous metal smelting and rolling industry, and the non-ferrous metal smelting and rolling industry increased by 3.4, 1.7 and 1.7 percentage points respectively from the first quarter. By the end of June, the total floor space of commercial buildings for sale stood at 501.62 million square meters, which was 7.66 million square meters less than the figure at the end of May, and 8.9% lower year-over-year. By the end of May, the asset-liability ratio of industrial enterprises above designated size was 56.8%, down 0.6 percentage points year-over-year. In the first half of the year, investments in deprived areas of ecological preservation and environmental treatment as well as education grew respectively by 48.0% and 18.9% year-over-year (respectively 42.2, and 13.1 percentage points faster than the average growth of investments in all fields).

We continue the critical battles against major risks, poverty, and pollution. By the end of May, total local government debt stood at 19.8953 trillion yuan, which was within the limits approved by the National People's Congress. Targeted poverty alleviation made strong progress. The per capita disposable income of rural residents in poverty-stricken areas maintained comparatively rapid growth. Marked achievements were recorded in pollution prevention. Preliminary assessments indicate that, in the first half of the year, the share of clean energy consumption involving natural gas, hydropower, nuclear power and wind power in total energy consumption increased by 1.6 percentage points over the same period of last year, and energy consumption per unit of GDP dropped 2.7 percent year-over-year.

We have continuously optimized the economic structure. In the first half of the year. The tertiary industry's added value accounted for 54.9% of GDP, up 0.5 percentage points year-over-year, and 15.0 percentage points higher than the figure for secondary industry. The tertiary industry's contribution rate to GDP growth was 60.3%, or 23.2 percentage points higher than that of the secondary industry. Among industries above designated size, the strategic emerging industry and the high-tech industry maintained rapid growth. The contribution rate of final consumption expenditure to economic growth was 60.1%. Among the final consumption spending of all residents, service consumption accounted for 49.4%, up 0.6 percentage points year-over-year. We have steadily promoted a series of major regional development strategies, including the coordinated development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Region and the integrated development of the Yangtze Economic Belt, the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, and the Yangtze River Delta. A new pattern of overall development across the country is taking shape.

Mao Shengyong:

In general, the national economy operated within a reasonable range in the first half of the year, having achieved generally stable growth while making further progress. However, we must also note that the current domestic and international economic situation remains complicated and severe. Global economic growth has slowed down, external instability and uncertainties have increased, and the problem of domestic development imbalance is still outstanding, while the economy faces new downward pressures.

In the next stage, we need to take Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era as the guide, seriously implement the decision-making arrangements and deployments of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council, adhere to the general approach of steady progress, and maintain supply-side structural reform as the principal direction, while promoting high-quality development, deepening reform and opening up, optimizing the business environment, promoting independent innovation in key areas, so as to fully mobilize the enthusiasm of all parties. We also need to pay close attention to the implementation of the policies to stabilize employment, finance, investment, foreign trade, foreign investment, and expectations so as to ensure a steady and healthy economic development. Thank you.

Shou Xiaoli:

Thank you, Mr. Mao. Now, we will open the floor for media questions. Please tell us the name of your news organization before asking questions.

CCTV:

Since the beginning of this year, the economy has been under pressure and the downward pressure has increased. Based on the statistics you have just released, how would you evaluate China's economic development in the first half of the year? Thank you.

Mao Shengyong:

Thank you for your question. In the first half of this year, faced with a complicated situation at home and abroad, the economic growth maintained general stability and registered good progress. The main macroeconomic indicators are operating in a reasonable range and the economic structure is being optimized. The general characteristics are as follows:

First, the three main industrial sectors continued to develop. Agricultural production is relatively good, and there has been a bumper harvest of summer grain. The total output of summer grain this year increased by 2.1%, matching the record production achieved in 2017. Industrial growth was basically stable. In the first half of the year, the added value of industrial enterprises above designated size increased by 6%. In June, the gain was 6.3%, 1.3 percentage points faster than in May. The service industry continued to maintain rapid growth. In the first half of the year, the added value of the service industry increased by 7%. The service industry production index in June was 0.1 percentage points higher than that of May.

Second, the "Troika" is running smoothly. Consumption growth has generally accelerated. In terms of total retail sales of consumer goods, the six-month increase was 8.4%, showing a slightly faster rate compared to the first quarter. In particular, the total retail sales of consumer goods in June increased by 9.8%, 1.2 percentage points faster than the previous month. Investment growth is stabilizing. In the first half of the year, fixed assets investment increased by 5.8%, 0.2 percentage points higher than that in January-May. The import and export situation was better than expected. The total import and export volume of goods increased by 3.9% in the first half of the year, slightly faster than in the first quarter. June saw a further improvement over the May performance.

Mao Shengyong:

Third, the three major economic indicators are fared well. Employment was generally stable with 7.37 million new jobs created in urban areas in the first half of the year, meeting 67% of the 2019 target. The survey-based urban unemployment rate was held at around 5% in June; Market prices were also generally stable as the CPI grew by 2.2% year-on-year in the first half of the year, and the core CPI (excluding food and energy) rose 1.8%. That means consumer prices have only seen moderate growth; the PPI saw slight growth of around 0.3% year-on-year in the first half of the year.

At the same time, incomes have grown in tandem with economic development. Per capita disposable income rose 6.5%, which was 0.2 percentage points higher than the overall economic growth rate. One thing worth noting is that the disposable income of rural residents had grown faster than that of urban residents, and this is helping further bridge the urban-rural income gap.

Fourth, the industrial structure, the demand structure and the foreign trade structure all continued to be optimized. In regard to the industrial structure, agriculture consolidated its primary sector status, while the product mix continues to be further optimized. In the first half of the year, there was an increase in the planting area for soybeans and other cash crops.

Transformation of the secondary sector also continued to gather pace. For example, the value added component of high-tech manufacturing rose 9%, or three percentage points faster than that of industrial enterprises above designated size, and its proportion of the total value added of industrial enterprises above the designated size rose 0.8 percentage points year-on-year.

The tertiary sector continues to increase its contribution to economic growth. Proportionally, the value added of tertiary sector contributed an additional 0.5 percentage points to total GDP compared to last year. Thus, we continue to see a strong momentum in the development of a modern service industry.

In terms of the demand structure, consumption is consolidating its primary role in promoting economic growth. In the first half-year, an increase of consumption contributed 60.1% of GDP growth; the investment structure is also being optimized with expenditure on social development, high-tech industries and the manufacturing transformation being maintained at over 10% of the total investment mix.

The foreign trade structure has also improved. The proportion of general trade continues to rise year-on-year.

So, these are how major macroeconomic indicators performed in the first half of this year. Thank you.

Reuters:

In the first half of the year, China pursued intensified fiscal policies, like the tax cut of two trillion yuan and the issuance of special bonds worth 2.15 trillion yuan. However, some people don't think these policies have yielded obvious results in terms of data. How will you comment on that? And against the backdrop of the trade tension, is there any new policy in the second half of year to guarantee this year's growth target? Moreover, could you tell us the contribution of gross capital formation and the net exports of goods and services to GDP growth? Thank you.

Mao Shengyong:

In the first half of this year, the contribution made to GDP growth by consumption, gross capital formation and the net exports of goods and services were respectively 60.1%, 19.2% and 20.7%. 

In regard to the counter-cyclical adjustments, there is both a proactive fiscal policy and a prudent monetary policy. Since the end of last year, in order to cope with the external uncertainties and downward pressure on the Chinese economy, a series of policies have been released and vigorously implemented. For example, we have pursued a proactive fiscal policy with greater intensity and enhanced its performance, adopted a prudent monetary policy that retained an appropriate degree of flexibility and pursued a proactive employment policy with full force. With regard to fiscal policies, we have increased expenditures including raising intensity and pace of special bonds issuance as well as increasing their amounts. Moreover, more efforts have been made to cut taxes and fees. These policies have been starting to pay off since April and May. Our survey shows that enterprises have benefited from cutting taxes and fees. The statistics also show that the growth of investment in infrastructure accelerated during the Jan-June period, and the growth of investment in the manufacturing sector also rebounded in the last two months. All these indicate that the relevant policies have produced results and we expect them to continue to pay off in the second half of the year.

However, it is worth noting that investments in some sectors, including manufacturing and infrastructure, are still at a low level. We will, with more policies being implemented, continue to deepen reforms, improve the business environment and further invigorate market entities. We expect a better economic performance in the second half of the year. Thank you.

Economic Daily:

Since the growth rate of the Chinese economy fell in the first half of this year, will it continue to drop in the third quarter？Is there any pressure to achieve the anticipated economic growth ranging between 6% to 6.5% this year? Are there any difficulties in reaching the targeted range? Thank you.

Mao Shengyong:

Thank you for your questions. The national economy achieved a growth rate of 6.3% during the first half of this year, which is a relatively good performance. I interpret the key part of your question as how to view the growth rate, and from my perspective, these are the key elements.

First, the rate of 6.3% represents a moderate and stable level. How can we substantiate that belief? During the first quarter of this year, the economy rose by 6.4%, which was only 0.1 percentage point higher than what was finally achieved during the first six months. Furthermore, if we take into consideration the various indices, including employment, prices, incomes and endeavors to ensure a quality ecological environment, the economy is running within an appropriate range.

Second, a rate of 6.3% isn’t slow by any means. During the first quarter, the economic growth rate of 6.4% was certainly the best achieved right across the globe. Even though not all countries have yet released their economic growth figures for the first half of this year, it is probable that there was a general trend of global economic slowdown. Therefore, a growth rate of 6.3% achieved over the six months still ranks high.

Third, this rate of 6.3% indicates quality growth. While considering the economic performance we have achieved, we also need to be concerned about a number of important factors, such as relatively stable employment, increases in consumer prices that were moderate and, indeed, close to zero compared to fast-growing household incomes, and the decline of 2.7% in energy consumption per 10,000 yuan of GDP. Hence, such a growth rate means sustainable development with high quality.

Fourth, that growth rate of 6.3% wasn’t easily achieved. We all know that, since last year and continuing into the first half of this year, global economic growth and trade expansion have been slowing. In addition, the domestic economy, affected by underlying structural problems extending over quite a period of time, has been running under certain downward pressures. In such a context, the national economy has been growing steadily due to innovation-driven reforms, new macro-economic approaches, an improved business-friendly environment, reductions in taxes and administrative fees and the revived vitality of many market entities, rather than under some overwhelmingly strong stimulus plans.

Fifth, the growth rate of 6.3% is immensely sustainable. Achieving that during the first half of this year provides a solid foundation for an annual growth rate expected to range between 6.0% to 6.5%. Looking at the second half of this year, the external environment will probably remain complicated, and there are still downward domestic pressures to be handled. Despite that, the economic performance will still sustain stable momentum and the economic policies, with an increasingly competitive domestic market, still have a great number of options available. All in all, the various factors combined can ensure that the major goal for this year’s economic development can be achieved. Thank you.

Bloomberg:

My first question is on industrial production. If you look at the export data for June, there was a shrink of 1.3%, but industrial production is up 6.3% in the same period. There has been a substantial divergence between exports and industrial production over the course of the whole year. And especially if you look at the PMI numbers. New export orders are down about 46%, and the overall PMI numbers are also below 50%. How do you explain the divergence between exports, the PMI and industrial production data which seemed very stable? The second question is how much of the contribution of net exports is due to the fall in imports? Imports have fallen and exports have also fallen. But imports have fallen a lot more, which will lead to a bigger increase from net exports in the contribution to GDP. So, how much is the effect of the contribution of net exports to GDP is due to the decline in imports? Thank you.

Mao Shengyong:

Thank you for your two important questions. The first question is about the relationship between industrial growth, industrial exports and the PMI. In June, the value-added output of industrial enterprises above the designated size increased by 6.3% year-on-year, higher than that of May. The volume of industrial exports was stable in June, with the export delivery value of industrial enterprises above the designated size growing faster than in May. This data is based on the relevant indicators released by the NBS.

From this perspective, industrial growth and exports are generally matched. In June, the manufacturing industry’s PMI remained the same as the previous month, a little lower than the 50% threshold. However, in terms of the scale of enterprises, the index of large enterprises remained basically the same, while that of small and medium-sized enterprises registered a slight rise. Generally speaking, there is no big contradiction between the three indicators. In addition, when analyzing the relationship between indicators, we’d better consider the data of more than a month so that we can have a better grasp of the overall trend.

The second question is about the contribution of net exports, namely net exports of goods and services, to economic growth. The contribution rate was 20.7% in the first half of this year, higher than during the same period last year and the first quarter of this year. This is due to two factors. First, the value of total exports minus the value of total imports of goods and services, namely net exports, or trade surplus in goods, showed considerable expansion compared to the same period last year. At the same time, the trade deficit in services became smaller. Thus, the overall trade surplus in goods and services expanded.

To get an accurate and comprehensive picture of how the three drivers, namely consumption, exports and investment, contribute to economic growth, we have to take account of factors beyond the contribution rate. The first is economic structure, such as the sheer proportion of the three drivers in GDP. The recent years have witnessed a continuous rise in the share of domestic demand, and a fall in that of net exports of goods and services. China’s economic growth relies increasingly on domestic demand, especially consumption.

The second is speed, such as the growth of consumption, investment or gross fixed capital formation and net exports of goods and services. Overall, consumption and investment combined, or domestic demand, outpaced net exports during these years. The third is contribution rate, which reflects how much contribution the three drivers respectively make to economic growth.

In short, in order to reach an accurate conclusion about how the three drivers contribute to economic growth, we need to take into consideration not only their contribution rate, but also their own growth and share in the economy. By doing so, we concluded that China’s economic growth indeed relies increasingly on domestic demand, especially consumption. The central government has instructed that more focus be given to boosting the domestic market. Thank you.

China News Service:

According to a recent NBS report, China's per-capita GDP has surpassed $9,700. This had led some people to believe that China has escaped the middle-income trap. What's your view on this issue? Thank you.

Mao Shengyong:

Thank you for the question. First of all, the NBS is working on a series of reports that shows the achievements of China's economic and social development over the past 70 years. Three of the reports were recently released, and have won positive responses. There are still nearly 20 reports to be released. Please continue to follow us in this regard.

Second, the sum you mentioned in our first report was $9,732 to be accurate, and it was last year's per-capita gross national income (GNI). This index is different from GDP. GDP refers to the total added value produced by the permanent entities in a country or region in a period. It reflects economic growth from the perspective of production. In contrast, GNI was previously known as gross national product (GNP). The name was changed in 1993. It reflects the distribution of income among residents, government and enterprises. In 1993, the United Nations and some other international organizations adopted this name when revising statistics, because they found the name GNP not accurate for the concept. From then on, GNP has been gradually replaced by GNI.

Third, GNI and GDP are also related to each other. For instance, GNI is calculated on the basis of GDP. It is the sum of GDP plus the net income earned by foreign entities. Previous statistics show that there was no big difference between China's GDP and GNI, as the former was just a little higher than the latter. Please note that GNI is also different from resident disposable income, as the former consists of the net incomes of government, enterprises, residents and foreign entities. It is obviously much higher than the latter.

Fourth, you asked a question that many people are also eager to know the answer to. According to the standards of the UN, China is in the upper-middle income group. It must be admitted that after the rapid development over the past 40 years, China's economic situation and international status have improved remarkably, with the Chinese economy ranking second in the world. However, the per-capita income of the country has remained low. Figuring out when China will become a high-income country depends on many factors. Whether a country is a high-income country is decided by the status of other countries. When we will become a high-income country should be decided by our economic growth rate, price level, the development of other countries, as well as the exchange rates of the yuan, U.S. dollar and other currencies. Besides, international organizations may also change the methods of classification. Therefore, instead of discussing whether and when China can be ranked as a high-income country, we'd better focus on promoting economic development, improving people's livelihood and income, upgrading our economy and making it more efficient, so as to strive for high-quality development. Thank you.

21st Century Business Herald:

There may have been some answers already, but I would still like to ask. We have seen that the growth of industrial investment, the service sector and consumption all picked up in June, but the overall economic growth rate in the second quarter went down. What is behind the rebound of the growth rates in June? Will it last? In addition, the urban unemployment rate rose slightly in June. What do you think of the current employment situation? Thank you.

Mao Shengyong:

Thank you. You just asked two questions. The first one is whether the rebound of the growth rates in some indicators in June will last and what will happen in the second half of this year. The second question is about my views on the current employment situation.

As for your first question, we saw some indicators in June indeed picked up compared with those in May, including the industrial growth, as well as the growth of the retail sales of consumer goods and the production index of the service sector. For example, the total retail sales of consumer goods increased 9.8% in June, up 1.2 percentage points from May. The two main reasons are as follows. First, car sales performed better than expected. With the national standards for pollutant discharge of motor vehicles switched from Stage V to VI, promotional efforts were stepped up in June to increase automobile sales, which is a key reason for the better performance. The sales of automobiles by companies above designated size increased over 17%, driving the total retail sales of consumer goods to increase about 1.6 percentage points. Second, online retail sales in June performed relatively good. With promotional activities on June 18, we saw the online sales of cosmetics and household appliances grow at a relatively fast speed. These two factors combined to accelerate the growth of total retail sales in June. The growth of total retail sales of consumer goods had an obvious driving effect on the growth of the production index of the whole service sector, so these two indicators are correlated. As for industrial growth, we can look at the facts that the output and the value added of most industries and products increased in different degrees in June compared with those in May, and that there was also growth in export delivery in June. Thus, the growth figures were well-founded and also related with each other on the whole.

As for the second half of this year, there will be both positive and negative factors. On one hand, there will still be downward pressure for these indicators; on the other, there will be many favorable factors to support their stable performance. For example, the government will constantly stimulate more vitality in the market, and gradually implement a series of counter-cyclical adjustments, including a policy of stabilizing employment, trade, investment, finance, foreign investment and market expectations. These policies will have a more obvious effect on the indicators in the second half of this year, and all the above will be conducive to the stable performance of these indicators in the second half of the year.

The second question is about the unemployment rate. The surveyed unemployment rate in cities and towns increased 0.1 percentage point in June compared with that in May. Overall, the employment situation was still relatively stable, with the surveyed unemployment rate staying around 5%; however, we should notice that there are still some structural problems behind the overall stability that need to be addressed. In particular, with nearly 8.3 million university students graduating this year, there is still an increasing pressure on employment. As the graduation season comes in July and August, there is still some structural pressure on employment. Some traditional industries, including those undergoing structural transformation and overcapacity reduction, may also bring structural pressure on employment. The central government has paid close attention to employment, as it is the foundation of people's livelihood. This year, we have raised the priority of the employment policy to the same level as the proactive fiscal policy and the prudent monetary policy. Moreover, priority has been given to employment as the country takes major actions to keep stability. The government has also introduced many practical measures. On one hand, the employment situation remains stable on the whole; on the other, there are some structural problems and pressures that need our attention. With a series of policies and measures to stabilize and promote employment, we are able to maintain an overall stable employment situation. Thank you.

CNR:

In June, the PPI leveled off compared to the figure for the same period last year and actually fell 0.3% month-on-month. Some industry insiders are concerned about a potential deflation or inflation in the Chinese economy. Do you see the PPI continuing to fall in the second half of the year? Could you please give us your analysis? Thank you.

Mao Shengyong:

Thanks for your question. First, generally speaking, the PPI maintained moderate growth in the first half of this year, or around 0.3% year-on-year. In the next stage, it will be influenced by both the supply-demand situation as well as developments in the international environment, such as fluctuations in commodity prices. In general, I think there are likely to be some slight fluctuations ahead, but we will have to see how it goes.

Second, you talked about inflationary and deflationary risks, which are related to both economic performance and price changes. When we look at the price changes, we must analyze both the PPI and the CPI. If you put the two indicators together for the first half of this year, the CPI rose 2.2% and the PPI 0.3% year-on-year. Thus, you can see that prices were generally experiencing some modest growth while also stabilizing. Despite a slight fall, China’s economic growth, at 6.3% from January-June, still ranked among the top performers when compared to other major economies. Therefore, it is groundless to say that China may face either a deflationary or an inflationary risk. Thank you.

Market News International:

You just said the economic operation in the second half of the year has strong support. There is still a lot of room for policies. Can you give us a more detailed outlook on policy orientation around the real estate industry and infrastructure industry? For example, what change will there be for the state's attitude toward real estate investment, and what direction will the local governments turn to in terms of infrastructure investment? Thank you.

Mao Shengyong:

Thank you for your question. When it comes to investment, we say that it has three major components: first, manufacturing investment, second, infrastructure investment, and third, real estate investment. Real estate investment has maintained relatively rapid growth since last year, with a growth rate of about 10%. It has slightly declined from January to June, at 10.9%. Infrastructure investment growth has accelerated slightly from January to June, faster than that from January to May. Manufacturing investment growth has accelerated slightly in the past two months. All the above are the basic performances of the three major investments in recent months.

Speaking of real estate, from the statistics I just released, including the situation about housing prices released by the National Bureau of Statistics today at 9:30 am, we put together indicators of real estate aspects including housing prices, real estate investment, real estate sales, construction area, land transactions, etc., and examined them comprehensively and found that the current real estate market is still running smoothly. This is the first point. Second, for the next stage, on one hand, urbanization is still advancing, and there are still rigid and improvement demands from buyers. On the other hand, the concept of "houses are for living in, not for speculation" is more and more deeply rooted in the hearts of the people. Then we emphasize "particular policies for particular cities" and stress the main responsibility of the city government. With the two factors combined, stable land prices, stable housing prices and stable expectations can be achieved for the real estate market in the next stage. Under such circumstances, real estate investment will change radically.

From the perspective of infrastructure investment, I personally understand that our policy effects will continue to be exerted, including the strengthened issuance of special bonds. The introduction of some new measures has indeed accelerated the process of approvals for major projects that can complement shortcomings and provide strong stamina. In the next phase, these projects will gradually come to fruition, so infrastructure investment should rebound at a low level as expected. Thank you.

Hong Kong Commercial Broadcasting:

As we can see, the second quarter produced the lowest growth in 27 years. After the trade negotiation between Beijing and Washington resumes, do you think economic growth will continue to fall to a new low or can it recover in the second half of the year? Thanks.

Mao Shengyong:

As I said, China's economic growth reached 6.3 percent in the first half of the year, which does indeed represent a comparative slowdown in contrast with the past. However, if the increasingly harsh and complicated internal and external environments are considered as the backdrop, the speed remains high, particularly compared to other major economies in the world. 

So, judging from this angle, we should adopt a broader vision to comprehend the current growth speed. Using a new development concept, we have to look beyond growth speed in dealing with the economy. On the one hand, the economy is operating in a stable manner within a rational range. On the other hand, more energy is being expended on restructuring the economy and upgrading various industries. We cannot compromise our policies just for the sake of maintaining a certain growth speed. So, it is fair to say the current growth involves solidity, quality and sustainability, and is in line with the requirements of the new development concept. Therefore, its gold content is comparatively high. This is the first point.

Secondly, world economic growth, including international trade, has slowed down to some extent. Against this backdrop, in the first half of the year, although China's economic growth slightly decelerated, it still operated in a stable form within a rational range. And this is not so easy to come by.

The indicators of employment, commodity prices, incomes and protection of the ecology and environment all performed well. This indicates that, in order to respond to the changes in the external environment, we need to pay more attention to maintaining strategic concentration, and focusing on managing our own business well. For instance, we should focus more on reform and innovation, and constantly upgrading the wide range of our industries. We should further expand opening-up at a high level. We should take the initiative to lower import tariffs. Last year, the overall tariff level was lowered to 7.5%, and there will be a further cut this year. We need to further optimize the business environment, reduce the negative list, and promote stable development of foreign investment and foreign trade. Thanks.

Now TV (Hong Kong):

The GDP growth rate of the second quarter dropped 0.2 percentage point from the first quarter. How much was this due to the trade war? Will the figure continue to decline in the second half this year for the same reason? Thank you.

Mao Shengyong:

Thank you for the question. The economic growth rate of the first half this year was 6.3%. On a quarterly basis, it dropped slightly by 0.2 percentage point. I have mentioned that the world economy overall has slowed down in terms of development, and our external environment has become more complex. At the same time, we have continued to focus on structural adjustment and upgrading. In this context, when analyzing the overall economic performance, we should see if our economic performance has remained within a reasonable range. Currently, despite a slight slowdown in the growth rate, the major economic indices have all remained in a reasonable range and can meet our expectations. 

In the next period, despite possible changes in the external environment, we will focus on our own affairs, striving to keep the economic performance within a reasonable range and striving for high-quality development. Thank you.

Shou Xiaoli:

Thank you, Mr. Mao. Thank you everyone. That ends today’s press conference. See you all next time.

Read in Chinese

Speakers:

Ma Xingrui, vice secretary of the CPC Guangdong Provincial Committee, governor of Guangdong province;

Fu Hua, member of the Standing Committee of the CPC Guangdong Provincial Committee, head of the Publicity Department of Guangdong province;

Zhang Hu, vice governor of Guangdong province;

Chairperson:

Hu Kaihong, spokesperson of the State Council Information Office of China

Date:

June 3, 2019

Hu Kaihong:

Ladies and gentlemen, good morning. Welcome to this press conference. This is one of a series of press conferences for provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the central government that mark the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China. 

Present at this press conference are: Mr. Ma Xingrui, vice secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Guangdong Provincial Committee and governor of Guangdong province; Mr. Fu Hua, a member of the Standing Committee of the CPC Guangdong Provincial Committee and head of the Publicity Department of Guangdong province; and Mr. Zhang Hu, vice governor of Guangdong province. They will speak about Guangdong's reform, opening up and innovation-driven development, and answer some of your questions.

Now I'll give the floor to Mr. Ma.

Ma Xingrui:

Friends from the media, ladies, gentlemen, friends, it's a great pleasure to take this opportunity to brief you on Guangdong's development. First of all, on behalf of the provincial Party committee and provincial government, I want to express sincere gratitude to all of you for your long, enthusiastic attention to Guangdong. 

Since the founding of the People's Republic of China 70 years ago, the country has witnessed radical changes, and achieved remarkable success in its development. Guangdong is a typical example of this change. Following are some highlights of Guangdong's development. 

First, economic development has maintained rapid growth. The provincial GDP increased from 2.03 billion yuan in 1949 to 9.7 trillion yuan in 2018, ranking among the top few across China for nearly 30 years. This year, the figure is estimated to exceed 10 trillion yuan. 

Second, provincial financial power has grown stronger. The revenue in the general public budget (in comparable prices) increased from 320 million yuan in 1950 to 1.2 trillion yuan in 2018, making the province the first in China to have a revenue in the general public budget exceeding 1 trillion yuan. 

Third, the province has continued to enhance opening up to the outside world. In 2018, total imports and exports of the province reached 7.16 trillion yuan, accounting for one-fourth of the national total, and ranking first in the nation for 33 years in a row. A total of US$447 billion in foreign investments were utilized, accounting for more than one-fifth of the national total. 

Fourth, a world-class manufacturing center has been established. There are approximately 47,500 industrial enterprises that have annual revenue of 20 million yuan or more from their main business operations. From traditional to advanced manufacturing, such as electronic information, green petrochemicals, automobiles, intelligent home appliances and robots, Guangdong has established a relatively complete and well-supported modern industrial system. The output of the electronic information industry accounted for 34% of the national total. 

Fifth, both rural and urban development have been significantly enhanced. A comprehensive transportation network has taken shape. Guangzhou, Shenzhen and other major cities in the Pearl River Delta have formed a modern city cluster with an urbanization rate that has reached 70.7%. All counties are connected by expressway, and all cities will soon be connected by bullet train.

Sixth, people's livelihoods have improved continuously. The average life expectancy has been extended to 77.2 years. The revenues of urban and rural residents have increased continually and absolute poverty has been eliminated. More than 2.4 million people previously recognized by the provincial government as living in relative poverty have risen out of poverty. 

You may wonder, how Guangdong is able to achieve such success despite having no special natural resources, with no foundation for development initially. Please allow me to share some of my views on this issue. Our achievements should be attributed to our system, political path, and the introduction of reform and opening up policies.

Since the founding of New China in 1949, the establishment of socialism has created the fundamental political conditions and the institutional foundation for achieving all development and progress in China today. Under the strong leadership of the CPC Central Committee, Guangdong has carried out socialist transformation smoothly, promoted socialist advancement vigorously, and established a relatively sound system for economic and social development, laying a solid foundation for the province's progress to come.

The introduction of reform and opening up policies in 1978 marked a new awakening and great revolution of the CPC, which propelled the Party into a great innovation from theory to practice, and boosted a tremendous advancement in promoting Socialism with Chinese characteristics. Comrade Deng Xiaoping, the chief architect of reform and opening up, chose Guangdong as the pioneer in the campaign after careful consideration. He required us to forge ahead despite all difficulties. The forerunners in the province, with Xi Zhongxun, former secretary of the CPC Guangdong Provincial Committee, as their representative, were dauntless in exploration and innovation. Thanks to their efforts, Guangdong started the glorious journey of leapfrog development. 

Under the strong leadership of the CPC Central Committee, the provincial Party committee and provincial government of all sessions have united and led all officials and the general public in Guangdong to establish special economic zones, carry out reform and opening up policies, and promote the development of the market economy. We implemented the central authorities' strategic plan of reform and opening up innovatively, and made great achievements in this area. We have served as a window showing China's progress to the world, as a pilot ground for reform and opening up policies, and as a pacesetter of development in China.

Since the 18th Communist Party of China (CPC) National Congress in 2012, the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core has demonstrated tremendous political courage and a powerful sense of mission. It has united and led all Party members and all the Chinese people of all ethnic groups in applying a new vision of development, implementing the five-sphere integrated plan and the four-pronged comprehensive strategy. With this, it has prompted historic shifts and achievements in the cause of the Party and the country, and steered socialism with Chinese characteristics into a new era.

Attaching great importance to the development of Guangdong province, General Secretary Xi Jinping visited Guangdong in his first inspection trip outside Beijing after the 18th CPC National Congress. He has joined deputies from Guangdong in panel discussions during two sessions of the National People's Congress, paid two visits to Guangdong, attended the signing ceremony of the framework agreement on the development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area and the opening ceremony of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge. He has delivered important speeches and gave important instructions on the development of Guangdong, designating it as a leading province in four areas (building institutions for high-quality economic development, developing a modern economy, pursuing opening up on all fronts and creating a social governance model based on collaboration, participation, and common interests), and a window for China to showcase its achievements in reform and opening-up as well as for the international community to observe the progress of the endeavor.

With General Secretary Xi Jinping's requirements in mind, we embarked on a new journey of the reform and opening-up drive, striving to break new ground in the new era. 

First, we made sweeping efforts to strengthen Party leadership and Party building, taking a clear political stand and fostering a healthy political atmosphere of integrity. We worked to ensure that all the officials in Guangdong keep in mind the need to maintain political integrity, think in big-picture terms, follow the leadership core, keep aligned, strengthen our confidence in the path, theory, system, and culture of socialism with Chinese characteristics, resolutely uphold General Secretary Xi Jinping's core position in the Party Central Committee and in the Party as a whole, and resolutely uphold the Party Central Committee's authority and its centralized, unified leadership.

Second, we took comprehensive steps to deepen reform and opening-up, improve the socialist market economy, enable the government to play a better role and create a more favorable business environment.

Third, the building of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area got off to a good start. The development plan is being fully implemented. The Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge and the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong high-speed railway has come into operation. The bay area is attracting an inflow of talent, capital, technology and enterprises.

Fourth, innovation has become an essential force in driving Guangdong's economic growth. In 2018, Guangdong's R&D spending exceeded 250 billion yuan; its PCT (the Patent Cooperation Treaty) applications accounted for about half of the country's total; and the provincial regional innovation capability has maintained its top place nationwide. Guangdong is home to a large number of world-class enterprises, including Huawei, Tencent, Guangzhou Automobile Group, Gree and Midea.

Fifth, Guangdong's economy has been transitioning to a stage of high-quality development and the province has 45,000 national high-tech enterprises. The value-added of advanced manufacturing accounted for 56.4% of the total of industries above the designated size, and the contribution of the tertiary sector to GDP increased to 58.9%.

Sixth, Guangdong has seen a continuous improvement in its ecological environment, with the PM2.5 concentration falling to 31 mcg/m³. The Pearl River Delta has become China's first national forest city group demonstration zone.

Seventh, we have enhanced our ability to meet people's basic needs. Last year, per capita disposable personal income grew to 35,800 yuan. A provincial management system for aged-care insurance funds has been established. There has been steady progress in the efforts to address the key issues affecting living standards, such as offering easier access to medical and government services.

Eighth, we have improved our capacity to forestall and defuse major risks. With the courage and ability to fight, we have ensured social order and stability.

Ma Xingrui:

The world we live in today has been undergoing tremendous changes which are unseen in the past century, and the global economic order is facing unprecedented challenges. Guangdong will fully implement all major policies and plans made by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core, uniting as one, and continuously focusing on managing China's own affairs well to prepare for any difficulties and challenges. With the strong leadership of Comrade Xi Jinping and the Central Committee of the CPC; the solid foundation established since the PRC was founded 70 years ago and the reform and opening up that was initiated 40 years ago, especially since the 18th CPC National Congress; as well as the capability and experience of market entities and with the united effort of the whole nation, we are fully confident in dealing with the various challenges and risks.

Last October, General Secretary Xi Jinping made major policy speeches during his visit to Guangdong province, giving important instructions in four aspects including pursuing deeper reform and greater opening up, promoting high-quality development, encouraging a balanced and coordinated form of development, and strengthening the leading role of the CPC and Party building. Guangdong province has fully implemented and made further progress in the "1+1+9" Plan, in which the two "ones" refer to the political guarantee of strengthening the leading role of CPC and Party building, and the driving force from pursuing deeper reform and greater opening up. The "nine" in the Plan refers to nine key missions, which are the following -- promoting the construction of the Guangdong-Hongkong-Macao Greater Bay Area; implementing the strategy of innovation-driven development; promoting high-quality development; building a modern economic system; laying a good foundation for the "three critical battles" against potential risks, poverty and pollution; implementing a rural revitalization strategy; improving the regional development plan of "One Core, One Belt, and One Region (i.e.to improve the economic structure of the Pearl River Delta as the core of the area; to foster new sources of growth in east and west Guangdong province which form a costal economic belt with cities along the Pearl River Delta; and to turn the mountainous region in north Guangdong province into an ecological zone.)"; developing a culturally prosperous province; and establishing a social governance model based on collaboration, participation and common interests. General Secretary Xi Jinping has instructed us to continue to be consistent in our efforts and stressed the significance of the tangible outcomes from these projects. General Secretary Xi Jinping has also noted that Guangdong province is an important window, not only for China to showcase to the world the achievements of our reform and opening up, but also for the international society to observe the process of our endeavor. The crucial status has placed Guangdong province under the spotlight, especially in the following aspects:

First, we take the building of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area as the guiding principle for Guangdong's reform and opening up in the new era, and will dedicate all of our province's strength to work on it.

We join hands with Hong Kong and Macao to build a world-class city cluster and an international-level bay area, promote the joint pursuit of the Belt and Road Initiative, and bolster the leading role of Guangdong to create a new pattern of high-level comprehensive opening up to the outside world. We place top priority on our work to promote the consistency of rules and regulations among the three places. Under the principle of "one country, two systems," we enact flexible measures in line with local conditions, align our business environment with a high-standard of international economic and trade rules, and promote the smooth flow of people, goods, funds and information between the Greater Bay Area. It can be said that Guangdong in the Greater Bay Area is worth looking forward to.

Second, we focus on promoting innovation-driven development.

We resolutely and calmly respond to challenges and tests of any kind, and we have strengthened our capacity for self-reliance and independent innovation. While aiming to increase core competitiveness, core technologies for key fields and basic research, we will invest more in scientific and technological innovation, and concentrate our efforts to improve the regional technological innovation system with enterprises playing a leading role. At the same time, we will speed up the adjustment of industrial structures and promote the transition of Guangdong from a manufacturing-orientated to an innovative province with high-quality development. It can be said that a Guangdong province with high quality development is worth looking forward to.

Third, we pursue a more balanced form of development across the regions as well as the rural and urban areas.

We will vigorously implement the strategy for rural revitalization, make good strides in the battle against poverty, and pursue coordinated development of Pearl River Delta region, coastal economic belt and mountainous area of North Guangdong.. We will show even greater resolve, make greater efforts, and take more practical measures to support the revitalization of the old revolutionary base areas and the development of areas with concentrations of ethnic minorities. According to the provincial financial plan, in 10 years and over different phases, we will invest 160 billion yuan to strengthen the weak links in rural infrastructure and basic public services, and speed up the improvement of rural life. It can be said that a Guangdong province with coordinated development is worth looking forward to.

Fourth, we pursue the balanced development and mutual reinforcement of material and cultural and ethical progress. 

We have launched activities to enhance cultural and ethical progress in the new era, and promote the building of the system of public cultural services. For example, we will promote the innovative development of the traditional Lingnan culture (a prominent culture in South China), based on the approach of respecting others' cultural characteristics while pursuing their own so as to progress together as the Chinese nation. It can be said that a Guangdong province with cultural prosperity is worth looking forward to as well.

Fifth, we will unswervingly advance the construction of an ecological civilization. We will implement China's new concept for development in an all-encompassing way and put into practice General Secretary Xi Jinping's instruction that "lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets." We will adopt a holistic approach to conservation programs aimed at protecting our mountains, rivers, forests, farmlands, lakes, and grasslands, and apply the most stringent rule of law in this process. We will put in place key measures of protecting the environment, conserving energy, reducing emissions, promoting green development, pursuing a low-carbon and circular economy, and advancing ecological civilization. Our goal is to make Guangdong province a homeland with beautiful mountains, waters and nostalgic memories. An ecologically beautiful Guangdong is worth looking forward to. 

Sixth, we will create a social governance model based on collaboration, participation, and common interests. We will implement the general plan of the rule of law and further make Guangdong a place that is safe and based on the rule of law. We will strengthen social governance and make our business environment more internationalized, convenient and based on the rule of law. We aim to make Guangdong one of China's safest and most stable, fair, and just areas. We will continue to increase the people's sense of gain, happiness and security. A safer and more harmonious Guangdong is worth looking forward to.

On our new journey in the new era, Guangdong will hold high the great banner of socialism with Chinese characteristics, rally even closer around the Central Committee with Xi Jinping at its core, follow the guidance of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era and fully implement the spirit of General Secretary Xi Jinping's speeches and instructions on Guangdong. We will remain true to our original aspirations and keep our mission firmly in mind. We will continue our hard work, forge ahead, and write a new chapter in the new era of Guangdong's reform and opening up. We will strive to meet the requirement for Guangdong to become a national leader in four areas – establish institutions favorable for high-quality economic development, build a modern economic system, break new ground in pursuing the opening up on all fronts, and create a social governance model based on collaboration, participation, and common interests. Guangdong will also serve as two important windows – a window to showcase China's achievements in its reform and opening-up to the world and a window for the international community to observe China's reform and opening-up. By doing this, we will make our contributions to helping realize the Chinese Dream of national rejuvenation.

Thank you again, friends from the press. Thank you for attending today's press conference. Now my colleagues and I will begin to take your questions.

Hu Kaihong:

Thank you, Mr. Ma. Now we open the floor to questions. Please identify your media organization before raising your question. 

CCTV:

Society has placed a great deal of attention and expectation toward the construction of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area. So how Guangdong will take the opportunity of building the Greater Bay Area to advance its reform and opening-up? Thanks.

Ma Xingrui:

Thanks for the question. Indeed, people are very concerned about this effort. The Greater Bay Area has been planned, deployed and promoted by General Secretary Xi Jinping himself as a significant strategy of national importance. Xi personally witnessed the signing of the Greater Bay Area framework agreement and clearly pointed out that Guangdong should mobilize resources from the whole province to promote the construction of the Greater Bay Area, and it is an important historic opportunity for Guangdong to renew its efforts in reform and opening-up. It is expected that Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao can make concerted efforts to turn the Greater Bay Area into a world-class city cluster and a first class bay area, which can rival the New York Bay Area, the San Francisco Bay Area, and the Tokyo Bay Area, so as to further improve Guangdong's competitiveness and help realize high-quality development.

The Party Central Committee and the State Council unveiled the Outline Development Plan of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area on Feb. 18, which clarifies the Greater Bay Area's five identities — a vigorous world-class urban agglomeration, an international science and technology innovation center with global influence, an important support for the construction of the Belt and Road, a demonstration zone for in-depth cooperation between the mainland and Hong Kong and Macao, and a world-class city cluster that promotes a high quality of life, where people can live, work and travel happily. 

Under the leadership of the Party Central Committee and the State Council, Guangdong has formed a close cooperation model with Hong Kong and Macao. We deeply feel that the reform and opening-up since 1978 has brought great changes to Guangdong, and the construction of the Greater Bay Area presents Guangdong with another important opportunity to carry on its reform and opening-up. Our work will be carried forward in the following five aspects. 

First, the business environment will be improved through interlinked rules. We will adhere to the principle of "one country" and make good use of the benefits of "two systems" to interlink the rules in the market economy system, and pave the way for the linkage of various factors. The objective is to ensure that personnel, logistics, capital and information can flow efficiently and orderly. There is still huge potential in this aspect.

Second, the construction of the Greater Bay Area into an international science and technology innovation center will be expedited. This is a key task that people are deeply concerned about.  The Tokyo Bay Area, the New York Bay Area and the San Francisco Bay Area are stronger than the Greater Bay Area in terms of original innovation. This is also our shortcoming. But we have the foundation that has been laid over the past 40 years' of reform and opening-up and over the past 70 years of the New China's development. Hong Kong and Macao have several world-class universities, and if combined with the innovation ability of Guangdong's real economy, they can effectively boost the construction of the international science and technology innovation center. In particular, all relevant departments of the central government attach great importance to the job, such as the building of major scientific and technological infrastructure, large scientific installations, national key laboratories, and national laboratories, etc. In addition, there are also certain favorable tax policies customized for science and technology staff. For example, we are working to make it possible that talents from Hong Kong and Macao can be taxed according to Hong Kong and Macao tax policies in Guangdong. In a word, scientific and technological innovation is a major task for us.

Third, the Greater Bay Area should be built into an important support structure for the construction of the Belt and Road. It is known that the three places have their respective advantages. Hong Kong is an international center of finance, trade and shipping. Macao is a world tourism and leisure center, and has a link with Portuguese-speaking countries. Guangdong is a manufacturing powerhouse and a major province in international trade. So, in the construction of the Belt and Road, the Greater Bay Area can play a very important role.  

Fourth, infrastructure facility interconnectivity will be promoted. As we know, the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong high-speed train service opened last year, which implements the system of "one place and two inspections." It takes only 47 minutes to travel from Hong Kong to Guangzhou by train, while before its opening, we took more than four hours by car. There are also some key infrastructure facilities under construction, such as the Liantang/Heung Yuen Wai Boundary Control Point, and a new port connecting Macao and Zhuhai, both of which will be completed before the end of this year. In particular, we are advancing the coordinated development of high-speed railway, harbors and airport clusters in the region. There are three major airports — Hong Kong Airport, Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport and Shenzhen Baoan Airport, which handle more than 70 million, nearly 70 million and over 45 million passenger trips a year respectively.  

Fifth, an environment with a high quality of life where people can live, work and travel happily will be created. Guangdong will provide sound environment for the youth from Hong Kong and Macao to pursue innovation and start new businesses. Meanwhile, we will also make great efforts to improve the ecological and living environment, since there is still room for improvement in these aspects.

As for information on the Greater Bay Area, you must already be familiar with it as the media has reported widely on it. Due to the tight schedule, I would like to stop here. Thanks.

China Daily:

We learned that the GDP of Guangdong province is expected to surpass 10 trillion yuan in 2019. So my question is what achievements has Guangdong made in promoting high-quality economic development and building a modern economic system, especially in the layout of emerging industries? Thanks.

Ma Xingrui:

Thanks for your question. The GDP of Guangdong province has ranked first in the country for 30 years in a row. As you mentioned, this year it will hit 10 trillion yuan. But for Guangdong, there still remains problems in achieving high-quality development.

First, it must be reflected in the economic system. Since the 18th National Congress of the CPC, General Secretary Xi Jinping has visited Guangdong twice and attended the plenary sessions of the Guangdong NPC delegation twice. He made a series of important instructions, clearly requiring Guangdong to play a leading role in building the system and mechanism to promote high-quality development and a modern economic system. Currently, we should ensure that the market plays its decisive role in resource allocation, and we should give better play to the role of the government, which were also clearly pointed out at the third plenary session of the 18th Central Committee of the CPC. In accordance with the requirements of the Party Central Committee, we are deepening the supply-side structural reform. In this respect, the government is to provide an institutional environment of rule of law and with preferential policies for companies, especially for the real economy. In recent years, we published a series of policies in support of the real economy, private economy, foreign trade, and employment as well. For example, Guangdong took the lead in overall planning of  pension for employees working for local enterprises, bringing benefits to companies and people.

Second, we must focus on developing market players. Guangdong is now home to 11.46 million individual business and companies, with nearly 5 million companies among them, ranking it first in China. Currently, a total of 12 companies in Guangdong have entered the Fortune Global 500 list and the revenue from the main business operations of 29 companies has exceeded 100 billion yuan. So I think all of these are very important. Meanwhile, to develop the market economy, we must focus on developing industrial clusters. Now we already have two industrial clusters which have a total output value of more than one trillion yuan and are engaged in electronic information and green petrochemical. We also have seven emerging industrial clusters with an output value of over 100 billion yuan respectively. There are many examples like these.

First, we took the lead in pushing the development of the 4K UHD (ultrahigh definition) video industry. In the past, we had 1K and 2K, and now we have 4K, bringing many benefits to technology, industries and the lives of people. Now the output of 4K TV accounts for about half of the country. 

Second, we are sparing no effort to develop the robotics industry. Now around 20% of  industrial robots are made in Guangdong. In 2018, the total output of industrial robots reached 32,000 sets, accounting for 22% of the total. In the first quarter of 2019, the output of Topstar Technology Co., Ltd, one of the tech companies that produces industrial robots in Guangdong, generated a year-on-year growth of 36%, maintaining a good momentum. 

Third, we support the new energy automobile industry. I used to work in Shenzhen where we worked to ensure that all buses were powered by electricity within three years. This was also realized in Guangzhou and Zhuhai, which promotes the development of new energy automobiles. The emission of a bus that fueled by diesel is equivalent to that of 40 cars. So the development of new energy automobiles will help to improve the air quality. You can take a look in Shenzhen and Guangzhou, there are now many changes.

Fourth, we promote the development of the industrial internet. Guangdong is a province that based on information. We encourage companies to improve themselves with the help of information technology, especially that of the industrial internet. A total of 3,000 companies now have access to the cloud platform, and that number will reach 10,000 in the future. 

Fifth, we are making efforts to develop the mobile communication industry. The output of smartphones now accounts for 43.9 % of the total output in the country. Most of the mobile phone brands, like Huawei, OPPO, VIVO and Apple, have established their production lines in Guangdong. In addition, we are stepping up the building of the 5G network. This year, we will set up base stations for the commercial use of 5G in Shenzhen.

Generally speaking, high-quality development is the key to building a modern economic system. We also need to give full play to the market and government. In addition, we need to target strategic emerging industries and future industries like artificial intelligence.

Phoenix Satellite TV:

I have two questions. First, what measures will Guangdong take to jointly promote cultural development in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, which is stressed in the area's development plan? Second, as you just said, Guangdong is fully confident in its ability to develop its economy and cope with its challenges. How much impact does the economic and trade friction between China and the United States have on Guangdong, since there are many high-technology enterprises in the province? What measures have you taken to ease the impact? Thank you.

Ma Xingrui:

Now Mr. Fu Hua will answer your questions. He is a member of the Standing Committee of the CPC Guangdong Provincial Committee and head of the Publicity Department of Guangdong province. He is in charge of related works.

Fu Hua: 

Jointly promoting cultural development in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area is a significant part of the area's development. As you know, Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao share the same culture, making it easy to promote cultural development in the area. Besides, over the past 40 years of reform and opening-up, the three regions have enjoyed increasingly close and active cultural exchanges. These have laid the foundation for jointly promoting cultural development and spreading cultural values in the bay area.

According to the requirements of the Development plan for the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, certain arrangements and considerations have been made by Guangdong province in jointly building a cultural Bay Area. Not long ago, we published a Three-year Plan of Guangdong province to establish a circle of culture in the Greater Bay Area. We will be carrying out certain preliminary policies from 2019 to 2022 based on the following three aspects. First, as the shared wealth and the cultural basis of Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao, Lingnan culture should be treated as a bridge to carry forward China's fine traditions and to promote its innovative transformation and development. Second, the rich cultural resources in the Bay Area will be fully utilized, and the rich cultural products of the new era should be put forward. Third, Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao should focus on cultural communication by presenting the story of China and its Bay Area in a more compelling way. 

In terms of specific works concerned, our vision is as follows:

First is to promote the development of a culturally prosperous province. The cultural capacity of Guangdong needs to be further developed in order to collaboratively build a cultural Bay Area. With the initiative of the Party committee and the government of Guangdong province, a Three-year Plan to develop the cultural prosperity of Guangdong has been created, which consists of 10 key programs and 50 projects, including the inheritance and innovation of Lingnan culture, the promotion of the high-quality development of the cultural industry in Guangdong, and the endeavor to elevate the culture and arts of Guangdong to a new level in the new era. Among all the fine arts of Guangdong, it is necessary for the excellences to stand out to present the essentials of the new era.

Second is to deepen cultural exchange and cooperation, which is of great significance. So far, our concerns have been mainly focused on five aspects as follows. First, we will co-host the cultural festival of the Greater Bay Area, organizing public galas and events to promote Lingnan culture, notably the Cantonese opera, dragon boat, martial arts and Guangdong lion dance. Second, we will work with Hong Kong and Macao to protect our cultural heritage and to raise people's awareness in this regard. Third, we will promote the in-depth integration of our cultural industry into tourism, by innovating on the industrial chain and developing a world-class resort in the Bay Area. Fourth, we will collaboratively work to improve the cultural and creative industries. As over 300 industrial parks in these fields are in Guangdong province, the cultural and creative industries have room to thrive in the Bay Area. Finally, we will build the Alliance for Art and Culture of the Greater Bay Area in order to promote the collaboration of Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao in producing films, TV series, literature, music and artworks to present the development of the Bay Area. More cultural icons with characteristics of the Bay Area should be created.

Third is to provide more support for, and to create a better environment in the area of public opinion on the development of the Greater Bay Area. We are aware that on May 19, the first Media Summit of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area was organized in Guangdong province. The summit was a success, and over 110 media outlets from Guangdong, Beijing and Taiwan covered the summit, which was attended by a total of more than 600 media professionals and guests. During this one-day event and three days of interviews, we achieved a lot. This can be seen not only in the over 3,000 original news reports on the development of the Bay Area, but also in the consensus among many media outlets on how to present the first-class Bay Area. In this regard, we will work hard to make further progress in the gathering of media resources. Because the Greater Bay Area is a new area of growth, it will surely be under the spotlight. We hope that media around the world will pay more attention to the construction of the Greater Bay Area, thereby attracting more resources for its development in order to jointly contribute to an environment with first-class media and public opinion. Thank you.

Ma Xingrui:

Just now, Mr. Fu answered your first question. In order to create a strong cultured province, I think another point is also important - that is that advanced culture needs to be promoted by advanced technology. In my opinion, the cultural industry or cultural undertakings not only provide us with nourishment for our mind, but also stimulate technological development. Next, we are planning to popularize 4K, 8K and 5G, which will surely bring huge benefits to cultural communication. Therefore, the cultural industry has great demands and significant driving forces for technology.

I would like to answer the second question briefly. Recently, the trade friction between China and the U.S. has become an extremely important international issue. Yesterday, the State Council Information Office (SCIO) of China published a white paper clearly indicating China's stance on trade consultations. It said that the trade friction is provoked unilaterally by the U.S. and is not in line with related international rules. The continuous escalation of  trade friction is not only detrimental to economic and social development, enterprises and people on both sides, but is also harmful to the world's economy. Guangdong is a big province in regard to international business and economics, because we account for about one fifth of the total trade value between China and the U.S. Currently, enterprises and the market economy in Guangdong still have relatively high economic vitality. Tested by the 2008 international financial crisis, they have become more resilient and are better equipped to resist risks and support economic development. Guangdong has paid much attention to intellectual property (IP) protection, we have IP courts and established a standardized IP trading system. In addition, we have a bunch of enterprises that demonstrate a strong ability to innovate, such as Huawei which is a world leader in cutting edge 5G technology. Trade friction between China and the U.S. does have some effect on Guangdong, but it's generally within control. Thank you.

CGTN:

Guangdong regards digital government as an important driver for reform. It has proposed a series of innovative measures, including launching a government service app Yueshengshi in Guangdong. Could you tell us more about Guangdong's progress in its building of a digital government? Thanks.  

Ma Xingrui:

Thank you for the question. Let me invite Guangdong Vice-Governor Zhang Hu to answer the question.

Zhang Hu:

Thank you for your concern on Guangdong's digital reform and construction. President Xi Jinping pays great attention to applying information technology in state governance. He has emphasized many times the role of information technology in the state governance, and that promoting the modernization of the state governance system and governance capability by the use of information technology, so as to better serve the country's economic and social development and improve people's livelihoods. 

Guangdong's building of a "digital government" is an important deployment of General Secretary Xi's important instructions and spirit in this regard. It is significant for the province to foster an "internet plus government services", modernize the government's governance system and governance capability as well as playing up and creating new strengths in the business environment. After more than two years' work, the reform and construction of our "digital government" has achieved remarkable results. In April, the General Office of the State Council's e-governance office entrusted third party agencies to assess the online government service capabilities of provincial-level governments. Guangdong was ranked first in the assessment. I would like to introduce it through the following three aspects:

First, why this reform? Guangdong has always placed great significance to the informatization of governance and has launched government service applications with Guangdong characteristics. But in the light of the new situation and new requirements, we still have four prominent issues to resolve. Firstly, the construction and management mechanism lags behind. There is no department directly affiliated to the provincial government to lead and plan the deeper integration of informatization within the provincial-level government. There is also insufficient coordination and collaboration among the relevant governments at the city- and county-level. There is no vertical planning and collaboration so synergy is lacking between the superior and subordinate departments, and among different departments in one place that are related to the undertaking. Second, sporadic and repetitive construction is common. Before the reform, every department directly affiliated to the provincial government had its own information center, and there were as many as 1,068 such information systems, which were separated from each other. This led to the existence of many isolated information islands. Third, the services for enterprises and people are not in place. Because the data resources of different units are separate, and there was no unified management and effective sharing, the people and business owners often complained that they had to go to different departments and repeatedly provide certification materials to deal even with a simple matter related to the government. Fourth, the staff are not professional enough. The professional structure of talents on the informatization in government departments is comparatively basic. Statistics show the proportion of talents in the middle- and high-level professional ranks is not high, which does not match with Guangdong's status as a major province of the information industry.  

Secondly, how do we advance this reform? In response to the aforementioned prominent issues, the CPC Guangdong provincial committee and the Guangdong provincial government initiated the "digital government" reform. At the end of 2017, it was labeled as the first of the 18 key tasks for Guangdong's deepening of reforms. Guangdong Party chief Li Xi presided over the work conference to examine and settle on the final reform plan, and made detailed deployments. Guangdong Governor Ma Xingrui held the post as the leader of the team to deepen reform, and has conducted inspections many times to create the master plan and the construction plan to advance the reform. Our efforts are mainly in these four aspects:  

First, we have deepened institutional reforms. Governance service data administrative bureaus were established at the governments of the province, city and county level, which form a coordinated informatization administrative body connecting the superior and subordinate government bodies. The functions such as local office of government set-up committee's responsibilities in promoting the administrative approval system reform, the development and reform commission's duties in initiating and approving projects related to informatization, and the supervision of public resource trading platforms are now assigned to the government data service bureaus, so that a vertical and intensive management system that features the integration of technology and operations is formed. 

Second, we have established a model featuring the "collaboration of government and enterprises, and division of administration and operations". We have integrated the resources of Tencent, China Mobile, China Unicom and China Telecom and founded the Digital Guangdong, which is in charge of the building, operation and maintenance of the "digital government". We have brought together a group of talents in big data, networks, operations and development and resolved the shortage of talent and the rigidity of the government system in starting a business. 

Third, we have strengthened the platform's role as a powerful support and efficient service provider. Building a unified government cloud and big data platform, promoting inter-department and cross-level data sharing, and reinforcing the foundation for a digital government. Based on this foundation, we have advanced the platform's applications in three aspects — Yueshengshi app, Guangdong governance service website (gdzwfw.gov.cn), and coordinated office platform, in a bid to realize "the 'clouding' of data and the delivering of services".

Fourth, we place greater emphasis on the role of think tanks. A "digital government" reform and construction expert board was set up. We invited Wang Qinmin, who is the former vice chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, and director of the State Council's e-governance expert committee, to head the board, which consists of more than 100 experts and provides strong technological support in the construction of "digital government" for Guangdong.

Third, how about the effect of the reform? The Yueshengshi app has made it possible for users to deal with 630 government-linked issues relating to their everyday lives through their smartphone. For 86% of these issues, people now do not need to go to government departments in person, saving them considerable time and costs. For example, the photos people needed to take at the border exit-entry is now free of charge, which saves people's time, and nearly 100 million yuan ($14.49 million) a year. In the first year of the app's launch, more than 12 million people have logged on it. In terms of services for enterprises, the Guangdong governance service website has covered all service items related to governments at the village, township, county, city and provincial levels. This has greatly enhanced the working efficiency and reduced the amounts of materials enterprises have to submit by nearly 56%, according to our statistics, and reduced the amount of the time for registering a new business to five days at most. In addition, in terms of government coordination, the integrated collaborative office platform has been promoted for use in 21 cities in the province, as well as 42 departments directly affiliated to the provincial government, among which more than 90% has initiated cloud-based work platforms. Our survey indicates the time for handling department documents has dropped by about 40%, and the efficiency of administrative approval and services have markedly improved.

Currently, Guangdong has entered a key phase in its "digital government" reform and construction. Although we have made some progress, there are still many more tasks to be done. We will act strictly according to the CPC Central Committee and the State Council's deployment and requirements, learn the good experience and working methods from other provinces, and unswervingly deepen reform and seek innovation — like hitting the nail on the head — to take Guangdong's "digital government" reform and construction to another level. That's all I have to say about the topic. Thanks.

Ma Xingrui:

As for the "digital government", I would like to say more. First, it is important for us to implement the deployment of the "Digital China", as it represents the direction for guiding and pushing forward the development of the digital economy. Second, we need to build a public cloud platform and public data platform, breaking the former state in government work in which there was a lack of coordination among different departments. Third, we founded Digital Guangdong, a network construction company employing 1,200 people, which is a joint venture involving Tencent, China Mobile, China Telecom and China Unicom and operating according to market laws. Meanwhile, we founded a governance service data administrative bureau, which is indeed a tough institutional breakthrough. That's all. 

South China Morning Post:

I have two questions about the China-U.S. trade friction. First, what specific measures will Guangdong take to cushion the impact of the U.S. moves? You said the provincial government had introduced some important measures to meet the economic challenges that emerged in 2008. What measures has the government taken or plans to take to hedge against the impact of the current trade friction? Second, Guangdong plays a key role in promoting innovation, and you said the province plays a leading role in the innovation-driven development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area. So, what impact will the trade friction exert on Guangdong’s role as an innovation driver for the Greater Bay Area?

Ma Xingrui:

As to your first question, I think we need to let the market play the decisive role in resource allocation, along with the government playing its supervisory role better. 

First, we will pursue greater opening-up in accordance with the requirements of the CPC Central Committee. On several occasions, General Secretary Xi Jinping has stressed that China will broaden its opening-up. The occasions include the Boao Forum for Asia, the first China International Import Expo and the second Belt and Road Forum on International Cooperation. Guangdong, as an important window for China's opening-up and construction of the Greater Bay Area, must take more resolute measures to ensure broader opening-up. 

Second, we will further relax controls on market access, act to promote the foreign investment law passed at the second session of the 13th National People's Congress this year and implement an across-the-board management system based on pre-establishment national treatment and requirements of the negative list. We have also introduced a series of other measures to ensure stability of our foreign trade and better utilization of foreign investment. 

Third, we will continue to expand the overseas market. Last year, Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao jointly hosted a promotional event in Paris, which was attended by some 600 to 700 companies. This year's promotion in Tokyo was larger, drawing more than 1,200 participants. Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor, chief executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR), Chui Sai On, chief executive of the Macao SAR and myself attended the event. We have been organizing such events since we became fully aware that, in the age of economic globalization, no country can achieve development if its door is closed to the outside world. Judging by the current situation, foreign trade in Guangdong is steady.

Regarding your second question: First, speaking from both long-term and current perspectives, Chinese technological development must be achieved by self-reliant innovation. Of course, self-reliance doesn't mean cutting ourselves off from the rest of the world. The U.S. has no legitimate grounds for placing Huawei on its Entity List. For many years, Guangdong has been strengthening the role of enterprises in innovation, and we have made solid progress that is demonstrated by at least four figures of "90%" coming from enterprises, namely the percentage of R&D investment, the percentage of R&D personnel, the percentage of R&D institutes and the percentage of patent applications and approvals. Guangdong was ranked first in the comprehensive capacity of regional innovation among Chinese provinces in both 2017 and 2018.

Second, weak points affecting Guangdong's innovation capacity lie in basic research and application-oriented basic research. We have increased our efforts to develop platforms for technological innovation and promoted the establishment of several key scientific facilities, national and key laboratories. We have founded a provincial foundation for basic research and application-oriented basic research. We have also promoted technological breakthroughs in nine key areas (rail transit equipment, high-end vessels and ocean engineering equipment, smart robots, smart vehicles, sophisticated modern agricultural machinery, high-end medical appliances, new materials, smart manufacturing, and major technical equipment). Unremitting efforts are required for further progress.

Third, we have been focusing on providing a relaxed development environment for talent. So far, we have attracted a number of academicians and experts, innovation groups and entrepreneurial teams to Guangdong, and we also encourage enterprises to promote global allocation of technological resources.

Fourth, we attach great importance to intellectual property protection. Priority should be given to promoting the transfer and trade of technological outputs. The annual trade volume of technical contracts in Guangdong province has now reached more than 100 billion yuan.

Firth, we have made continuous efforts to improve Guangdong's ecosystem for innovation. This requires persistent efforts that cannot be achieved overnight. So, we encourage experts and academics to concentrate on their research rather than seeking fame and wealth. We are working to create an enabling environment in which failure is tolerated and exploration is constantly encouraged particularly in basic research. At the same time, we will always take resolute disciplinary action against academic misconduct. Thank you.

Economic Daily:

The uneven development between urban and rural areas and between various regions in Guangzhou has always been a challenge for the province. Last year, General Secretary Xi Jinping made requirements for Guangdong during his visit to the province. To address the challenge, what measures have been taken and how do they work? Thank you. 

Ma Xingrui:

Thank you for your question. The most daunting challenges facing Guangdong are the uneven development between regions and the urban-rural dual structure. Since the 18th National Congress of the CPC, General Secretary Xi Jinping has set very clear requirements for Guangdong's integrated development for multiple times. Especially during his visit from Oct. 22 to 25 last year, Xi asked us to take efforts to resolve the urban-rural dual structure, narrow the gap between the Pearl River Delta and the region of south Guangdong, west Guangdong and north Guangdong, and push for balanced and coordinated development. Those three areas occupy 70% of the land in the province, but account for only 20% of the provincial GDP, while the remaining 80% goes to the Pearl River Delta. Uneven development has been a longstanding issue. Guangdong still has a huge gap between urban and rural areas, as the ratio of rural income to urban income stands at 1:2.58. As a result, we will work hard to resolve the two issues.

Regional coordinated development means further focusing on relative strategies. The provincial government designed the new development pattern of "One Core, One Belt and One Region," —the Pearl River Delta as "One Core," the coastal economic belt as "One Belt," and the ecological development zone in north Guangdong as "One Region." Regional coordinated development also means we will increase support for east Guangdong, west Guangdong and north Guangdong. For example, we will advance the construction of the high-speed transit connecting the Pearl River Delta with the three parts of Guangdong, as well as a high-speed railway. We will also facilitate the construction of airports in Zhanjiang, Jieyang and Shaoguan. We are funneling more S&T resources to those three areas of Guangdong, and supporting their development of basic public services, including medical care, employment and education. On July 1, 2017, Guangdong was the first province to implement a coordinated basic pension system for employees. We will build 30 top-notch hospitals in the province, and now there are already 22 such hospitals, among which five are in the three core areas. The provincial government has invested 50 billion yuan in building a community-level medical service system. We will develop various education especially professional education. Moreover, we are optimizing the industrial structure. For instance, Zhanjiang and Jieyang are introducing a number of investment projects each worth tens of billions of yuan. 

As for urban-rural development, we will roll out policies and mechanisms to address the unevenness. We will stick to the principle that "urban areas support rural development, and industry promotes agriculture." The province will invest 160 billion yuan over the next 10 years to reshape the rural areas. We will do a good job to offset cultivated land used for other purposes, ink the amount of urban and rural land designated for construction to that of land returned to cultivation, and put returns from the land trade in the fund used to develop rural areas. We will push forward demolition and reclamation projects in rural areas. We are making efforts to advance industrial revival. We have built 150 modern provincial agriculture industrial parks, each granted 50 million yuan in subsidies to develop special agriculture and help raise the income of farmers. We will work hard to improve living conditions in urban and rural areas. We are confident that there will be significant progress within three years, huge achievements within five years, and fundamental changes within 10 years. Thank you. 

Hu Kaihong:

Due to the time limit, the last question will be for journalists. 

Hong Kong Economic Herald: 

Hong Kong youth entrepreneurship on the mainland has progressed to the version 2.0 under the background of the Greater Bay Area. What will Guangdong do to take forward the development of youth entrepreneurship and employment bases for Hong Kong and Macao? Thank you.

Ma Xingrui:

Thank you for your question. I have never heard of the version you mention. However, I can give you a brief introduction of the relevant work. First, during the development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, the CPC Guangdong Provincial Committee and Guangdong provincial government have always sought to meet the requirements of the central leadership in ways suiting the needs of Hong Kong and Macao, proactively promote the development of youth entrepreneurship and employment bases and provide services for the youth of Hong Kong and Macao. The Greater Bay Area consists of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR), the Macao Special Administrative Region (Macao SAR) as well as the municipalities of Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Zhuhai, Foshan, Huizhou, Dongguan, Zhongshan, Jiangmen and Zhaoqing in Guangdong Province (known as the "nine Pearl River Delta municipalities"), covering a total area of 56,000 square kilometers and with a combined population of approximately 70 million. Their combined gross domestic product (GDP) has been around $1.6 trillion. In recent years, we have established the Shenzhen-Hong Kong Science and Technology Innovation Special Cooperation Zone in Qianhai of Shenzhen, attracting a large number of young people from Hong Kong to take up innovation as well as entrepreneurship in Guangdong with great success. Now, all the Pearl River Delta municipalities have provided great opportunities to promote youth innovation and entrepreneurship for Hong Kong and Macao. Recently, I attended the Hong Kong-Guangdong Cooperation Joint Conference with Madam Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor, the fifth-term Chief Executive of the HKSAR, and the Guangdong-Macao Cooperation Joint Conference with Mr. Chui Sai On, the fourth Chief Executive of the Macao SAR. All the relevant work is now well underway and our cooperation has made good progress.

Second, we have been working hard to make it convenient for youth from Hong Kong and Macao to find a job, study and go to hospital here. For example, we have so far helped 100,000 citizens from Hong Kong and Macao to apply for mainland residence permits. In the areas of medical and endowment insurance, local governments from the three [pillars of the Greater Bay Area] vow to strengthen communication and improve relative supporting policies.

Third, we are always striving to provide convenience for youth from Hong Kong and Macao to incubate their scientific and technological achievements. For example, Da-Jiang Innovations (DJI) has grown in strength in Guangdong. At the beginning, the founder of DJI, Wang Tao, and his tutor got the idea in Hong Kong, but they chose Guangdong to incubate their achievement thanks to its highly-qualified manufacturing industry and mature industrial chain. Another example is UBTECH. Its innovative team had spent years trying to find a suitable place to produce robots, and finally chose Guangdong as its headquarters because of the mature industrial chain it offered. I want to say Guangdong's mature industrial chain helps a lot in transforming the innovation achievements of youth from Hong Kong and Macao. Thank you.

Hu Kaihong:

That's the end of the Q&A section. Now I'll give the floor to Mr. Ma for some closing remarks.

Ma Xingrui:

On behalf of the CPC Guangdong Provincial Committee and Guangdong provincial government, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to the SCIO and all media friends for your concern and support of Guangdong in its development. Welcome all of you to visit Guangdong. Thank you.

Hu Kaihong:

This concludes today's press conference. Thank you, Mr. Ma. Thank you, Mr. Fu and Mr. Zhang. Thank you all.

.

Read in Chinese

Speaker:

Wang Shouwen, vice minister of commerce and deputy China international trade representative

Chairperson:

Guo Weimin, vice minister of the State Council Information Office

Date:

June 2, 2019

Guo Weimin:

Ladies, gentlemen, media friends, good morning. Welcome to this press conference.

Today, the State Council Information Office (SCIO) released a white paper entitled "China's Position on the China-U.S. Economic and Trade Consultations." At this press conference, we will brief you about its major content, along necessary explanations.

Present at this press conference is Mr. Wang Shouwen, vice minister of commerce and deputy China international trade representative. I'm your host, Guo Weimin, vice minister of the State Council Information Office.

First of all, let me brief you about the major content of the white paper. The document is entitled "China's Position on the China-U.S. Economic and Trade Consultations." It summarizes and introduces the history of China-U.S. trade friction, and the general situation of the bilateral trade talks. It also explains China's principles and position on the various issues involved. The document contains approximately 8,300 words, and contains three parts - foreword, main content and conclusion.

The white paper notes that trade cooperation remains the ballast and the propeller for China-U.S. relations. This issue is critical to the fundamental interests of the two nations and their people, as well as world prosperity and peace. Since March 2018, in response to the economic and trade friction unilaterally initiated by the United States, China has had to take forceful measures to defend its national interests and its people. At the same time, China has always adhered to the basic principle of resolving disputes through dialogue and consultations, and there have been several rounds of trade negotiations with the United States. China has tried its best to maintain a stable trade relationship with the United States. We certainly don't want to see a trade war occur. However, if it really comes, we won't be afraid, and will fight it if necessary. Our attitude on this has never changed.

The white paper clearly shows how China-U.S. trade friction provoked by the United States has harmed the interests of both countries and, indeed, the world as a whole. The imposition of trade tariffs has done no good to the United States as well as others. It has impeded bilateral trade investment and cooperation. It has also affected market confidence and economic stability worldwide. A trade war won't "make America great again." Instead, it has raised the production costs of American enterprises, increased domestic prices in America, harmed U.S. economic growth and people's livelihood, and obstructed the flow of American exports to China. The trade bullying carried out by the U.S. have had a negative influence on the entire world. They have damaged the multilateral trading system, enormously disturbed the global industrial chain and supply chain, and damaged market confidence. They pose a severe challenge to the recovery of the global economy, and pose a grave threat to advancement of economic globalization.

The white paper noted that in the trade negotiations with China, the United States has gone back on its words, and not acted in good faith. Since the United States provoked the trade friction, bilateral trade and investment have been badly affected. This led to both sides agreeing to sit down and discuss a solution. Since the trade negotiations started in February 2018, significant progress has been made, and consensus has been reached on the majority of issues. However, there were also various twists and turns, all of them caused by the U.S. government, as it has repeatedly abandoned the bilateral consensus, gone back on its words, and broken its promises. The setbacks in our trade negotiations should all be blamed on the U.S. government.

The white paper pointed out that China has always adhered to the principles of equality, mutual benefit and good faith throughout the consultations. It has always believed that the U.S. threat of trade war and the imposition of tariffs won't help solve trade problems. China and the United States should seek solutions through consultations in the spirit of mutual respect, equality, mutual benefit, goodwill and good faith.

The white paper also emphasizes that, in China-U.S. trade consultations, the sovereignty and dignity of each country must be respected. Any agreement must be on an equal basis and be beneficial to both sides. When it concerns major issues of principle, China will never take a step back.

Finally, the white paper stresses that a mutually beneficial, win-win agreement between China and the United Stated conforms to the interests of both countries, and also meet world expectations. We hope that the United States and China can work together and meet each other halfway when managing trade disputes and enhancing trade cooperation, so as to jointly promote the Sino-U.S. relationship on the basis of coordination, cooperation and stability, and to increase the benefits available to the people of the two countries and the world.

The white paper "China's Position on the China-U.S. Economic and Trade Consultations" is available in eight languages, namely: Chinese, English, French, Russian, German, Spanish, Arabic and Japanese. It is published by the People's Publishing House and the Foreign Languages Press, and is distributed by the Xinhua Bookstore across the country.

That's all for my part. Now, let's welcome Mr. Wang Shouwen, vice minister of the Ministry of Commerce, deputy China international trade representative, to provide a detailed briefing.

Wang Shouwen:

Thank you, Mr. Guo. Friends from the press, ladies and gentlemen, good morning. Today, the State Council Information Office issued a white paper titled "China's Position on the China-U.S. Economic and Trade Consultations." Thank you very much for joining us this weekend. Mr. Guo has just provided a brief introduction to the main contents of the white paper, and I would like to add a few more points here.

The international community has paid close attention to the China-U.S. economic and trade consultations, and there are some rumors and speculations. In order to clarify the facts and show China's position on this issue, the Chinese government has compiled a white paper, "China's Position on the China-U.S. Economic and Trade Consultations." The white paper provides a comprehensive picture of the China-U.S. economic and trade consultations and presents China's policy position on these consultations from the perspectives of the impacts of China-U.S. economic and trade frictions, the backtracking of the U.S. on commitments in China-U.S. trade consultations, and China's principle and position on the consultations.

China believes that China and the U.S., the two largest economies in the world, benefit from cooperation and harm each other in disputes. The bilateral economic and trade relations bear on the fundamental interests of the two peoples and the prosperity and stability of the global economy. Since the establishment of diplomatic ties 40 years ago, China and the U.S. have seized the historic opportunities brought by the integration of the global economy and the liberalization of trade and investment, giving full play to the huge complementary advantages of the two economies, and promoting the leapfrog and diversified development of bilateral economic and trade cooperation from scratch. The value of bilateral trade in goods was only $2.5 billion when the two countries established diplomatic ties. Last year, bilateral trade in goods reached $633.5 billion, an increase of 252 times. The volume of bilateral trade in services reached $125 billion, and the two-way direct investment approached $160 billion. It can be said that China and the U.S. witnessed an economic and trade cooperation that has never been broader or deeper as today, and the two economies have become more closely linked, which not only brings tangible benefits to the two countries and the two peoples, but also contributes to the prosperity and stability of global economy.

Certainly, it is inevitable that there are some differences and frictions in the economic and trade cooperation because the two countries are in different stages of economic development and have adopted different economic systems. This is normal in our view and requires both sides to solve problems, resolve disputes, expand consensus, and narrow differences through dialogues and consultations while adopting a rational and cooperative attitude, so as to push bilateral economic and trade relations along the track of cooperation.

Since it took office, the current U.S. administration has frequently provoked economic and trade frictions with trade deficits and intellectual property rights as excuses, and imposed unilateral tariffs on China, regardless of the interests of China, the U.S. and even the world, or the nature of the mutually beneficial cooperation between China and the U.S. in economic and trade fields. China has to take effective measures to safeguard the interests of the country and its people. Meanwhile, China has always insisted on resolving disputes through dialogues and consultations and has conducted several rounds of economic and trade consultations with the U.S. side, working hard to stabilize bilateral economic and trade relations. China adopts a consistent and clear attitude that we are willing to address the economic and trade differences between the two countries through cooperation and push for a mutually beneficial agreement; however, there are principles for cooperation and a bottom line for consultations, and China will not back down on major issues of principle.

As President Xi Jinping pointed out, cooperation is the only correct choice for China and the United States. China will continue to work earnestly no matter how the situation changes. We would like to see both sides to meet halfway, and narrow differences and strengthen cooperation in the spirit of mutual respect, equality and mutual benefit, in a bid to promote the steady and sound development of the China-U.S. economic and trade relations together and improve the well-being of the people of the two countries and the world at large. Thank you.

Guo Weimin:

Thank you. Now, it's time for questions. Please identify the news organization you represent before asking questions. Simultaneous interpretation service is provided at today's press conference, and if you ask questions in English, we will provide translations on the spot. Let's start.

CCTV:

Question goes to Mr. Wang. Recently senior American officials accused China of "backtracking" that led to the stagnation of the negotiations. What's your comments on that? Sources also said that China deleted some of the draft text of the agreements, which led to the breakdown of the negotiations. Is it true? Thanks.

Wang Shouwen:

Thank you. China has always showed our full sincerity toward the China-U.S. trade talks. It is irresponsible for the U.S. to accuse China of "backtracking" during the consultations. This is mud-slinging. During the consultations, and before reaching an agreement, everything we put on the table is only a discussion; there is no so-called "backtracking" since there is no deal yet. There is a saying on consultations, that "Nothing is agreed until everything is agreed." Last December, China and America's presidents reached an important consensus during their meeting in Argentina that economic and trade frictions will be resolved through consultation, with the ultimate objective of removing all tariffs imposed by the two sides. China is committed to the presidential consensus in the interest of China-U.S. economic and trade relations. China has always kept reasonable, exercised restraint and showed its full sincerity and kindness when responding to the concerns of the United States.

On many issues raised by the U.S. side during the consultations, China has overcome difficulties and come up with practical measures. However, when you give the U.S. an inch, they'll want a yard. The U.S. side insisted on unreasonably lofty requests. They insisted that some requirements that interfere with China's sovereignty should be included in the agreement. They also insisted that all tariffs imposed since the trade frictions started should remain in place. They also put pressure on China by raising the rate of tariffs, leading to the escalation of the bilateral economic and trade friction and the severe setback on the consultation. All of us can tell from the facts which side should be responsible for the current status of the negotiations.

China always stresses that consultations should be based on mutual respect, equality and mutual benefit, and the two sides should meet each other halfway. By saying mutual respect, it means that each party should respect the other's sovereignty and core interests. We hope the U.S. can meet China halfway. With mutual understanding, both sides should compromise, instead of asking only one side to compromise. Equality and mutual benefit means that the two sides are on an equal footing and the results of the consultation should be beneficial to both sides. If one side doesn't respect the other side's sovereignty and core interests and tries to force the other side to compromise, negotiations cannot succeed. It is futile for the U.S. to exercise extreme pressure and other ways to escalate the trade frictions to force China to compromise. Thanks.

Economic Daily:

The U.S. claimed that trade frictions has hurt China more than it has the U.S. What is your point of view on this? Thank you.

Wang Shouwen:

There will be no winners in a trade war. The measure of imposing tariffs taken by the U.S. on Chinese goods has not only affected China, but also taken a toll on the U.S. and the global economy.

I think the results from U.S. research are most convincing and compelling when it comes to assessing the impact of the trade restrictions on the U.S. For instance, the U.S. claims that because the U.S. suffers a huge trade deficit with China, the trade war could help narrow this deficit. The fact of the matter is that U.S. statistics last year showed that the U.S. goods trade deficit rose by 10.4 percent, the U.S. soybeans exports to China plunged by 50 percent, and the U.S. automobile exports to China decreased by more than 20 percent. It shows that the trade sanctions have hurt the interests of the U.S. workers and farmers. The sanctions have also hurt U.S. consumers as well. A report released by the International Monetary Fund found that the tariff revenue collected has been borne almost entirely by U.S. consumers. How much is that? A research by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York showed that every U.S. household has to pay $831 more as a result of the tariffs. The trade friction will also put pressure on U.S. employment. Trade Partnership, an U.S. based think tank, found in its research that if the U.S. increased tariffs on Chinese imported goods, the U.S. would lose 2.23 million jobs. The trade sanctions will hit the U.S. and the world economy as well. The trade friction has disrupted the global value chain, caused chaos in the trade order and dented confidence of investors across the world. A report by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development found that the global cross-border investment slipped in 2017 and 2018 by a two-digit rate. The trade friction caused by the U.S. has not only harmed consumers' confidence, but also the world economy. Thank you.

Reuters:

I want to ask whether Xi Jinping will meet with Donald Trump at the G20 this month. And should they meet, what sorts of topics, what specific trade issues might they be talking about?

Wang Shouwen:

Thank you for your question. However, I have no information for you on this.

Bloomberg:

It seems to me from what you said today that you blame the U.S. for the breakdown of the talks. What gestures or what kind of statements of sincerity does the U.S. have to do to bring China back to the table? Is the next step, from your perspective, that the U.S. having to make the next move? Or is there some kind of trust building that you could go through? My second question is will Liu He be going to the trade ministerial meeting in Tsukuba in Japan next week? And if not, will there be any contact between the U.S. and Chinese negotiation teams either in Tsukuba or the finance ministerial meeting which Yi Gang will be attending? Thank you.

Wang Shouwen:

Thank you for your question. China and the U.S. have held 11 rounds of high-level economic and trade consultations. During the 11th round, the U.S. took the step of raising the tariff from 10% to 25% on a total of Chinese goods valued at $200 billion. It also announced it had launched procedures for additional tariffs on other Chinese goods worth around $300 billion. The U.S. also misused its export control, listing against some Chinese companies. These actions have ratcheted up the trade friction and represent a severe setback to the consultations. The U.S. government should bear the sole responsibility for this.

The two presidents reached an important consensus in Argentina, agreeing to stop imposing additional tariffs and step up consultations towards the removal of those additions already made. However, events have taken a new turn recently, for which the U.S. side should bear sole responsibility.

As to your second question, China will send representatives to the coming G20 Ministerial Meeting on Trade and Digital Economy in Tsukuba. Thank you.

CNR:

The U.S. has accused Chinese companies of obtaining valuable technologies and intellectual property from America through various ways, and believed that the Chinese government has directed companies to invest in American companies to acquire these cutting-edge technologies and intellectual property. What is your response?

Wang Shouwen:

Thank you for your question. China has done a lot of work in intellectual property rights protection and has increasingly become an important nation that leads on intellectual property. Last year, for example, China filed more than 1.5 million utility patent applications, ranking first in the world for eight consecutive years. Of course, while China is inventing and creating, it also trades intellectual property with other countries. We buy intellectual property rights from other countries and also export them to other countries. In terms of purchases, China paid $1.9 billion in intellectual property royalties in 2001, but paid $35.6 billion last year, that's a nearly 19-fold increase. Of that amount, we paid $8.64 billion to the United States, nearly a quarter of our total intellectual property purchases.

Therefore, this shows that China attaches great importance to the protection of intellectual property, so that more and more inventions of its own can be made and companies from other countries will be willing to sell their intellectual property to China. China has done a lot of work in intellectual property legislation, justice, and law enforcement, so that is a welcome development. The Chinese government is not involved in the acts of Chinese companies buying or exporting intellectual property abroad. What the Chinese government does is to create an environment that respects and protects intellectual property rights. This will promote the creation of intellectual property and better protect it. It's also good for the development of an innovative economy.

You mentioned earlier that some people said that "the Chinese government directs Chinese companies to invest in American companies to acquire advanced technologies." I don't think this is true. When Chinese companies invest abroad, what projects to invest in and what to buy or not to buy are entirely their own decisions, they are responsible for their own profits and losses, and make independent decisions at their own risk. The Chinese government is not involved in the specific commercial activities of companies. It does not direct or require companies to invest in any projects or buy any technologies. Thank you.

Phoenix TV:

The trade row has been lasting since March last year. The United States, on many occasions, including during Donald Trump's presidential election campaign and after he took office, has stressed that the US has a huge deficit in its trade with China, which is as high as $500 billion, and saying that the US has lost millions of jobs in its manufacturing industry, and the US has suffered losses in its trade with China. How do you respond to, and comment on these voices? Thanks.

Wang Shouwen:

I have heard these voices, claiming the U.S. suffers huge deficits in trading with China. In fact, whether it is trade deficit or surplus is not related to one side's loss or of being taken advantage of by the other. For instance, the US maintains surplus in its trade with Australia, while Australia enjoys a surplus with China, and China with the U.S. In this circulatory process, there are trade surpluses as well as deficits. Then who loses? And who gains an extra advantage by unfair means?  

It cannot be simply concluded that there is any relationship between trade surpluses and profiting at the expense of the others, or between trade deficit and suffering unfair losses. You mentioned the huge American deficit in trade with China. In fact, the US seriously overestimates its trade deficit with China. For instance, the U.S. sets its trade deficit in goods with China at $419.2 billion. However, is that figure of $419.2 billion accurate? According to research of a statistics team formed between the commerce ministries of China and the U.S., the American figure is usually 20 percent higher than the actual level. So, it is necessary to somewhat discount the US data. Meanwhile, we need to consider that, in Sino-U.S. trade, there are large amounts of processing trade, in which China imports parts from other countries or economies and assembles them before exporting the finished products to the United States. So, China's trade surplus with the U.S. should not be all identified as being China's gain.

Besides, we should take the bilateral trade in services into account. China does indeed have a surplus in goods trade with the U.S. However, according to American estimates, it maintains a huge surplus in services. If all these factors are considered, our conclusion is that, combining the trade in goods and services, the American deficit is only $150 billion, nothing like the alleged $410 billion-plus. Even the $150 billion trade deficit cannot be interpreted as China using unfair means to gain at American expense. This is because in China's trade surplus with the United States, 54 percent stems from the activities of foreign ventures, and 53 percent from processing industry trade. In the latter, China only profits from the processing costs. What does America gain? The products are designed by the U.S., and many key parts are provided by the U.S., which is also in charge of marketing. So, the U.S. side also obtains huge profits from China's trade surplus. When Chinese commodities are exported to the United States, because of their cost advantage, they help lower the burden on American consumers, and helps create a lot of jobs in the wholesale, retail and logistics sectors on the American side. So, it cannot be simply said that imports from China harm American interests.

You mentioned that imports from China have destroyed American manufacturing jobs. In fact, some U.S. research institutes assert that the country started losing manufacturing jobs before China entered the World Trade Organization in 2001. The main reason for this is the advancement of science and technology and the improvement in labor productivity. It is baseless and totally unreasonable to blame China. The American economic structure has changed. Although there are fewer jobs in manufacturing, jobs in the service sector have seen a steady rise, and this has brought the unemployment rate in the U.S. today down to a level not seen for decades. So, whether in service trade or goods trade, no matter who has surplus or deficit on one or the other, Sino-U.S. trade is mutually beneficial and is good for the world as well. Thanks. 

CNN:

It has been noticed that China's comments or stance have become increasingly tougher. While talking about the trade war, officials and media outlets have all mentioned the rare earths issue. And, China announced its "unreliable entity list" on Friday. Some Americans say China remains vague on the list, which gives the Chinese government an opaque means to attack U.S. giants in science and technology, as well as other enterprises. The Chinese media also mentioned FedEx. After Huawei's senior executive was detained in Canada and China detained two Canadian citizens in China, some people feel that the Chinese government will take similar measures targeting at U.S. companies in China as well as American citizens. Some Americans worry about their commercial and investment interests, as well as their personal safety in China. How do you respond to these? Could you clarify and explain China's strategies and tactics in the future trade war? Thank you.

Wang Shouwen:

Thanks for your questions. China's stance on trade frictions is crystal clear - China is not willing to fight, but does not fear fighting. As to what you have said, we think, some of it is being over-interpreted. For instance, as for the FedEx incident, China welcomes foreign enterprises that abide by laws in their operation in China. However, if they violate Chinese laws, we should conduct investigation according to the law. China has just passed its Foreign Investment Law, and stresses that all Chinese and foreign investors in China will be treated equally without discrimination, and foreign investors' lawful rights and interests can be well protected. In this regard, people should feel well assured. However, all companies must abide by Chinese laws, respect Chinese laws, and do business under the framework of Chinese laws.

As for the unreliable entity list, my colleagues have explained about this the day before yesterday. It mainly targets those enterprises, organizations and individuals that violate market principles, the spirit of contracts, block or cut supplies to Chinese firms for non-commercial reasons, and that in some way violate the legal rights and interests of Chinese enterprises, and harm China's national security and public interests. These entities will be added to the list. The purpose is to protect stable, equitable and sustainable trade order between enterprises. So, there is no need to exaggerate this point. Thanks.

CGTN:

First, why does China choose to issue the White Paper of China's Position on the China-US Economic and Trade Consultations at this time? What is the significance of it? We know that China increased tariffs on some imported American products from June 1. What kind of message is China trying to send by doing so? Thanks.

Guo Weimin:

I will answer the first question as to why choose this moment to issue the White Paper. Recently, the China-U.S. economic and trade consultations have received great attention from China and the United States, as well as the international community. It is necessary to offer a comprehensive report on the situations of the consultations and to expound on the stance of the Chinese government on the issue. I think the timing is appropriate and the issuance of the White Paper is of vital importance. This is my answer to the question.

Wang Shouwen:

Thank you for your question. China did increase tariffs on some of the imported American products from June 1. This is a necessary and reasonable response to the escalation of the trade protection actions taken by the U.S. side. We need such measures to protect the rights of the nation, the rights of the people and the rights of Chinese companies. Thank you.

China Daily:

Recently, an intermediary organization said in a report that some U.S. companies in China are facing challenges such as slower customs clearance, more inspections and delayed approvals for licenses. What's your comment on this report? Moreover, the Ministry of Commerce said on Friday that China will establish a list of unreliable entities. How is this system progressing? Thank you.

Wang Shouwen:

Thanks for your question. I've also noticed the report that you mentioned, saying that some enterprises are experiencing slower customs clearance and longer waits for approvals for licenses in China. I'm not sure whether these problems are true or not, and we need to figure out the details of this situation. But we have already been investigating seriously for more information. I want to stress that China has adopted many measures to simplify its customs clearance process. The number of customs clearance document required for imports and exports has been reduced from more than 80 to more than 40, and this number will further decrease in the future. We are also working on speeding up the handling of these documents so as to reduce the overall time on customs clearance. At the same time, we also aim to cut the expenses paid by enterprises in clearing customs. These facilitation measures that China has adopted are very effective, which was reflected in the World Bank's Doing Business Report last year.

China has been constantly deepening its reforms to delegate power, streamlining its administration and optimizing government services through a series of measures in regards to the aspects of examination and approval you raised. Recently, the relevant authorities have issued a notice to further reduce production permits for industrial goods and types of compulsory certifications for products. This is to enable the market to play a bigger role and allow the government to pay more attention to the supervision and administration work which is something that the government must do. For the specific problems confronted by the companies, they can report them to the local commercial authorities. In general, the business environment in China is good, but for the specific issues encountered by certain companies, I suggest they report to the local commercial authorities, or even use the complaint reporting system. According to China's new Foreign Investment Law passed in March, China will establish and improve the complaints mechanism for foreign companies. With the establishment of the complaints mechanism, I suggest that those enterprises report their specific issues through this channel.

As for the progress of the list of unreliable entities you've asked about, the relevant measures will be released soon. Thank you.

Lianhe Zaobao:

Is it possible that Huawei will be included in the economic and trade consultations? Will China put some restrictions on the exports of rare earth metals to counter the U.S.? The third question is also about the list of unreliable entities. What will be the consequences for an enterprise if it is on the list? Thank you.

Wang Shouwen:

Regarding the list of unreliable entities, I've answered earlier, the specific measures will be published soon.

Regarding the rare earth metals, China, being the country with the largest reserves of rare earth metals in the world, is willing to meet justified demands of other countries. However, if some countries use China's rare earth metals to produce products to contain China's development, it is unacceptable. 

Regarding the U.S.-China economic and trade consultations, as I mentioned earlier, it should be based on the principles of mutual respect, equality, mutual benefit and both sides should meet each other halfway. Consultations would be pointless if they are not based on these principles. Without this, we would not be able to reach an enforceable and sustainable agreement in consultations. Thank you.

Guo Weimin:

The last question.

Xinhua News Agency:

At present, everyone is very concerned about the development of the China-U.S. economic and trade negotiations. The U.S. side also stated earlier that the leaders of China and the United States will meet in June at the G20 summit, which the public generally believe to be a key for both sides to restart negotiations. May I ask Mr. Wang, is there any contact at the working level between the two sides? Is there a plan for negotiations? If so, what kind of trade agreement will China accept? Thank you.

Wang Shouwen:

Thank you. As I just mentioned, the reason for the serious setback in the China-U.S. economic and trade consultations is because the United States has raised the additional tariffs on $200 billion of Chinese exports to the U.S. from 10 percent to 25 percent, and then launched procedures to slap additional tariffs on remaining Chinese goods, which are worth around $300 billion. The United States also abuses its national security exceptions and added some Chinese companies onto its list of export control entities, which is the reason for the escalation of economic and trade frictions between the two sides. China has always been sincere in the negotiations. We want to reach an agreement that is mutually beneficial and equal. Allow me to repeat, that if consultations are needed, the two sides involved must respect each other, and work together to meet each other halfway; the consultations must be equal and mutually beneficial. Thank you.

Guo Weimin:

This concludes today's press conference. Thank you.

Translated and edited by Li Huiru, Chen Xia, Zhang Jiaqi, Cui Can, He Shan, Zhang Liying, Zhang Rui, Li Yang, Liu Sitong, Gong Yingchun, Wang Qian, Guo Xiaohong, He Shan, Zhou Jing, Wang Yanfang, Jennifer Fossenbell, Geoffrey Murray, Laura Zheng, Degen Hill, Kenneth Teh Chiu Soong

Read in Chinese

Speakers:

Wang Dongfeng, secretary of Hebei Provincial Committee of the CPC, chairman of the Standing Committee of the People's Congress of Hebei province

Xu Qin, vice secretary of Hebei Provincial Committee of the CPC, governor of the People's Government of Hebei province

Chairperson:

Hu Kaihong, spokesperson of the State Council Information Office of China

Date:

May 28, 2019

Hu Kaihong:

Ladies and gentlemen, good morning. Welcome to this press conference. This year marks the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China. Starting now, we will hold a series of press conferences, and invite the heads of every province, autonomous region and municipality directly under the central government to brief you about local economic and social development over the past 70 years. 

Today, we invite Mr. Wang Dongfeng, secretary of the Hebei Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and chairman of the Standing Committee of the People's Congress of Hebei province, as well as Mr. Xu Qin, vice secretary of the Hebei Provincial Committee of the CPC and governor of the People's Government of Hebei province, to brief you about the province's development in the new era. 

Now I'll give the floor to Mr. Wang.

Wang Dongfeng:

Ladies and gentlemen, friends from the press, I am very glad to see you here. Firstly, on behalf of the Hebei Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC), the Standing Committee of the Hebei Provincial People's Congress, the People's Government of Hebei province, the Hebei Provincial Political Consultative Conference and 75 million people of Hebei, I would like to extend a warm welcome and sincere gratitude to all of you here. 

The theme of today's press briefing is, "Hebei: Forging Ahead on a New Journey in the New Era." I am very delighted to have the opportunity to be with you to review the development and great changes that Hebei province has made over the past 70 years since the founding of the People's Republic of China, and share our vision for Hebei's future of strong economic growth and a beautiful environment in the new era. 

Cherishing a long revolutionary history, Hebei is home to many heroic figures. It was where the plan to establish a new China took shape. Seven decades ago, when Comrade Mao Zedong and the CPC Central Committee left Xibaipo, the move was compared to students going to the capital city to take the imperial examination of old. Since then, under the leadership of the CPC, the Chinese nation has achieved a remarkable transformation — it has stood up and grown rich. Thanks to 70 years of hard work, as with all the regions in the country, Hebei has made historical achievements and witnessed fundamental changes. Generally speaking, five major changes have taken place.

First, the economy continues to develop in a sound manner and great changes have taken place in the overall strength. The province has increased its GDP by more than 880 times since the founding of the People's Republic of China, and the level of productivity has increased substantially, forming a modern industrial system with a solid foundation. In 2018, the added value of high-tech industries accounted for 19.5% of those industrial enterprises above the designated size, 1.1 percentage points higher than that of the previous year. After three rounds of industrial restructuring, the proportion rankings of the three industries had changed from "secondary, tertiary, primary" to "tertiary, secondary, primary" by the end of last year. With new historic changes in industrial, ownership and product structures, the province has made new strides in high-quality development.

Second, with the rising living standards and the income of rural and urban residents, people in Hebei province are forging ahead with a better life and the goal of building a prosperous society. In 2018, the per capita disposable income of urban and rural residents was 119.5 and 123 times that of 1978, respectively.

Third, the constant push for reform and opening-up has facilitated the desired change of growth drivers. By deepening supply-side structural reform and pursuing a new round of high-level opening-up, we have injected greater dynamism into Hebei's development. Nearly 3,000 national-level high-tech enterprises started business in Hebei between 2017 and 2018 alone. The service sector contributed 65.5% of provincial economic growth in 2018. The HBIS GROUP Serbia Iron & Steel is an outstanding example of international cooperation within the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). Its management team was awarded the title "role model of our times" by the Publicity Department of the Communist Party of China Central Committee for its contribution to promoting the BRI and building a community with a shared future for all humanity.

The fourth aspect is to promote the harmonious coexistence between humanity and nature. The quality of the ecological environment has been significantly improved. We have resolutely put into practice Xi Jinping's thinking on promoting ecological progress, which resulted in positive changes in environmental protection and constantly improved air quality. As is known, Hebei's industrial structure has long been more inclined to heavy industry and the energy use structure was not that reasonable. In particular, there is considerable surplus steel production capacity. We have adopted the approach to "resolutely cut capacity, actively adjust and accelerate the process of transformation." We would rather sacrifice GDP growth and ensure blue skies for the Beijing region. Through the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei joint prevention, control and governance program, air pollution control has secured important achievements. Last year, Hebei's concentration of PM2.5 was 56 micrograms, a 48% drop from 2013, and down 14% from the previous year. Not only Shijiazhuang but other cities in the province have witnessed a growing number of days with blue sky. In addition, this also serves as the key to help Beijing and Tianjin to increase their blue-sky days, which, in turn, increases the sense of gain and happiness of the people. The pollution control in regard to water and the soil has also been solidly promoted, and blue skies, green land and beautiful sparkling waters are gradually becoming a reality in Hebei province.

Fifth, we uphold the overall leadership of the Party, and our Party's and our government's working style, as well as our social conduct, have greatly improved. We consistently uphold the guidance of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, press ahead with the great new project of Party building, and move further forward with the full and rigorous governance of the Party. We are continually purifying and improving our political ecosystem across the entire province, and the public widely believe that our Party's and our government's working styles have continuously improved, and that our social conduct has achieved a historical level of change. Last year, in the re-elections to the provincial People's Congress, provincial government and provincial Political Consultative Conference, the candidates for all posts approved by the CPC Central Committee and proposed by the provincial Party Committee, as well as for deputies to the National People's Congress, were all elected by unanimous vote or by absolute high vote. In this year's election for the "two sessions" of the province, the candidates for all posts were all elected by unanimous vote.

The achievements of the past 70 years fully demonstrate the unparalleled advantage of the leadership of the CPC and socialism with Chinese characteristics. Hebei people are eager for more achievements in the new era and will make unswerving efforts for this. 

Since the start of reform and opening-up in 1978, particularly after the 18th CPC National Congress, Hebei province has made fresh economic and social advances. General Secretary Xi Jinping is quite familiar with provincial affairs and cares about us deeply. In the 1980s, he worked in Zhengding county, and left us valuable thoughts, cultural wealth and many achievements. After moving on to other posts, he has never ceased caring about us. Since the 18th CPC National Congress, he has made seven inspection tours of Hebei. On Jan. 16, he returned to the province and issued a series of major instructions. On Jan. 18, a symposium was held in Beijing to discuss the integrated development of Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei. He pointed out our shortcomings while recognizing our achievements. In particular, he issued a series of major instructions on improving the quality and degree of integrated development. His remarks mapped the future direction for Hebei's reform and development, and gave us the fundamental guidelines in our ongoing work. When visiting Xibaipo, he stressed that Party officials and Party members should seek a good performance, as well as in other ongoing and upcoming "tests," so as to satisfy the people. 

The provincial CPC committee, the provincial government, all officials and the general public in the province will always bear in mind the instructions of General Secretary Xi. We will strengthen our consciousness of the need to maintain political integrity, think in big-picture terms, follow the core leadership and keep in alignment. We will increase our confidence in the path, theory, system, and culture of socialism with Chinese characteristics. We will resolutely uphold General Secretary Xi's core position on the CPC Central Committee and in the Party as a whole, and resolutely uphold the CPC Central Committee's authority and its centralized, unified leadership. 

We will work hard to achieve good results in the "examinations" of the new era. Surrounding Beijing geographically, we will rally closely to the central authority. We will promote a stable atmosphere in the province to help maintain the capital city's stability. We will make further advances to better contribute to the development of Beijing and Tianjin and the other parts of the country in the reform and opening up. 

We will launch continuous campaigns to study, publicize and implement Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era. We will fully implement the guiding principles of the 18th and 19th CPC national congresses, and all major policies and plans made by the CPC Central Committee. We will pursue coordinated implementation of the five-sphere integrated plan and the four-pronged comprehensive strategy. We are totally committed to the underlying principle of pursuing progress while ensuring stability. We will follow the new development philosophy, fulfill the requirements for high-quality development, and take supply-side structural reform as our main task. We adhere to the "3689" plan on provincial development. Based on the achievements of our forebears in this task, we will continue to make fresh advances in the new era, and build Hebei into a strong economic power and a beautiful province.

The major characteristics of Hebei's development can be summarized as follows. First is being firm in political stance and implementing national key development strategies and projects. As is well known, the three key projects for Hebei province include the planning and development of the Xiongan New Area, the coordinated development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, as well as Beijing's cooperation with Zhangjiakou city to co-host the 2022 Winter Olympics, in which the sporting events on ice will take place in Beijing and the snow events will be held in Zhangjiakou. All three of these key projects have inspired people in Hebei province, building their confidence and determination to forge ahead and work toward the Chinese dream. Taken as the major political tasks of Hebei province, the three key projects have undergone steady, orderly and effective implementation. Although significant progress has been made in recent years, we can still put forth greater effort. With the further implementation of national key development strategies and projects, Hebei province has become a popular destination for investment from all over the world. 

Second is the full implementation of the new development philosophy, making solid progress in innovative, green and high-quality development of Hebei province. We will fully implement General Secretary Xi Jinping's important instructions to scale down overcapacity, promote structural readjustment and speed up the transformation of growth drivers. We will accelerate the transformation and upgrading of traditional industries, and improve their quality and performance. In order to achieve this goal, we need to, first of all, cut overcapacity in the steel industry. The steel produced in Hebei province is of world-class quality, yet such overcapacity is not outdated. Our principle in this regard is to "shut down small outdated steel plants and strengthen development of big producers, and promote the elite and phase out the inferior." Up to now, the total steel production volume is still relatively large. With a 14-million-ton annual reduction in steel production, the annual volume of steel produced in Hebei is expected to be held within 200 million tons by 2020. Meanwhile, we also encourage the global development of our advanced industrial capacity. For example, the HBIS Group Serbia Iron & Steel was awarded the title "role model of our times" by the Publicity Department of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee. It sets a model on how China's steel industry can go global, and a success story in international cooperation under the Belt and Road Initiative. In addition, we have made progress in the development of strategic emerging industries and the modern service industry. The province has sustained steady and sound economic and social development. Last year, Hebei's GDP increased by 6.6% and the general public budget increased by 8.7%. Per capita disposable personal income in urban and rural areas increased by 8% and 8.9% respectively. The first quarter of this year saw a good start, as its GDP increased by 7.4% and its general public budget increased by 13%. During the January-April period, the value added from industrial enterprises with annual revenue of 20 million yuan or more increased by 8.8%,  with the high-tech industries growing by 15.5%. In the first quarter, the per capita disposable personal income in urban and rural areas increased by 7.9% and 8.9%, respectively. The fixed-asset investment increased by 6% and foreign investment utilized increased by 10.6%. The gross export value increased by 12.3%. Many figures from the first quarter reached their highest level compared to the same period in recent years. 

Third, we should adhere to the people-centered development methods to continually enhance the people's sense of gain, happiness and security. Serving the people should be made the starting point and foothold of all work. The CPC Hebei Provincial Committee and the Hebei provincial government have kept at it for many years, with 20 livelihood projects launched every year, such as the renovation of shanty areas, transformation of old residential communities and dilapidated rural houses, renovation of "villages" inside cities, and more. By these means, the people's concerns about employment, starting new businesses, medical care, education and caring for the elderly have been well addressed, the income of urban and rural residents has increased continuously, and the environmental and ecological issues that the people care about have also been markedly improved. 

For example, the authorities have dealt with bulk coal pollution to promote clean heating in winter, which helps to transform the energy structure and also controls pollution. We have so far replaced bulk coal stoves with electricity and natural gas in 5.35 million homes. 

We have also carried out the greening campaign. Last year, Hebei saw its forest area grow by 9.87 million mu (658,000 hectares), and this year, we will further enlarge it by over 10 million mu. When you travel in Hebei by car or train, you can see green everywhere on either side of the roads and railways. For one thing, we need to deal with air pollution to win the blue-sky battle; and for another, we need to plant trees to improve the ecology, and we need to keep the water clean. 

Air pollution control is an inter-regional effort, and water pollution control is a joint effort with Beijing and Tianjin in terms of the whole river basin. Soil contamination prevention and control work is being undertaken by local governments. Delivering these combination blows, Hebei has been taking the initiative to protect the environment. Hebei has also carried out a rural revitalization strategy to improve the living environment in villages, and people's living and working environments have hence been greatly improved. 

These achievements have been made possible by the firm leadership of the CPC CentralCommittee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core, as well as by the support of all relevant ministries, other provinces, cities and autonomous regions, as well as the whole society, including the media. These achievements are also returns on the Hebei people's united struggle. 

It is an arduous challenge and serious duty for Hebei to forge ahead on a new journey in the new era. Xi Jinping, general secretary of the CPC Central Committee, points out the times give us a test, we are the exam takers, and the people are the ones in charge of reviewing the exam papers. On the journey of the new era, Hebei should rally closely around the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core, and must always be true to its missions, bravely assume its responsibilities, and strive to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China with the latest developments on all fronts.

Now is the time for Xu Qin, provincial governor of Hebei, and me to take your questions. 

Hu Kaihong:

Thank you, Mr. Wang. At this time, we welcome questions, Please report the news agency you represent before asking your question.

CCTV:

Over the past five years, Hebei has done a lot to promote the coordinated development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Region, especially in striving for breakthroughs in the three key areas of transportation, environmental protection, and industry. What will Hebei focus on in advancing in the future? 

Wang Dongfeng: 

Thank you for your question. We all know that the coordinated development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Region is a significant national strategy that is designed and promoted by General Secretary Xi Jinping and he has paid great attention and much effort to it. I have mentioned the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei cooperative efforts on making breakthroughs in promoting traffic integration, joint prevention, control and management of pollution and industrial collaboration in my report. I won't repeat it. Though, we have some measures in the next phase which are as follows: 

First, we will focus on relieving Beijing of functions non-essential to its role as capital and work to build the Xiongan New Area, a centralized platform accommodating relocated functions and other platforms in cities and counties in Hebei. General Secretary Xi stressed in the report to the 19th CPC National Congress that relieving Beijing of functions which are non-essential to its role as capital is key to the coordinated development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Region. In the planning outlines and general plans approved by the CPC Central Committee and the State Council, it is clearly stated that the Xiongan New Area is the centralized platform accommodating non-capital functions of Beijing. It is the primary principle guiding its development. There are some other cities and counties in Hebei accommodating relocated functions of Beijing. For example, the three counties in Lanfang city, which are located between Beijing and Tianjin and have a larger area than Beijing sub-administrative center, have been approved to use the same standard as the Tongzhou District in making plans, standards and policies, and management, according to a general plan made by the CPC Central Committee. The development plan has been submitted to the Leading Group of the Coordinated Development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Region and will be carried forward after approval. This will be a new cooperative platform. The Beijing Daxing International Airport will be put into use in September. Occupying areas in both Beijing and Hebei, the airport is a hub in Beijing and northern China. So it is Hebei's political duty to guarantee a stable overall situation and offer good services in the airport. In the vicinity of the airport, a 150-square-kilometer airport economic zone is to be established, with 50 square kilometers in Beijing and the other 100 square kilometers in Hebei. It will also use the Tongzhou standard in making plans, standards and policies, and management. A new coordination and cooperation mechanism will be set up and the plan is also under examination. Additionally, Langfang, Wuqing and Tongzhou are also pilot zones of the coordinated development mechanism of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Region that apply unified standards and stick to integrated development. Three ports in Hebei, namely, Qinghuangdao, Tangshan and Huanghua ports, form part of the Bohai-Sea Port Cluster together with Tianjin Port. Hebei introduced 2,516 projects from Beijing and Tianjin last year with a capital inflow of 430.8 billion yuan. More than 1,400 high-tech enterprises have moved from Beijing and Tianjin to Hebei so far.

Second, Hebei will make comprehensive efforts to fulfill the designated functions and accelerate its development while serving and aligning itself with Beijing and Tianjin. Hebei was designated as an important national base for modern trade and logistics, a pilot zone for industrial transformation and upgrading, a demonstration area for modern urbanization and coordinated development of urban and rural areas, and an ecological buffer zone. In accordance with the positioning, the cities and counties in Hebei province are working to promote high-quality development by making differentiated but coordinated progress. Dahongmen Clothing Wholesale Market, Xinfadi Agricultural Products Wholesale Market, and Beijing Zoo Clothing Wholesale Market have been relocated from Beijing to Baoding and Cangzhou. We are promoting the development of cities of different sizes in different regions to foster new development platforms and advance the establishment of a world-class city cluster with Beijing at the core. We have taken a series of measures to ensure ecological security of the capital and to prevent and control air and water pollution. Notable progress has been made after several years of efforts to improve river basins upstream and downstream and curb over-exploitation of groundwater in the North China Plain. Recent media reports said water came to the surface of lakes and rivers from under the ground in Xingtai, suggesting a rise in the water table. We are now implementing restrictions on the use of groundwater and are making good use of the water diverted from the South-to-North Water Diversion Project and the Yellow River Water Diversion Project. We require self-provided wells to be closed in places where water can be diverted from the South-to-North Water Diversion Project, and we charge fees for using groundwater. In addition, Hebei Provincial People's Congress has also introduced relevant laws to combat this problem. In short, we have been making efforts on the legal, economic, administrative, and other fronts to improve Hebei's ecological environment.

Third, we will unswervingly advance the construction of "two new driving forces" and "two zones" so as to drive the green development in Hebei province. This is another major initiative proposed by General Secretary Xi Jinping. The development of both Xiongan New Area and Beijing's subsidiary administrative center will become two new driving forces for Beijing's development. And the development of both Xiongan New Area and Zhangbei county in Zhangjiakou city - a co-host with Beijing to the 2022 Winter Olympics - will become two new driving forces for Hebei's development. The "two zones" that have been proposed by General Secretary Xi Jinping in Zhangjiakou refer to the capital's water source conservation zone and the ecological buffer zone. Their construction is not only Hebei's ecological task but an important political responsibility. Zhangjiakou city, Hebei province, provides water for ecological development and people's daily life in both Beijing and Tianjin. Miyun Reservoir (in Beijing's Miyun district) serves as Bejing's water source; Guanting Reservoir, which is located in Zhangjiakou city, used to be Beijing's water source earlier. Moreover, Yuqiao Reservoir, as part of the Water Diversion Project from Luanhe River to Tianjin Municipality, serves as Tianjin's water source. Hebei is located in the upstream area of all these reservoirs, so we have the responsibility to ensure the water quality for Beijing and Tianjin. This is Hebei's role as a water protector. It is a major strategy. Hebei province, together with the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), has submitted working plans to the CPC Central Committee and the State Council. A lot of work is underway, and some initial outcomes have been achieved, all of which need the concern, support, and assistance of the media outlets. 

Generally, we will, following a series of measures, strive for new progress in promoting innovative, green, and high-quality development in Hebei province. Thank you. 

China Arab TV:

People from all walks of life are paying close attention to the construction of Xiongan New Area, and the media have also reported many times that Xiongan New Area is about to reach its large-scale construction phase. What will be the biggest change it can show to the world next? 

Wang Dongfeng:

Thanks for your question. The establishment of Xiongan New Area is a historic and major strategic choice made by the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core. General Secretary Xi Jinping has made great efforts to plan for it and promote its construction. Under the strong leadership of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council, the planning and construction of Xiongan New Area have been pushed forward in an orderly and effective way, turning now from top-level design to substantial construction. The progress also embodies the support of the Leading Group for the Coordinated Development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Region and its office, as well as ministries and commissions, plus the help of Beijing, Tianjin and other brother areas, as well as the care and help of our media friends. In the process of implementation, what more can the plan show the country and the world, apart from the construction of a new modern city? 

First, striving to create a Xiongan quality standard and a national role model of high-quality development. Creating a Xiongan quality standard is a strategic goal put forward by the CPC Central Committee and General Secretary Xi Jinping for Hebei province and Xiongan New Area. In the first place, centering on high-quality development, Xiongan will perform well as a model of high-quality development in the country. From the perspective of a high-quality index system, it will benchmark world-class standards, and carry out quality management throughout its planning and construction. It will uphold high-tech and high-end principles, build quality and model projects, and create a Xiongan quality standard. This is a highlight, and a focus of international and domestic attention. 

Second, striving to promote innovative development and build a demonstration area for innovative development that implements the new development concepts. Xiongan will pursue innovative, coordinated, green, open and shared development in a comprehensive fashion. It will take in elements of innovation from Beijing and Tianjin, integrate resources and elements from the whole country and around the globe, establish a batch of key national laboratories, and re-innovate upon introduction and absorption, so as to promote the development of high-end and high-tech industry clusters. Such moves will allow a demonstration area featuring the five concepts to take shape and effect in Xiongan, and benefit the general public as the work goes on. 

Third, striving to develop a new generation of artificial intelligence and establish itself as a world-leading digital smart city. People around the world are paying attention to the construction of smart cities. Xiongan will make its standard system more systematic, comprehensive and international. Xiongan New Area is now constructing the underground part first, and the aboveground part will follow. It will adopt the use of the Beidou Satellite, remote sensing, infrared rays, terahertz, facial recognition, big data, cloud computing and other technologies, and is using BIM and CIM in the process of construction. Induction facilities, as well as optical fibers and cables, are required to be buried underground, so if not buried now, it will be too late to wait for the completion of construction. In the past, transportation, medical care and urban management of smart cities were considered independent from each other while construction. Different cities have a variety of good methods and experiences, and Hebei has integrated the experiences of smart city planning across the country and the world. The important thing for now is to formulate a good strategic plan, to improve as the work goes on and to eliminate wasteful duplication of efforts. 

Fourth, striving to promote reform and opening up and to reach new heights in institutional and mechanism reform. The Xiongan Administrative Committee has jurisdiction over three counties in Baoding city. There is no local Party committee, people's congress, government or Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) committee in Xiongan New Area, which represents a new political, economic and social model featuring a flat structure, coordination and high efficiency. When it comes to public security, environmental protection, court and procuratorate affairs, it is necessary to stress social management and governance in accordance with the law. Therefore, the province has designated offices in Xiongan New Area, and there are local Party committees, people's congresses, governments and  CPPCC committees in the three counties, which are administered by the Party Working Committee and the Administrative Committee. No existing mechanism or model can be referred to, which, thus, requires innovation. In accordance with the guidelines and arrangements of the CPC Central Committee, the provincial Party committee and the provincial government have granted Xiongan New Area with the power of economic and social management, and entrusted the three counties to the Party Working Committee and Administrative Committee of Xiongan New Area. The admittance of market players, consultation, acceptance of applications, approval and handling of business and feedback can all be processed online, regardless of whether the applicants are at home or at work. 

In addition to the abovementioned four aspects, Xiongan New Area will next focus on the comprehensive governance and protection of Baiyangdian Lake, major construction projects like infrastructure, support facilities and peripheral transportation, livelihood, land acquisition and demolition. Currently, the Beijing-Xiongan High-Speed Railway is under construction and will begin operation next year. We are also planning to connect to Beijing's subway system and the airport express to and from Beijing Daxing International Airport. If these are all connected, you could take the subway from downtown Beijing to Beijing Daxing International Airport, then transfer to the airport express to reach Xiongan. People from Xiongan New Area could check their luggage in Xiongan, go directly to Daxing International Airport for boarding with their boarding passes, and reach downtown Beijing conveniently. You can live in Xiongan and work in Beijing, or live in Beijing and work in Xiongan, both of which are very convenient. Xiongan New Area is a major plan for the millennium and a major event for the country. Both domestic and foreign media pay close attention to it, and have effectively helped to popularize it with positive coverage. We need your continued help. That is all. 

China News Service:

The air quality in Hebei province has improved in the past two years. What measures has the government taken to prevent and control air pollution? And what achievements has Hebei made? 

Xu Qin:

Thank you for your concerns about Hebei's air environment. A good environment is beneficial to our people. The CPC Hebei Provincial Committee and the provincial government firmly implement the decisions and plans of the Party Central Committee. We prioritize ecological conservation and green development, and we continue to control air pollution. General Secretary Xi Jinping requires that we build a beautiful Hebei with blue sky, green land, and clean water. The Hebei government implemented General Secretary Xi Jinping's important instructions and has always highlighted the control of air pollution, making contributions to the region's air quality. 

First, we established the Ecological Protection Committee and appointed the provincial Party Secretary and the provincial governor as directors. Second, we mulled over the "1+18" policy system to prevent and control air pollution. In the system, we take measures in six aspects to improve the air quality, which covers a wide spectrum of areas. After years of efforts, the average density of PM2.5 in Hebei province has already dropped by 39.8 % in the past four years, and in 2018, the average density of PM2.5 dropped by 14 %. Currently, the air quality in Hebei province is the best it has been in the last six years. The measures we took are as follows: 

The first measure is the prevention and control of industrial pollution. The emissions from the industry can put great pressure on the environmental carrying capacity. We reduce the production capacity and upgrade the steel and coal industries to achieve ultra-low emissions. More than 120,000 heavily polluting enterprises were closed down and upgraded. The emissions that pollute the air have greatly reduced. From 2013 to 2018, we have reduced the emissions of dust by 276,000 tons and reduced the emissions of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides by 45.5% and 37.1% respectively. 

The second measure is the prevention and control of pollution from coal burning. Dispersed coal operations are one of the major sources of air pollution in autumn and winter. We take measures to control the emissions from dispersed coal burning in rural areas by replacing the coal with gas and electricity. So far, a total of 5.35 million households in Hebei province have been upgraded. This year, we plan to upgrade 1.8 million households, which is in accordance with the storage volume of gas and electricity. This kind of replacement contributes to at least 30% of the improvement in air quality.The cities around Beijing -Langfang city, Baoding city, and 20 counties that cover a total area of 118,000 square kilometers - are listed as the "no-coal" area. This greatly reduces air pollution from coal burning. Hebei will cut the total consumption of coal by 4 million tons this year. 

The third measure is the prevention and control of pollution by vehicles. Hebei is an important passage of transportation with a large number of vehicles passing by. The pollution from vehicles also causes great pressure on the environment, so we need to improve the quality of refined oil and related oil products. Starting from July 1, the "National VI" emission standard will be implemented. We will further optimize the transportation structure by replacing truck transport with rail transport, in a bid to further reduce emissions. We also encourage the local railway administration to cooperate with companies to build special lines for transportation, which will reduce the emissions from vehicles. 

The fourth measure is to prevent and control wind-borne dust and promote afforestation. The efforts to prevent and control wind-borne dust has been made in six aspects, including construction sites, urban roads, bare lands in urban and rural areas, stock grounds of companies, highways, and surface mines. Meanwhile, we promote afforestation. From 2013 to 2018, we have afforested 2.33 million hectares of land. As Mr. Wang has mentioned before, we plan to afforest 0.66 million hectares of land this year. The Saihanba Forest Farm has created a green miracle by transforming the barren wasteland to a sea of forests. The forest farm received top environmental honors from the U.N. 

The fifth measure is to tackle heavy air pollution. We have built a trans-regional governance model with Beijing and Tianjin for joint environmental prevention and control, unifying the efforts of early warning, emergency response, and joint law enforcement in different areas in order to make sure all kinds of measures will be carried out to control the heavy air pollution. 

The sixth measure is to focus on rectifying prominent environmental problems. We will focus on rectifying the ecological problems found during environmental inspections and always look back to examine how the government controls the pollution. We will ensure the strict law enforcement and measures are put in place, in a bid to improve the air quality. As you can see, the air quality in Hebei province has improved a lot. With these measures in place, the air quality in Hebei will become better in the future. 

Phoenix Satellite TV:

We noticed that at the beginning of this month, after the approval of the Hebei provincial poverty alleviation office and the leading group for poverty alleviation, 21 districts and counties such as Zanhuang county have been taken off the list of poverty-stricken counties. At present, how many poverty-stricken counties and how many poor people are there in Hebei province? What are the current difficulties? How will the Hebei provincial government respond to the two major problems of tackling poverty alleviation and preventing the return to poverty? Thank you. 

Wang Dongfeng: 

Thank you to the reporter from Phoenix Satellite TV. I'll address this question. Winning the battle against poverty is one of the three major battles put forward by General Secretary Xi Jinping in the report delivered at the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China. It is also a major political task in terms of implementing people-centered development thoughts. The task of poverty alleviation in Hebei province is relatively heavy, which originally had a poor population of 4.99 million people. There were 45 poverty-stricken counties as recognized at the national level and 17 as recognized at the provinciallevel. Last year, 21 poverty-stricken counties grew out of poverty and 650,000 people steadily rose out of poverty. There are still 399,500 poor people and 13 poverty-stricken counties. This year, if 330,000 people were taken off from poverty list, and 13 poverty-stricken counties all got rid of poverty, there will be only 69,500 poor people left. They will be fully lifted out of poverty in the first half of next year. The inspection and recognition will be carried out in the second half of next year, and then our achievements will be consolidated to prevent a rebound. This is how the progress of poverty alleviation works. Last year, we made a turnaround win and registered good grades in the national assessment of poverty alleviation achievements, as well as in the assessment of poverty alleviation by coordination efforts from east and west China. The poor counties and the poor people still left are the "hardest bones" and are mainly located in the cities of Zhangjiakou, Chengde and Baoding. The three cities are overseen by myself, Mr. Xu Qin and the deputy secretary of the provincial Party committee, respectively. And each member of the provincial Party committee oversees one city in the province. Among the cities, there are great poverty counties under them. We want to ensure that we can accomplish the annual poverty alleviation task as scheduled this year and ensure that the battle against poverty will be fully won next year. 

We are taking several measures to overcome the hardest challenges, and to prevent the return to poverty: 

First, we must strengthen the implementation of responsibilities and continue to work hard to cement our poverty alleviation achievements. The Party secretaries of five levels will work hard together to get rid of poverty. Their Party job and government job should share the same responsibility, while their own single official post should have dual responsibilities. All the responsibilities should be fully implemented from one level to another. From the province to the city and to the county, the leading cadres at all levels will join the poverty alleviation battle with poverty-stricken counties and poor households, as well as with the poverty alleviation teams and working groups stationed in the villages. For those that were already lifted out of poverty, they should achieve "four don'ts", which are: don't relieve responsibility, don't terminate policies, don't stop helping, don't end supervision. This is the first measure to resolutely prevent the return to poverty. 

Second, we need to pay close attention to the bottom-line task and comprehensively resolve the "two no worries and three guarantees." We implement interaction between the higher and lower levels and integration of departments and regions at different levels. For issues of education, health, dangerous houses and low income of ordinary people, etc., the provincial departments are responsible, while the municipal, county and village secretaries are responsible for organizing special improvement campaigns. To combine the rural revitalization strategy and to build a moderately prosperous society in all respects, the provincial government fully deploys and fully implements all actions to achieve high quality and meet high standards. 

Third, we will focus on key efforts, and on soundly addressing industrial poverty alleviation, employment poverty alleviation, science and technology poverty alleviation and relocation poverty alleviation. This is an important measure to enhance revitalization and ensure sustainable development. For these to work effectively, they must adhere to the "one town, one industry; one village, one product" policy, in order to develop unique industries. Li Baoguo from Hebei province is an excellent role model recognized by the instruction from General Secretary Xi Jinping, and he is a role model of our time. He was a professor at Hebei Agricultural University, and his wife follows his steps and continues to serve the people. Now the Hebei Academy of Agriculture and Forestry Sciences, Hebei Agricultural University and other agricultural research institutes, as well as help teams, will go into villages to resolve technical problems for people during their planting and the aquaculture processes, and will increase the scientific and technological content and added value for their agricultural products. And regarding relocation, it should be combined with the management of hollow villages. The Bashang region of Zhangjiakou is bordered by Inner Mongolia. There are many hollow villages, which means there is basically no labor there — only the elderly are left behind. To accomplish a series of support facilities for water, electricity and heating, we need a lot of investment. We are determined to move the people from Bashang out of the hollow villages and relocate them to the counties, towns and other villages. The elderly who have no ability to work will be sent to nursing homes, the ones who can work will enter the industrial parks, and the children will go to schools. If they need vocational training, they will have vocational training, which will lay the foundation for future employment and entrepreneurship. Bashang region will then return farmland to grassland to build ecology, and after the grassland is restored, we can repurpose it for grazing and raising cows. We are fully coordinating and promoting the relocation of the hollow villages, and the results have been very good. For the completion of a new type of urbanization and the construction of a moderately prosperous society in all aspects, this is a combination package of measures which will have comprehensive effects. We must make further efforts and ensure that we can move them out, let them live steadily, and increase their wealth. 

Thank you, reporters. 

The Economic Daily:

During the first quarter of this year, Hebei achieved a relatively high economic growth rate of 7.4% year over year. What are the measures that you have adopted to pursue economic restructuring, reduce excessive industrial capacity, promote economic transformation and high-quality development? What achievements have you made? 

Xu Qin:

Thank you for your interest in Hebei's economic development. The good start of Hebei's economy during the first quarter of this year should be attributed to the concerted efforts of the entire province along with the Hebei CPC Committee and provincial government, who resolutely implemented the guidelines of the Central Economic Work Conference. As you just said, our GDP growth rate of 7.4% in the first quarter is the best in years. Meanwhile, our fiscal revenue increased by 13%, the value-added of industries above the designated size grew by 8.8%, applied foreign investment rose by 10.6% and exports jumped by 12.3%. The remarkable achievement is proven by the data. But how did we make it into reality? This is a big issue and I will give you a quick introduction. 

We have resolutely put into practice the important instructions of General Secretary Xi Jinping. General Secretary Xi has inspected Hebei seven times since the 18th CPC National Congress and has made a series of important instructions for us. In particular, he asked Hebei to resolve difficulties resolutely and accelerate transformation proactively. We have implemented the General Secretary's instructions in all these aspects, followed the new development philosophy and pushed forward the supply-side structural reform. Our concrete steps include: 

First, we have made three-year plans. During the past two years, we worked out 15 three-year action plans, covering areas like innovation-driven development, industrial transformation and upgrading, and strategic emerging industries. They have been formulated in line with the "13th Five-Year Plan" and lay a solid base for the upcoming "14th Five-Year Plan." In doing so, we are embracing overall industrial transformation and upgrading and improving economic quality. 

The second is our efforts to cut overcapacity. We have worked out a number of regulations and standards concerning quality, environmental protection and security issues which force some industries to cut overcapacity. Other measures include merging and restructuring of enterprises, closing valueless small enterprises and relocation to cut excessive capacity. Meanwhile, through international industrial-capacity cooperation, we have exported advanced production capacity. Through our endeavors, steel enterprises in Hebei have reduced from 123 to 64 and their productive capacities have been reduced by 82.23 million tons since 2013. It is not easy to make such an achievement, especially when China must simultaneously deal with the slowdown in economic growth, make difficult structural adjustments, and absorb the effects of previous economic stimulus policies. We have overcome many difficulties, including how to help workers displaced due to overcapacity cuts. However, we would rather temporarily sacrifice GDP growth and fiscal revenue, and win a strategic space for development in the future. We're determined to fight to keep the sky blue above Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei province. 

The third is that we have made efforts to promote innovation-driven development from five aspects: innovation entities, innovation capacity, innovation professionals, innovation ecosystem and innovation environment. Just as Mr. Wang said that in the beginning of 2017, the province had a total of 2,031 national-level high-tech enterprises. Over the past two years, the number has grown to 5,099, and we expect the number will be more than 7,000 by the end of this year and 10,000 within three years. The number of high-tech SMEs has grown by 26,000 in the past two years and it is expected to surpass 80,000 next year. During the first quarter of this year, the number of patent applications and authorized patents grew by 59.5% and 55.6% respectively. Last year, investments, value-added and exports of high-tech enterprises rose by 30.4%,15.3% and 28.3% respectively.

The fourth is to transform and upgrade our industries through six methods. There are 150,000 traditional manufacturing enterprises in Hebei province, so there is huge potential to improve the quality, build brands and increase efficiency. Many industries are low end, therefore, moving up to high end will increase their future competitiveness. This is the main battlefield of transformation and upgrading. We took the following six methods to transform and upgrade traditional industries. 

First, we have persisted in achieving high standards and high quality. Here is an example. The Junlebao Dairy Co, Ltd participated in the World Food Quality Evaluation Conference last year and won the highest prize: the "Special Gold Award." Now its milk powder has been sold to Hong Kong, with demand exceeding supply. 

Second, we have put more emphasis on industrial design so as to improve the quality of our products and give them more cultural and artistic connotation. At the same time, the added value of our whole products has been improved. 

Third, we have launched the technological transformation and upgrading plan. We intend to complete the technological transformation of large industrial enterprises by 2020. 

Fourth, we have extended industrial chains. We have promoted the integration of upper- and lower-stream cooperation between industries, so as to create a group of famous brands and achieve the upgrading of industrial chains. 

Fifth, we promoted the in-depth integration of industries. In order to achieve industrial transformation and upgrading, we promoted traditional industries to integrate with artificial intelligence (AI), the internet, and big data. The approach is also a future development trend and key area. 

Sixth, we have implemented innovation-driven development. This is an important means to enhance the competitiveness of future industries. 

There are many examples in these six areas. Take Handan-based Chenguang Biotech Group Co, ltd for example. The company has advanced bio-extraction technology, and its capsicum red pigments provide the global supply, occupying a considerable share of the international market. 

Meanwhile, we have further optimized the distribution of the industrial chains of the whole province. At the city level, we promoted the development of leading industries; while at the county level, we promoted the revitalization of economic endeavors with distinctive features of local areas. According to our statistics, there are a number of traditional industries with obvious competitiveness in Hebei province, and 80 of them exceed 10 billion yuan in economic strength. Many of them are leading enterprises in their industries, playing a very important role in the national trade and export market. These industrial clusters with distinctive local features will foster a new source of growth of Hebei. In the future, we will realize the transformation and upgrading of traditional industries, so as to optimize the supply, improve the quality and increase the benefits. Through several years of efforts, we will double both the scale and efficiency. 

Finally, we stepped up efforts in fostering the emerging industries of strategic importance. We pursued the coordinated development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region and promoted high-level openness to achieve interconnected growth. We gathered resources, opened up markets and developed emerging industries of strategic importance. We have worked out ten development goals and have comprehensively promoted the implementation of plans involving AI, intelligent manufacturing equipment, information technology industry, biotechnology industry, new materials, advanced environmental protection and other fields. We also implemented six major projects, such as the industrialization of high and new technology. 

Emerging industries of strategic importance grew by 16.8% in the first quarter of this year, while other industries doubled at the same time. We will seize opportunities, further promote industrial transformation and upgrading, and maintain sustained and high-quality economic development. At the same time, we also planned in advance for some future industries, such as emergency equipment industry, the winter sports industry and the rehabilitation industry. These industries have huge market capacity, but the current supply cannot meet market demands. Hebei will continue to make great efforts to promote industrial transformation and sound economic development.

CNR:

A 1,000-day countdown activity was just held in Zhangjiakou to mark the preparations for the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics. How is Zhangjiakou's preparation for its part in the games? 

Xu Qin:

Holding a successful Winter Olympics is of national significance, which is pushed by General Secretary Xi Jinping in person. The CPC's Hebei provincial committee and the provincial government have long adhered to their political duties to prepare for the games since it is a big project for the province. Secretary Wang Dongfeng just said that there will be 109 gold medals in the 2022 Winter Olympics, among which 51 will be awarded in Zhangjiakou. 

Currently, the preparation is being carried out in an orderly manner. We have fully implemented President Xi's four concepts on hosting the games – green, sharing, open and honest – in a bid to make them a fabulous, unique and outstanding event. Under the leadership of the 24th Winter Olympics Leading Work Group, and with the guidance of the organizing committee for the 2022 Beijing and the supports of relevant ministries and commissions, Hebei will closely cooperate with Beijing to advance relevant work. 

In terms of the construction of venues and supporting facilities, we organized nearly 80 domestic and foreign planning teams to roll out 10 special planning schedules and seven zoning plans over the past two years. In the display today, there is a designing plan for a new competition venue for the Winter Olympics. 

Meanwhile, we have ensured that construction projects and their organizations are of high quality and high standards. Currently, the construction of 70 venues, out of 76, has been started, and the rest will be started this year to ensure they can be finished in time to meet the requirements of the test competitions and the games. 

The high-speed railway train connecting Xizhimen of Beijing and Chongli of Zhangjiakou will come into operation. It will take about 47 minutes to reach the downtown of Zhangjiakou from Beijing, and 55 minutes to arrive in Chongli. This will make it more convenient for the winter sports lovers in Beijing to go to Zhangjiakou, and will provide good transport conditions for industries' relocation to Zhangjiakou and its neighboring regions. Zhangjiakou is a paradise for winter sports and a summer resort. The city welcomes you all.

The other guarantee measures are also proceeding as planned. The guarantee plans for traffic, security, accommodation, dining, medical care and volunteer services have already been made. In the future, the region's medical care will be very good, and the Peking University Third Hospital has set up its branch in Zhangjiakou. Sport medical care resources will also be expanded in the region. At the same time, the people's winter sports will develop fast, as winter sports teams will be organized to take part in relevant training of the national teams to provide better support for the sports resources of the country. 

At the same time, we will promote the development of our winter sports industry. Two winter sports industrial bases have been planned in Zhangjiakou. Last year, 15 enterprises from the United States, Japan, the Republic of Korea and Europe have registered in Zhangjiakou, and another 20 companies have signed contracts to invest in the region. This year, at least 20 companies will be registered and another 30 will sign investment agreement, which will help form the backbone of the winter sports industry. Currently most winter sports apparatus and wearable equipment are foreign brands and manufactured abroad. It is hoped that Zhangjiakou can foster the industry's booming into a new growth point while working together with Beijing on the Winter Olympics. 

General speaking, we should host a successful Winter Olympics on the one hand, and develop Zhangbei into a powerhouse of the province, as Xi required. Zhangjiakou is a water source and ecological supporting zone for the capital. We are forging ahead according to the central authorities' requirements to ensure Zhangjiakou's ecological functions are well protected. That's all. Thanks.

Hebei TV: 

Economic development in Hebei has entered a stage featuring fast, stable and healthy progress. We have noticed that, this year, the number of market entities in Hebei has increased rapidly. What has the provincial government done to improve the business environment, such as launching major projects and changing the proportion of foreign investment? What do the figures mean in practice? 

Wang Dongfeng: 

This is an important question. A good business environment is critical to the development of Hebei. It involves promoting economic development, providing services to enterprises and the general public, establishing a good local credit system, building integrated government programs, and launching reforms to streamline administration, delegate powers and improve regulation. 

The provincial Party committee and the provincial government regard improving the business environment as a major political task. We focus on fostering a sound environment in legal, market, service and administrative fields, and promoting fair and just market competition. Our aims are boosting economic progress, promoting quality development, serving enterprises to enhance their competitiveness, and serving the people to ensure they feel more satisfied and happier. 

A series of effective measures have been undertaken in this regard. Last year, on the first day back to work after the Spring Festival, the provincial Party committee and the provincial government held a meeting on developing innovation and business startups, and better serving enterprises and the general public. This year, on the first day back to work after the Spring Festival, we held a meeting on promoting the development of innovation and business start-ups, improving people's livelihood, and intensifying discipline. In the past two years, we have spared no efforts in pursuing these goals. Focusing on reforms to streamline administration, delegate powers and improve regulation. We have improved the construction of a social credit system and enterprise credit system in an all-round way. Historic changes have taken place in the investment environment, with more market entities emerging. The  core competitiveness of enterprises has been improved, and the public is becoming more satisfied, happier and more secure. 

Major measures we have taken include: First, intensifying efforts in developing innovation and business start-ups, and in serving enterprises and the people, so as to stimulate the vitality of market entities. Last year, the number of market entities reached 5.38 million in Hebei, with a year-on-year increase of 14.5%, while the number of high-tech enterprises and high-tech SMEs increased by 1,800 and 13,000 respectively. 

Second, intensifying our efforts to improve the public livelihood, so as to guarantee and improve production and living conditions. We always put people first in development. Sufficient funds have been earmarked in the government budget to improve the public livelihood. More than 80% of our expenditure has gone to this field. Governments at all levels have worked together and launched 20 related projects. The emphasis has been on employment, medical treatment, education, elderly care, social security, amid other issues. Constant progress has been made in the process. Last year, new jobs were offered to 870,000 people, and the per capita disposable personal income in urban and rural areas grew 8% and 8.9% respectively. In the first quarter this year, new jobs were offered to 266,000 people, and the per capita disposable personal income in urban and rural areas grew 7.9% and 8.9% respectively. These have made people feel more satisfied than before. 

Third, there has been an intensification of the efforts in discipline, and improving reforms to streamline administration, delegate powers and improve regulation. We established a bureau responsible for administrative examination and approval. Services are offered online and in the service hall. Examination and approval powers are now in the charge of one department, while law enforcement power goes to another. Enterprises and the general public can enjoy one-stop services both online and offline. A total of 70 issues previously subject to administrative examination were cancelled. No government administrative fees were levied in the province. We welcome all media outlets to supervise us, and inform us of any malpractices. No tolerance will be given to those violating rules. We will also fully implement the policies on reducing taxes and fees made by the Party central committee and the State Council this year, and try our best to achieve real results. Negligence of duty and malpractice will be severely punished. Last year, we investigated 7,972 cases related to the "Four Malfeasances," in which 9,184 people were held accountable. In the first four months this year, we probed 925 similar cases, in which 1,211 people were held accountable. These efforts have greatly improved officials' performance, made them more active in taking responsibilities and carrying out works, and protected their enthusiasm, initiative and innovation in serving enterprises and the people. Meanwhile, Party committees and governments at all levels have taken their own responsibilities in protecting officials who are deligent and daring in work. An incentive system and a sound environment have been created. 

Improving the business environment is our approach to implement new development philosophy and achieve the Party's objectives. It marks a revolution in our own established practices. It is an effective measure to improve reform and opening up, and improve law-based governance. It is also a long-term mission in which we have only achieved some preliminary results. Improving the business environment is a task that will never end, as there will be new needs in new eras. We will work harder and never stop our efforts in this field. We also welcome you to watch over our work, find our errors, and give us advice. Thank you. 

Guangming Daily:

According to the Report on the Work of the Government of Hebei Province released at the second session of the 13th People's Congress of Hebei Province this January, a total of 20 livelihood projects will be implemented this year. Could you give an update on the progress of these projects in Hebei? 

Xu Qin:

Thank you for your interest in the "two sessions" of Hebei Province. People's livelihood is their deepest concern, and this is of greatest significance in our work. The Party Committee and the government of Hebei province has always stayed true to the vision of people-centered development, and it is our due responsibility to enable the people to share the benefits of reform and development. Since last year, together with all of our cities and counties, our provincial government has put forward a total 20 key livelihood projects. In addition, more regional livelihood projects have been initiated by local city and county governments. We are always committed to ensuring and improving people's livelihood. Regarding your question, our 20 livelihood projects focus on the following four aspects: 

The first focus is infrastructure and basic living situations, including the infrastructure renovation of run-down urban areas, dilapidated rural houses, outdated and overused pipelines, just to name a few. The second is improving the standard of public services, such as the service on employment, public culture, public facilities and schools in rural areas, and many others. The third is safeguarding people's basic living standards by, for example, developing community-based and at-home elderly care; financially supporting people with disabilities who are living in poverty; improving sanitation and so on. The fourth focus is the ecological environment, including adopting clean energy sources for winter heating, improving management of household refuse in rural areas, renewing the living environment in rural areas and many others. All of the abovementioned measures are closely tied to people's daily lives. Although these projects can be divided into different fields, they share a single goal, which is to improve people's well-being. People's welfare is never too trivial to address, as our Party committee and the government of Hebei province has attached great important to it, sparing no effort in the implementation of these projects. This is also our endorsement to practice General Secretary Xi Jinping's important instructions to "ensure and improve people's livelihood with more commitments and practical measures." Our 20 livelihood projects were approved by the secretary of Hebei Province party committee, and passed after thorough discussion by the standing committee of the provincial party committee, the government executive committee and the "two sessions" of Hebei province. During the implementation process, specific requirements, including the leading team, schedules and routes of the projects have been made in order to make sure that these projects are successfully completed. 

Following are some statistics for your reference. Regarding the progress of the 20 livelihood projects in the first quarter of this year, a total of 266,000 jobs have been created, which is an increase of 11,000 jobs over the same period of last year. In run-down urban areas, 24,000 houses have been renovated, which accounts for 63.8% of the annual task. Renovations have been completed on 46,900 dilapidated rural houses, which accounts for the 95.3% of the total number. Some 2064 renovation projects in outdated neighborhoods have been launched, reaching 74% of the plan total. In terms of community-based and at-home elder care, before the end of the 2019, 90% of the subdistricts in main urban area will have at-home elder care centers. As for school-building in rural area, we have started construction of 191 small-scale schools and county-based boarding schools, the area of which covers 360,000 square meters. In health sector, the pilot management system have been fully implemented in 213 provincial modern hospitals, and will cover 50% of the province's total by the end of this year. Tangible benefits in the public culture service sector have also been brought to people of Hebei. These figures demonstrate the promising prospects of our livelihood projects' implementation in the first quarter of this year. We will further the implementation of these projects in the coming three quarters to ensure high-quality and efficient completion of the livelihood projects.

Hu Kaihong:

That's the end of the Q&A section. Now I'll give the floor to Mr. Wang for some closing remarks. 

Wang Dongfeng:

I would like to express my sincere gratitude to the SCIO and all the friends from the media for your understanding and support of Hebei in its development. On behalf of the CPC Hebei Provincial Committee and the Hebei provincial government, I invite you to visit Hebei. We are ready to offer you our services. Thank you. 

Hu Kaihong:

This concludes today's press conference. Thank you, Mr. Wang. Thank you, Mr. Xu. Thanks to all. 

By Li Xiaohua, Chen Xia, Mi Xingang, Gong Yingchun, Zhang Jiaqi, Cui Can, Zhang Liying, Zhang Rui, Li Jingrong, Zhu Bochen, Li Yang, Wu Jin, Wang Qian, Huang Shan, Zhou Jing, Zhang Junmian, Wang Wei, Yuan Fang, Wang Yanfang, Li Huiru, He Shan, Li Shen, Jennifer Fossenbell, Geoffrey Murray, Jay Birbeck, Laura Zheng

.

Read in Chinese

Speakers:
Xu Lin, deputy head of the Publicity Department of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, minister of the State Council Information Office (SCIO), vice president of the CDAC organizing committee and executive committee;

Kong Xuanyou, vice minister of foreign affairs;

Zhang Xu, vice minister of culture and tourism;

Du Feijin, member of the Standing Committee of the CPC Beijing Committee, head of the Publicity Department of the CPC Beijing Committee

Chairperson:
Guo Weimin, vice minister of SCIO

Date:
May 9, 2019

The State Council Information Office of China invites four officials to brief the media about the Conference on Dialogue of Asian Civilizations in Beijing, May 9, 2019. [Photo by Liu Jian/China SCIO]

Guo Weimin:

Ladies and gentlemen, friends from the media, good morning. Welcome to this press conference. The Conference on Dialogue of Asian Civilizations (CDAC) is to convene soon and has drawn great attention from Chinese and foreign media. Today, we hold this press conference to brief you on the CDAC. 

Present at this conference are: Xu Lin, deputy head of the Publicity Department of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, minister of the State Council Information Office (SCIO) and vice president of the CDAC organizing committee and executive committee; Kong Xuanyou, vice minister of foreign affairs; Zhang Xu, vice minister of culture and tourism; and Du Feijin, a member of the Standing Committee of the CPC Beijing Committee and head of the Publicity Department of the CPC Beijing Committee. They are all vice presidents of the CDAC executive committee, and I'm honored to be a vice president too. 

Mr. Xu will offer an introduction first, and then the four gentlemen will answer some of your questions. Now I'll give the floor to Mr. Xu.

Xu Lin:

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. The Conference on Dialogue of Asian Civilizations (CDAC) will be held in Beijing on May 15. First of all, on behalf of the preparatory committee of the CDAC, I would like to welcome all our friends to today's press conference and express my heartfelt thanks to all those who care about and support the CDAC.

In recent years, President Xi Jinping, in his attempts to build a beautiful world and a community with a shared future for mankind, has put forward a series of important ideas and expositions on strengthening exchanges and mutual learning among different civilizations, which have produced positive responses from the international community. At the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia, held in Shanghai in 2014 and the 2015 Boao Forum for Asia, President Xi Jinping twice advocated for the convening of the CDAC, and received positive responses from the participating countries. Since then, China has carried out multi-level and interdisciplinary dialogues and cultural exchanges with the relevant countries in Asia and around the world, creating good conditions for holding the CDAC. The convening of the CDAC implements President Xi Jinping's initiative. It also further promotes exchanges and mutual learning among civilizations in Asia and the rest of the world, and encourages us to achieve common progress.

The Chinese government attaches great importance to the CDAC. President Xi Jinping will attend the opening ceremony of the CDAC, deliver a keynote speech, and attend relevant activities.

The Conference on Dialogue of Asian Civilizations is another important diplomatic event following the Second Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation and Beijing International Horticultural Exhibition. It will be a landmark international event. I would like to summarize the conference with the ensuing five points:

First, the theme is clear. The theme of the conference is "Exchanges and Mutual Learning among Asian Civilizations and a Community with a Shared Future", which reflects important philosophies articulated by Chinese President Xi Jinping. These include exchanges and mutual learning among civilizations, the establishment of an Asian community with a shared future and building of a shared future for mankind. The conference not only reflects the general hopes and wishes from Asian countries but also those of the entire world. The activities of the conference are designed and developed around this theme.

Second, the response has been enthusiastic. More than 2,000 people, including government officials from 47 countries in Asia as well as from outside the region, plus representatives from the fields of culture, education, film and television, think tanks, media and tourism, will attend the opening ceremony and sub-forums. Entertainers, artists and people of all walks of life from Asian countries and other countries in the world will participate in Asian Culture Carnival, Asian Civilization Week and other events. The conference organizers also invited leaders of Cambodia, Greece, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Armenia and Mongolia, as well as officials from UNESCO and other international organizations to attend the conference.

Third, the conference boasts diversified events, including the opening ceremony, sub-forums, Asian Culture Carnival and Asian Civilization Week. Leaders from China and foreign countries, as well as heads of international organizations who participate in the conference, will share and explore ideas through exchange and mutual learning among Asian civilizations. In additional, the conference has six parallel sub-forums, inviting government officials, experts and scholars, and those engaged in particular fields to join discussions. A grand Asian Culture Carnival will be held, with more than 30,000 people from home and abroad expected to attend. In order to showcase diversified Asian civilizations, Asian Civilization Week will be held, including events like Asian Civilization Parade, Asian Culture Festival, Asian Culture and Tourism Exhibition, Asian Film and TV Week, and a Joint Exhibition of Asian Civilizations. Meanwhile, an Asian Cuisine Festival will be held simultaneously in the cities of Beijing, Hangzhou, Guangzhou and Chengdu.  

Fourth, we will provide an effective guarantee. This year's conference has a large number of participants and a long duration. We are striving to create a first-class conference environment and provide warm and thoughtful services to all participants. At present, the official website of the conference has been officially launched and all kinds of important information related to the conference will be published on that site. Beijing has recruited more than 3,700 volunteers to provide services to participants. At present, more than 2,800 Chinese and foreign journalists have signed up for the conference. The conference has set up a news center and will hold a series of news release activities to provide services for journalists.

Fifth, the conference is expected to achieve a fruitful outcome. Some documents will be issued based on the major consensus reached during the conference, which will showcase the fruitful outcomes of the conference, and present a bright and prosperous future of the exchanges and mutual learning among Asian civilizations and other civilizations in the world. At the same time, a series of multilateral and bilateral initiatives and agreements will be signed in various fields, such as media, think tanks, tourism, films and television, cultural heritage protection, etc. The results of some major projects and research reports will be announced during the conference. Concrete measures will be proposed to implement the conference outcomes and advance exchanges and mutual learning among civilizations. 

President Xi Jinping said that our civilizations have become richer and more colorful through exchanges and mutual learning. We believe the CDAC will present a rich and colorful display of Asia's civilizations to the world. We will warmly welcome guests from all over the world. On behalf of the conference's organizing committee, I would like to sincerely invite you, friends from the press, to cover the grand event, spread the beauty of civilizations, and join our efforts in making the conference a success. Now, my colleagues and I are ready to take your questions. Thank you.

CCTV:

Mr. Xu's introduction let me see that the Conference on Dialogue of Asian Civilizations is a large-scale event that is rich in content and plural in forms. It is fair to say that the world will focus its attention on Beijing again. In your opinion, what are the main highlights and characteristics of this event? Thanks.

Xu Lin:

The CDAC will show Asian civilizations' charms, and promote exchange and mutual learning of all civilizations in the world. The event's broad participation and rich content were already shown through my introduction. I would like to summarize its highlights and characteristics in four aspects as follows.

First, it grips the theme and responds to questions of the times. Among different civilizations of modern world, should the relations be conflict or dialogue, confrontation or cooperation? The answers to these questions concern humanity's future and fate, and these are also questions of the times concerning the development of human civilizations. The conference's theme is "Exchanges and Mutual Learning among Asian Civilizations and a Community with a Shared Future." The conference will follow the theme, follow the overall trend of cooperation and development, carry forward the people's wishes for civilization exchange and organize in-depth discussions on the diversity of Asian civilizations, as well as the mutual learning and exchange between these civilizations. In this way, it will further explore the importance and meaning of civilization exchange to the construction of a community of shared future for mankind, and build a bridge connecting the hearts of different peoples.  

Second, it shows the concepts of inclusiveness and common progress. The conference is based on Asia but it faces the world. It is related to all countries of Asia and open to all civilizations in the world. It invites representatives of all 47 Asian countries, who are from the circles of literature, arts, film, cultural relics, think tanks, media and youth. The conference also invites representatives from outside of Asia, which builds a good platform for mutual exchange and mutual learning of different civilizations so that they can make progress together.

Third, the conference shows the diversity of civilizations, which are colorful and can coexist in harmony. The event consists of an opening ceremony, panel discussions, the Asian Culture Carnival and Asian Civilization Week, which involves more than 110 activities that will demonstrate the diversity and charm of Asian civilizations, as well as the profound historical background of the Chinese civilization and the exchange and integration of Asian and world civilizations. The Asian Culture Carnival can be regarded as a highlight of the conference, which is based on the concept of inter-connectivity and the shared future of Asia, and will present the world with a great event on civilization, featuring grand exchange of Chinese and foreign civilizations, grand integration of different cultures and a grand gala of different peoples. 

Fourth, the conference highlights the principle of broad participation. It is oriented to the needs of the people, pays attention to attracting public participation and strives to improve people's sense of participation, experience, benefit and happiness. The well-designed Asian Culture Carnival and Asian Civilization Week will present many public lectures, square performances, shows and exhibitions at affordable ticket prices, as well as films to meet the needs of people's spiritual and cultural life and expectations of the future. We have also strived to arrange a proper time for the gourmet festival activities to meet the needs of the people and attract more people to participate into them.

We also expect that you reporters can come to take a look at the civilization cruise, and relevant exhibitions and shows, and sample foods from around Asia to experience the diversity of Asian civilizations. It is believed the conference will provide the world with collective participation, dialogues of plural civilizations, colorful cultural exchange and lively cultural experiences. It will leave an important mark on the history of human civilizations exchange. Thank you. 

China Arab TV:

Recently, the second Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation was successfully held in Beijing. President Xi Jinping said that China will build the Belt and Road Initiative into a road of peace, prosperity, openness and innovation and a road that brings together different civilizations. What does the theme of the Conference on Dialogue of Asian Civilizations have in common with President Xi's proposal ?

Kong Xuanyou:

Dialogue between civilizations and cultural exchanges are a major component of the Belt and Road Initiative. At the second Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation concluded just now, President Xi stressed that we need to actively build bridges for cultural exchange and mutual learning. He also said that we needed to deepen cooperation in education, science, technologies, culture, sports, tourism, health and archaeology, in order to facilitate multi-faceted people-to-people exchanges.

The Belt and Road is not only a road to development and prosperity, but also a road to the integration of civilizations. Historically, the Silk Road was not only a way of trading goods, but also a major artery of exchanges between civilizations. It spread right across the Egyptian, Babylonian and Indian civilizations, and hosted the gathering places of Buddhist, Christian and Islamic believers. It also crossed the settlements of peoples of different nationalities and colors. Different civilizations, religions and races were able to seek common ground while reserving differences, and together wrote a great poem of mutual respect and painted a beautiful picture of common development.

The holding of the Conference on Dialogue of Asian Civilizations can be said to be a positive attempt to promote the construction of a road that brings together different civilizations along the Belt and Road routes. We should uphold the ideals of peace and cooperation, openness and inclusiveness, mutual learning, and the pursuit of win-win solutions. We should transcend civilization barriers through exchanges, transcend civilization conflicts by mutual learning, and transcend the sense of superiority by coexistence of civilizations. We should promote mutual understanding, respect and trust. We hope the Conference on Dialogue of Asian Civilizations will further enrich the cooperation concept of the Belt and Road Initiative, and write a new chapter of Belt and Road cooperation. Thank you.

BTV:

I have noticed that Beijing will hold a series of activities like parades and food festivals during the conference. A lot of people would like to participate in these activities. Could you please share how you will guarantee people's participation? Thank you. 

Du Feijin:

Thanks for your question. By drawing upon the successful experiences in facilitating large-scale international conferences and activities, we have carefully designed the Asian Civilization Parade and the Asian Cuisine Festival in accordance with the principle of facilitating people. We will introduce a series of measures to make sure local people can participate in the events, through which Beijing citizens can experience other Asian civilizations, cultural exchanges and the festive atmosphere. It will be a civilization festival featuring culture, food and technology.  

The civilization parade and cuisine festival will be held simultaneously in the central area of the Olympic Park between May 16 and May 22. The parade, which features the distinctive cultures of Asian countries, comprises four parts including "Beautiful China," "Colorful Asia," "Shenzhou Charm" and "Beijing Welcomes You." A performance will be staged at 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. each day, allowing an audience of about 13,000 per day. We have invited 28 well-known performance groups from home and abroad to the parade. In addition, we have arranged for parade buses and a graffiti wall featuring Asian cultures.

The cuisine festival will feature 14 exhibitions & taste activities at the main venue, with additional food festivals at six shopping malls across the city with over 200 domestic and foreign food companies participating. Eight exhibition areas will be established at the main venue to display three major Asian food cultures: "taste," "technique" and "tableware." Apart from the wonderful parade performances, visitors will have the opportunity to take a taste of food from countries like Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia and Japan. At the exhibition areas of "Food Technology and Inheritance" and "Modern Smart Cuisine," visitors can experience via VR and AI technologies the smart services in today's food industry and get a sense of the changes that traditional industries have witnessed thanks to modern technology. 

Food festivals will be simultaneously held in six malls across the city including China World Mall, Solana, Hopson One, Chaoyang Joy City, Golden Resources Mall, and Wukesong Huaxi Shopping Center. Asian food restaurants will be encouraged to hold sales activities to attract more citizens to enjoy the festivals. By a conservative estimate, the food festivals will reach at least one million people. In order to benefit the people, activities like Asian Food Week will be launched with the help of multiple internet platforms during the cuisine festival. Online promotions such as red envelopes discounts, group buying for characteristic dishes and Asian food restaurants recommendations will be introduced.

The parade and cuisine festival at the main venue are open to invited guests as well as the public through online booking. 7,000 tickets per day will be dished out online. Those who are interested in the event can book tickets online. We hope that the media can help report the event in advance and your coverage will attract more people to these events. Thank you! 

Strait Times:

We have noticed that some people believe China is trying to use this conference to expand its influence. Is China trying to unite Asian civilizations to respond to the pressures from the West?

Xu Lin:

First of all, I want to emphasize that we hold the CDAC not to provoke confrontation between different civilizations, but to promote dialogue, mutual learning and common progress. We have noticed the views on the international stage. Some people are trying to draw the public attention to the so-called competition, conflict, or confrontation between the East and the West. If people believe this because of some misunderstanding, it proves that a dialogue between different civilizations is necessary, valuable and meaningful. But if people spread such views out of ill intentions, trying to provoke conflict and confrontation, then they will lose public support and are doomed to failure.

From the development of China's 5,000-year-old civilization, we can determine that the Chinese civilization is deeply rooted in our land, and has been enriched by other civilizations through communications. The ocean is vast because it admits hundreds of rivers. Throughout our history, we have pursued harmony in diversity and pursued mutual enrichment. We have lived harmoniously with other civilizations, learnt from each other through dialogue, and sought progress together. The world consists of many colorful civilizations, which are equal and inclusive. Regarding different civilizations, we believe in the notion that all countries should respect the interests of others while pursuing their own, and should advance the common interests of all. To show respect to the diversity of civilizations, we should first respect, cultivate and develop our own civilization. Meanwhile, we should respect and appreciate other civilizations. We should pursue common progress through dialogue, integration and mutual learning. Joint efforts to this end will surely promote the sustained peace, prosperity and development of our world, thus building a community with a shared future for mankind.

From the history of human development, wheat was first planted on the Anatolian Plateau in the Euphrates and Tigris rivers basins, rice was first planted in the Yangtze River basin in China, while cotton was developed in the Indus and Ganges. These beginnings and fruits of different human civilizations have become crucial material bases for human survival thanks to exchanges and sharing. That is an example of exchanges, mutual learning and sharing among civilizations. 

China not only advocates cultural exchanges and mutual learning, but also works to promote such exchanges. President Xi Jinping proposed on many important international occasions that different civilizations should pursue inclusiveness, mutual learning, and draw on each other to achieve common progress. The purpose of this conference is to provide a platform to spread progress and carry forward the achievements of the civilizations of Asia and the world, while promoting exchanges and mutual learning among different countries and civilizations, so as to advance the development of human civilization and build a community with a shared future for mankind. In my opinion, it demonstrates that China has lived up to its responsibility as a major country in terms of promoting world peace and development and the building of a community with a shared future for mankind. Thank you.

Sri Lanka Mirror:

Mr. Zhang, it was mentioned just now that a total of 47 countries will participate in a series of cultural tourism activities to be held during the event. Would you please give more details about these activities? Thank you. 

Zhang Xu: 

I am very glad to answer your question. The Ministry of Culture and Tourism is mainly responsible for coordination and implementation of activities under the conference's framework such as the parallel sessions of Culture, Tourism and People-to-People Exchanges, and the Asian Civilization Week, which includes an Asian Cultural Tourism Exhibition, Asian Civilization Joint Exhibition (cultural relics and art exhibitions), and Asian Cultural Performances. The ministry will also assist the China Media Group and Beijing Municipality in hosting the Asian Cultural Carnival and Asian Civilization Parade.

The parallel sub forum on Culture, Tourism and People-to-People Exchanges will be held at the National Convention Center on May 15. At Present, around 120 foreign guests have confirmed their attendance to the event, including former Deputy Prime Minister of Thailand Phinij Jarusombat, who will also make keynote speeches during the session. The Asian Culture and Tourism Exhibition will be held from May 16 to 18. Travel agencies from 31 Chinese provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities) and 23 other countries and regions will participate in the exhibition, with the number of representatives reaching 160 and 200, respectively. Cambodia and Laos will attend the conference as Guests of Honor. A series of events will also be launched during the exhibition, including the Asian Travel Agencies Conference, Chinese Cultural Tourism Promotion Seminar, Asian World Heritage Image Exhibition, and the Asian Cultural Tourism Products Fair. The Asian Civilization Joint Exhibition includes cultural relics and art exhibitions. The art exhibition consists of one main exhibition and four smaller ones. The main art exhibition will be opened at the National Art Museum of China on May 10. Four other sub-exhibitions, covering the themes of intangible cultural heritage, digital art, oracle bone script and literature, will be held at different museums across Beijing. Amongst the sub-exhibitions, the one named The Memories in Oracle Bone Script is a permanent exhibition. Some of you may have already seen it. The other three will be launched during May 7 and June 13. The cultural relics exhibition will be opened at National Museum of China on May 13. Some 300 artifacts from more than 20 Asian countries will be displayed. The Exhibition of Treasures from National Museums along the Silk Road will also be presented as a part of the CDAC event. The Asian Cultural Festival is scheduled to raise the curtain on May 14 with the debut of Ballet Gala of Asia at Beijing Tianqiao Performing Arts Center. It will be jointly performed by artists from China's Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea and the Philippines. Later, the audience will enjoy an audio-visual feast in a series of colorful and diversified activities, including concert, drama, dance and etc. Moreover, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism has invited foreign artists to join in the Asian Cultural Carnival and the Asian Civilization Parade. About 750 of them will perform in the Asian Cultural Carnival, and 480 others in the Asian Civilization Parade. That's all for my introduction. Thank you. 

Kyodo News:

Japan and China are two important Asian civilizations. The leaders of the two countries recognize that notable progress has been made in improving bilateral relations over the past few years. In your opinion, how will their relations influence the exchanges among Asian civilizations? And what does China expect Japan to do to maintain the momentum?

Kong Xuanyou:

Mr. Xu just introduced the background and significance of the conference in detail. Focusing on Asia while facing the world, the conference will present the outstanding achievements made by different Asian civilizations, while also showing diversified world civilizations as a whole. These should be the purposes of the conference.

It is obvious that, with two-thirds of the world's population, over 1,000 ethnic groups and a total of 47 countries, Asia has a glorious history of interconnection among different civilizations, including Islam, Christianity, India and China. Therefore, Asia represents a region where different civilizations exist in harmony. And we believe Asia is capable of spearheading the exchanges and mutual learning among different civilizations.

However, Asia cannot make headway and embrace a promising future without paying due attention to the major trends in global development. Therefore, the conference is designed to be inclusive of civilizations outside Asia and embracing friends from different regions all around the world. Actually, other than the 47 Asian countries, we have invited prestigious scholars and important guests from nearly 50 non-Asian countries to join us in relevant events of literature, arts, think tanks, media and youth work. They come from countries in Africa, Europe, the Americas and Oceania.

China and Japan have a history of more than 2,000 years of friendly exchanges. Jianzhen, an eminent Chinese monk of the Tang Dynasty (618-907) who travelled to Japan to preach Buddhism, and Abe no Nakamaro, a Japanese scholar who studied in China during the Tang Dynasty and subsequently died in the country, are vivid examples of the cultural linking between the two countries. They left much of valuable thought and ideas for both sides, which have been passed down and inherited by numerous generations.

Through the joint efforts of China and Japan, bilateral relations have returned to normal and achieved new development. In the new historical era, exchanges between the two civilizations and mutual learning will be conducive to further tapping the similar genes in regard to our cultural relations, deepening mutual understanding, trust and friendship between the two peoples, and opening up better prospects for further development of bilateral relations.

We sincerely hope that China and Japan will join hands and work together in proposing new ideas for partnership in win-win cooperation, and create a new situation of exchange and mutual learning between Asian and world civilizations. The beneficial explorations and practices of both sides will help further substantiate the connotation of a community with a shared future for mankind. Thank you.

Phoenix Satellite TV:

You have mentioned the conference is on a rather large scale with a vast number of participants, and this may present some challenges in terms of service. My question is: How will you seek to solve such problems? What specific measures will you take? Thank you.

Du Feijin:

Thank you for your question. As you said, the conference features high level, large scale, rich contents and diversified events and extends over a long period. Providing excellent service for such a conference is an important task the central authorities have given to Beijing. It shows the central authorities have full trust in us. We have made intensive efforts to plan, organize and coordinate related works, so as to provide sound service over a full range, including publicity, reception, transportation, security, venue preparation, environmental protection, volunteer services, safe production, food safety, air quality improvement, and good healthcare. Generally, our efforts can be divided into three aspects.

First, effective efforts have been undertaken to organize and support the conference. All related departments under the municipal government are meeting the strictest requirements in organizing and supporting the many tasks, such as examining and building conference venues, producing and distributing passes, arranging hotels for guests and journalists, designing and decorating the streets, improving the environment, preparing vehicles for the conference, hiring and training volunteers, and establishing medical teams. Sound services will be provided in all areas, including dietary requirements, accommodation, transportation, organizing events and overall security.

Second, effective efforts have been undertaken in regard to the important work. The carnival is a major event and a special activity of the conference. The construction of the carnival stage is challenging, with high requirements in regard to power supply. All concerned departments have worked hard to ensure smooth construction of the stage through close communications and coordination. On April 15, a power transmission capability of 11,200 kW was ready at 56 spots. On April 22, the stage was completed. On April 27, a rehearsal of all performers, including extras, was held in the National Stadium.

Third, we fully intend to provide final solutions to every single challenge that might arise. In addition to the support services to safeguard the smooth running of the event, we are responsible for maintaining good order among the spectators and visitors expected to watch the relevant parades or attend gourmet festivals. The preparatory work has been difficult since it involves many different jobs at spots over long distances and covering a great number of areas. However, with the concerted efforts taken by the various parties involved, we have managed to address the most daunting challenges properly, such as where and how the figurants can rehearse, how to plan the pedestrian and traffic flows, how to guide the performances of overseas troupes and where to fix and how to arrange the main areas of gourmet festivals.

To provide convenience to the media, we have established eight functional blocks, including a comprehensive service area, a press conference center, open media workplace, exclusive media workplace, monitoring center, cultural exhibition center, a catering area and a tearoom, at the conference news center. This has all the facilities needed for broadcasting, a good office infrastructure and a high-speed Internet network enabling journalists to fully cover the event and work in cozy surroundings.

I would also like to take this opportunity to express my gratitude to our citizens in Beijing for their great hospitality and a strong sense of participation. They have given us substantial support and shown deep understanding in every major event held so far this year. Their active involvement, as a result of their broadminded attitudes, hospitality, openness, inclusiveness and indifference to fortune and fame, has demonstrated the great legacy of this unique city. Therefore, please allow me to show my sincere admiration to all. Thank you for your question.

China Daily:

Mr. Zhang, you have just now mentioned that a series of colorful cultural and tourism activities will be held during the conference. What significance do these activities have in boosting the cultural exchange and cooperation between China and other Asian countries? Thank you.

Zhang Xu:

As we know, Asian countries have long histories and diversified cultures. The birth and development of Asian civilizations have made positive and important contributions to the development of world civilization, and serve as a main force in maintaining world peace and harmony. Under the background of globalization, it is imperative that countries in Asia join hands to deal effectively with constantly arising cultural conflicts and other new challenges. In March 2014, Chinese President Xi Jinping delivered a speech at the headquarters of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in Paris. In his speech, Xi elaborated both broadly and profoundly on his views and propositions regarding exchange and mutual learning among human civilizations, putting forward that "civilizations come in different colors, and such diversity has made exchange and mutual learning among civilizations relevant and valuable; civilizations are equal, and such equality has made exchange and mutual learning among civilizations possible; civilizations are inclusive, and such inclusiveness has given exchange and mutual learning among civilizations the needed drive to move forward." Xi's speech pointed to our current direction in seeking approaches to address the problems facing human society today.

The cultural and tourism activities under the framework of the Conference on Dialogue of Asian Civilizations (CDAC) are very rich and colorful, and are highly participatory and interactive with cultural connotations. Through these activities, we hope the conference will further enhance cultural dialogue among Asian countries and promote exchanges between the Chinese cultural tourism industry and our Asian counterparts, so as to better improve the mutual understanding among Asian countries and strengthen win-win cooperation in the fields of culture, arts and tourism. 

Therefore, we firmly believe that by sharing the achievements of cultural and tourism activities within the framework of the conference, we will be able to further raise the importance of cultural diversity and cross-cultural dialogue to different countries. We hope to promote culture, artistic and tourism exchanges among different countries to enhance mutual understanding and people-to-people connectivity, and build an inclusive environment of mutual understanding to promote the coexistence and harmony between different ethnic groups and between mankind and nature, so that every country and culture will be able to play a positive role and become an important force to promote the sustainable development of human beings. Thank you.

Hong Kong Economic Herald:

I have a question for Mr. Xu Lin. What consensus will be reached at the conference? How do you evaluate the contribution of Asian civilizations to global civilization? Thanks. 

Xu Lin: 

The ultimate consensus of the conference is up to the participating members. As far as what we have seen, I believe there will be a positive consensus on mutual exchanges, mutual learning and common development between different civilizations. I am sure this conference will help translate the participating members' notions of civilization and then transform that into concrete actions based on equality, inclusiveness, exchanges and cooperation. The outcomes of the conference will relate to these areas. 

As we all know, Asia is of considerable significance to the globe in terms of population, nations and GDP. If we look at the development of the global civilization, the cultivation of wheat, rice and cotton was first seen in Asia. Ancient civilizations along the Nile, Tigris, Euphrates, Ganges, Indus, Yellow and Yangtze rivers have all made distinctive contributions to the history of human civilization. Asia itself is home to diverse civilizations which have co-existed, exchanged and learned from each other, and developed hand in hand, setting a good example to other regions and contributing a lot to the diverse development of the global civilization. Thank you.

Guo Weimin:

Today's press conference concludes. Thanks to all.

.

Read in Chinese

Speakers:

Shen Changyu, director of the National Intellectual Property Administration;

Zhao Gang, vice director of the National Intellectual Property Administration;

Yu Cike, director of the Copyright Administration under the Publicity Department of the CPC Central Committee

Chairperson:

Shou Xiaoli, Press Bureau of the State Council Information Office

Date:

April 28, 2019

Shou Xiaoli:

Ladies and gentlemen, good morning. Welcome to the press conference. April 26 this year was the 19th World Intellectual Property Day. China's protection of intellectual property has received great public attention. Today, we have invited Mr. Shen Changyu, director of the National Intellectual Property Administration, to introduce China's efforts to protect intellectual property in 2018, and answer some of your questions. Also with us today are Mr. Zhao Gang, vice director of the National Intellectual Property Administration, and Mr. Yu Cike, director of the Copyright Administration under the Publicity Department of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee.

Now, Mr. Shen will give us a brief introduction.

Shen Changyu:

Thank you, Ms. Shou. Good morning, everyone. First, I wish to thank the State Council Information Office and all our friends from the press for having shown understanding and support for the work on intellectual property rights over all these years. General Secretary Xi Jinping delivered a keynote speech at the opening ceremony of the Second Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation in Beijing, April 26, 2019. In his speech, Xi announced a series of major reforms and opening-up measures that China will take, stressing that China will intensify its efforts to enhance international cooperation in the protection of intellectual property. According to Xi, China will spare no effort to foster a business environment that respects the value of knowledge, fully improve the legal framework for protecting intellectual property and step up law enforcement. It will also enhance protection of the lawful rights and interests of foreign intellectual property owners, stop forced technology transfers, improve protection of trade secrets, and crack down hard on violations of intellectual property in accordance with the law. Xi's remarks further convey China's stance and attitude toward its efforts to fully protect intellectual property in accordance with the law to the international community. His remarks also provide principles and guidance for the development of China's intellectual property rights, which will be fully studied, grasped and put into practice.

Now, I will give you a brief introduction on the development of China's intellectual property rights in 2018.

In 2018, the CPC Central Committee and State Council elevated IPR protection to an level of importance that is unprecedented. General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized in his keynote speech at the opening ceremony of the Boao Forum for Asia Annual Conference 2018 that IPR protection is the centerpiece of the system for improving property rights protection, and it would provide the biggest boost to enhancing the competitiveness of the Chinese economy. The State Council has made a series of important decisions on IPR protection. Over the past year, the departments of the Chinese government and local authorities have worked to implement a series of important decisions on IPR by the CPC Central Committee and State Council, so as to move faster to transform China into a country that is strong on intellectual property rights, and to ensure new progress can be made in all works.

First, we made stable efforts to transform China into a country that is strong on intellectual property rights. We earnestly implemented last year's plan on deepening the national IPR strategy and building China into a country that is strong on IPR. We started to formulate the Outline of the National Intellectual Property Strategy for 2035. We completed an evaluation of the implementation of the current version of the Outline of the National Intellectual Property Strategy as well as a mid-term evaluation on the plan for IPR protection and utilization in the 13th Five-year Plan Period (2016-2020). We also restructured the National Intellectual Property Administration, which is now also responsible for the administrative adjudication of patents, trademarks and geographical indications, while affairs related to copyrights are now administered by the Publicity Department of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee. The quality and efficiency of IPR examination continues to rise: The examination process for trademark registration has been cut to six months, and for high-quality patents the process has been cut by 10%. A total of 5.86 billion yuan in patent application fees was exempted or reduced over the past year. A national appeal court for IPR cases was inaugurated at China's Supreme People's Court so as to better strengthen IPR protection and management.

Second, the protection of intellectual property rights has been comprehensively strengthened. The draft amendment to the Patent Law passed the first review of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress. The draft established a punitive compensation system for infringement and has greatly increased infringement costs. We have been actively promoting the revision of the Copyright Law and initiated the revision of the Trademark Law. The Regulation on Patent Agency and the Regulations on the Protection of New Varieties of Plants were revised. The Action Plan for the "Internet Plus" Intellectual Property Protection was formulated. A total of 38 ministries and commissions have carried out joint punishment for serious discredit conducts in the field of intellectual property (patents). The administrative law enforcement of intellectual property rights continued to strengthen, with 77,000 patent administrative law enforcement cases being handled, up 15.9% year-over-year. Altogether 31,000 trademark violation cases were investigated and handled, with a total case value of 550 million yuan. 2,500 infringement and piracy cases were filed and investigated. 3.77 million pieces of pirated products were seized, and 1.85 million infringing links were deleted. Customs at all levels detained altogether 44,550 batches of infringing goods. The number of infringing goods was 23.18 million, with a total worth of 200 million yuan. The courts of all levels received 301,279 first instance IPR cases, up 41.13% year-over-year. The public security organs of all levels registered nearly 28,000 cases of infringement and counterfeit crimes. Of them, 19,000 cases were solved, and 28,000 suspects were arrested. The case value amounts to 9.87 billion yuan. The procuratorates of all levels approved the arrest of more than 5,600 people who were involved in more than 3,300 IPR infringement cases. More than 4,400 cases involving more than 8,300 people were brought to public prosecution.

Third, the amount and quality of intellectual property creations have risen. We further implement the patent quality improvement project and trademark brand strategy, and severely crack down on non-normal patent applications and trademark preemptive registration and hoarding behaviors. The number of domestic invention patents (excluding Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan) reached 1.6 million pieces, an increase of 18.1% year-on-year. The ownership number of invention patents per 10,000 population reached 11.5 pieces, and the number of Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) international patent applications received and processed was 55,000, a year-on-year increase of 9%. The number of valid domestic trademark registrations reached 18.05 million, a year-on-year increase of 32.8%. The number of applications for international trademarks registration according to the Madrid Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Marks was 6,594, a year-on-year increase of 37.1%. A total of 2,380 geographical indication products and 4,867 registered geographical indication trademarks were approved. A total of 1,990 new varieties of agricultural plants and 405 new varieties of forestry plants were awarded, an increase of 34% and 153.1% respectively. The number of registrations of works and computer software copyrights reached 2.35 million and 1.1 million, an increase of 17.48% and 48.22% respectively. According to the Global Innovation Index 2018 Report published by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), China ranked 17th in the world and became the only middle-income economy to enter the top 20.

Fourth, the use of IPR has been greatly improved and is now more efficient. We have improved the national public service platform for the trading of IPR and launched IPR trading systems in 16 major cities. We have rolled out a set of measures to use IPR to promote the innovative development of private enterprises. The fund raised by pledging patents and trademarks totaled 122.4 billion yuan, up 12.3% year-over-year. We issued 40 golden awards to patents and external designs, and 20 golden awards to copyrights. We checked 8,179 enterprises for their use of geographic indication in products with a total output value of 1 trillion yuan. From 2016 to 2018, the export of IPR royalties reached US$11.51 billion, achieving the goal set in the 13th Five-Year Plan ahead of schedule.

Fifth, we have deepened the international cooperation on intellectual property rights. We hosted the 2018 High-level Conference on Intellectual Property for Countries along the Belt and Road, took an active part in multilateral activities under the framework of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and the World Trade Organization. We have also enhanced cooperation with international organizations such as the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants, and improved international rules regarding intellectual property rights. Together with the WIPO, we established a Technology and Innovation Support Center. We tried to promote an earlier implementation of the Beijing Treaty on Audiovisual Performances, as 23 countries have either ratified or joined the treaty. We held the Global IP Protection and Innovation Development Conference during the first China International Import Expo. The number of China's partners in the Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) program has increased to 28. China's valid patents have also been officially registered in Cambodia, and the results of our patent examination are recognized in Laos.

The above is the development of China's intellectual property rights in 2018. Now I'm ready to take your questions. Thank you.

Shou Xiaoli:

The floor is now open to questions. Please identify your media outlet before asking questions.

CCTV:

During the Second Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation, President Xi Jinping said more efforts will be made to promote international cooperation on intellectual property protection. My question is for Mr. Shen. What is the current status of the cooperation on intellectual property protection under the Belt and Road Initiative? What will be done to improve the cooperation in the future? Thank you.

Shen Changyu:

Thank you for your question. As you said just now, during the Second Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation, General Secretary Xi Jinping expounded on China's major principles and policies regarding intellectual property protection, and pledged to strictly protect intellectual property under the law, which has won international praise. The National Intellectual Property Administration is now working hard to study related issues and develop feasible and tailored measures to ensure an effective implementation of these policies.

Regarding cooperation in this field under the Belt and Road Initiative, we have cooperated with other departments and held the High-level Conference on Intellectual Property for Countries along the Belt and Road in 2016 and 2018 respectively. General Secretary Xi wrote congratulation letters for both meetings. So far, a regular mechanism for cooperation has been established to promote intellectual property protection under the BRI. Practical cooperation projects in eight fields, including communication on macro policies, intellectual property examination, development of fundamental capabilities, and exchange of information and data, have been carried out.

So far, steady progress has been made in every project, many of which have achieved significant results as a result of cooperation. For instance, the applications of patents and trademarks of China and countries along the route of the BRI are rapidly and continuously increasing. In addition, as I've mentioned, the validation of the patents authorized by China in Cambodia, and Laos' recognition of the results of the examination of Chinese patents, have greatly enhanced bilateral economic and trade cooperation, as well as technological and cultural exchanges. China has established a postgraduate program - a masters in intellectual property for students from countries along the route of the BRI, and students in the first class under this program have graduated. In addition, we have launched the portal for the cooperation of intellectual property under the BRI, which has access to our Patentcloud examination system. We agree to strengthen and build closer communication on global intellectual property issues in order to promote the development of open, inclusive, balanced and effective international rules of intellectual property, as well as to further support the joint construction of the BRI.

Next, we will put into practice the principles outlined in General Secretary Xi Jinping's keynote speech, and deliver more substantial and concrete outcomes of intellectual property cooperation under the BRI. The third High-Level Conference on Intellectual Property for Countries Along the Belt and Road will be held next year. And we will take the principles outlined in General Secretary Xi Jinping's keynote speech as our guide to review the progress of intellectual property cooperation projects in eight aspects in the past two years. On this basis, we will draw up a blueprint of the relevant projects and issues relating to intellectual property cooperation under the BRI in the upcoming conference. This will allow us to provide a better ecosystem of innovation to support technological exchanges and cooperation on a national-level in accordance with market principles and laws. Thank you. 

China Radio International:

Some reports say that among China's 10 million or more valid registered trademarks, some of them are malicious trademark registration and trademark hoarding, which have disturbed the standard registration procedure and violated the principle of fair competition. What measures will the National Intellectual Property Administration take to combat malicious trademark registration and hoarding? 

Shen Changyu:

Thanks for your question. We have done a lot of work in this aspect. Now, I would like to invite the deputy commissioner of the National Intellectual Property Administration, a trademark expert, to answer this question. 

Zhao Gang:

Thank you. Just as you mentioned, China ranks first in the world with its large number of registered trademarks. However, a small portion of the registration is driven by malicious intent, which we usually call them "malicious trademark registration." It has been divided into two categories. The first category is for people who register names of famous brands on irrelevant products or services or register some popular international brands in China. The second category is for people who register trademarks and then sell them for a profit. This is what we call the "hoarding of registered trademarks." The former type of malicious registration, which is clearly defined in relevant laws, has been effectively contained in recent years thanks to our great efforts to crack down on it. Regarding the hoarding of registered trademarks, however, in spite of principle provisions, law enforcement is difficult due to lack of direct, specific, and operable articles.  

In recent years, the former State Administration for Industry and Commerce and the newly restructured State Intellectual Property Office have paid close attention to and taken solid strides on the crackdown on hoarding registered trademarks for profit. In accordance with the Trademark Law, we declare the invalidity of a large number of hoarded trademarks that lie unused, especially those resembling famous registered trademarks. In some cases where trademark infringement cannot be dealt with through application or complaint processes, we will declare invalidity after registration in accordance with Article 44 of the Trademark Law. Both administrative organs and people's courts agree that a trademark can be canceled, if the holder has registered a large number of trademarks but is not using them. However, the implementation involves many challenges before registration.

Therefore, the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress revised the Trademark Law on April 23. As you may have noticed, the revision aims to stop at the source those registration applications that are not intended for use. The Trademark Office of National Intellectual Property Administration can directly reject applications during the review phase. If the Trademark Office of National Intellectual Property Administration fails to spot such cases during the review phase, as long as an objection is raised, the application can be stopped. Even if registration has been approved, it can be dismissed through another procedure. The procedure that determines whether the application is valid is very powerful. And the revised Trademark Law also stipulates that, for those who register a trademark maliciously, in addition to their trademark being rejected and invalidated, they may also face administrative penalties such as warnings and fines. I believe that after the revision, the Trademark Law will be more effective in combating behaviors such as hoarding of trademarks and malicious registration. In the next stage, we must also step up the development of supporting measures to ensure implementation of this revised Trademark Law. Thank you.

Science and Technology Daily:

Just now, Mr. Shen, you introduced China's intellectual property rights development of 2018. Could you please give more information on the achievements and progress made by our country in IPR protection? Thanks.

Shen Changyu:

Thank you for your question. IPR protection is crucial for the system to improve property rights protection, so our entire society pays close attention to this issue. In 2018, the achievements our country made in IPR protection were evident in the following areas.

First, the understanding of IPR has been deepened. Last year, General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized in his keynote speech at the opening ceremony of the 2018 annual Boao Forum for Asia that IPR protection is the centerpiece of the system to improve property rights, and it would provide the biggest boost to enhancing the competitiveness of the Chinese economy. The statement leads us to a much deeper understanding on IPR protection and provides us with a fundamental principle.

Second, the duty of IPR protection has been optimized and readjusted. Through reform of institutions, the centralized management of trademarks, patents and geographical appellation of origin has been realized. The law enforcement team of the State Administration for Market Regulation is in charge of unified law enforcement on trademarks and patents. Meanwhile, the National Intellectual Property Administration is responsible for construction of the system to improving property rights protection, guidance of law enforcement for trademarks and patents and judging standards for patent and trademark infringement. All of these raise the effectiveness of law enforcement for IPR protection. 

Third, a punitive compensation system for IP infringements has been introduced, which demonstrates significant progress in this regard. This punitive compensation system has been specifically written into the draft amendment to the Patent Law, by which fines could be imposed up to five times for malicious IP infringement. In the recently-passed amendment to the Trademark Law, the max compensation limit for malicious trademark infringement was been raised to a quintupled level, which is a fairly high standard globally.

Fourth, the credibility and efficiency of IP examination has been enhanced, the notable progress of which was also been seen last year. During the first China International Import Expo in Shanghai in 2018, General Secretary Xi Jinping made a clarion call on the need for enhanced credibility and efficiency of IP inspection. The State Council has conducted certain deployments, noting that in the next five years, the time it takes to finish trademark inspections should be reduced from eight months to less than four months, an efficiency level which would rank top among the OECD countries. Also, examination times for inventions and patents should be reduced by one-third, while for high-value patents the time could be cut by half, which will mean a ranking of the most efficient in the world. All of these strategies will contribute to strengthening the protection of IP from its source.

Fifth, joint punitive mechanisms have been built. Together with another 37 departments, the National Intellectual Property Administration of China has built joint punitive mechanisms against bad faith in the fields of IP that maximizes continuous negative influence on businesses involved in IP infringement. The mechanism is said to be the strictest punitive measure in the history of IP, and has forcefully deterred the practice of IP infringement. I believe all of the points mentioned above constitute fundamental reform of IP protection in China, and they have drawn wide attention to different quarters of our society. Thank you.

HKTV:

The United States and some other western countries have accused China of not doing enough in cracking down on infringements. There are also cases of stealing and infringing intellectual property rights. May I ask Mr. Shen, what is your response to this? How do you view China's determination to crack down on infringement?

Shen Changyu:

Thank you for your question. First of all, I should say that some accusations about China's intellectual property protection are groundless. They have not seen the tremendous progress and achievements that China has made over the years in terms of intellectual property protection.

In fact, since the reform and opening up, especially since the 18th CPC National Congress, China has upped the ante in IPR protection, insisting on the equal treatment and protection of IPR of domestic and foreign enterprises. China has made great progress, which is recognized by the world. The U.S. intellectual property authorities and relevant media also said that China's IPR environment is at the forefront of developing countries and is becoming the preferred place for multinational corporations to initiate intellectual property litigation in global range. The reason they do so is because they believe that they can be treated equally in China.

It should be said that there's no limit in improving IPR. At present, there's still room for China to make improvements, and we are stepping up efforts to resolve these problems. At the same time, we must realize that the issue of intellectual property infringement is a worldwide problem. The issue exists in every country, only that different countries at different stages of development have different manifestations. All countries should strive to improve their business environment and solve their own problems.

Of course, apart from the efforts of individual countries, international cooperation is also needed to solve the problem of intellectual property infringement. We are willing to work with Western countries including the United States, to strengthen communication and cooperation in the field of intellectual property protection. We hope to work jointly to combat all kinds of infringements and create a good business environment, because strengthening IPR and cracking down on infringements are not only the need for fulfilling our international obligations but also the inherent need of China's implementation of innovation-driven development. Therefore, we must work together to promote a good international business environment and promote the prosperous development of the world. Thank you.

China News Service:

I want to ask Mr. Yu this question. The issue of film piracy during the Spring Festival this year has aroused widespread concern in society. What actions has the National Copyright Administration taken to combat piracy? In addition, what further governance actions will the National Copyright Administration take against such issues in the future? Thank you.

Yu Cike:

Thank you for your question. Chinese theaters screened eight domestic films during the Spring Festival, which were widely popular, and the films also set new box office records for the Spring Festival film season. However, it is true that the issue of film piracy has also triggered widespread concern in society. In order to maintain good copyright order and ensure the healthy and prosperous development of the film industry, the National Copyright Administration has taken many effective measures along with the State Film Administration, the Ministry of Public Security, the Cyberspace Administration of China, and the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, strengthening copyright protection of theatrical film releases.

First, we cracked down rigorously on stealthy recording and the spread of piracy and infringement. The National Copyright Administration and the Ministry of Public Security formed a special task force to check 11 key provinces and cities such as Beijing and Jiangsu province, conducting case investigations, cracking down on covert recordings and various websites, apps and e-commerce platforms that spread pirated movies. Currently, we have cracked down on 22 major cases of pirated theatrical film releases with help from public security organs. Among them, we hunted down a major stealthy recording case in Yangzhou city, Jiangsu province, knocking out a criminal gang that pirates theatrical releases and arresting 52 suspects.

Second, we dealt quickly with infringing web links. We increased the monitoring of film piracy, carefully screened public reports, and quickly deleted unlawful information. Until now, we have deleted more than 30,000 links of pirated Spring Festival films, with help from the relevant government departments.

Third, we increased copyright pre-warning protection. Since March, the National Copyright Administration has released two lists of key released films protected by cinema copyrights, bringing 15 theatrical releases (including 7 overseas films) under our pre-warning protection, requiring relevant network service providers to take effective measures to deal with infringement and piracy in a timely manner.

Fourth, we promoted social co-governance of copyright protection. We promoted the establishment of a theatrical releases copyright protection alliance on April 26, World Intellectual Property Day, and guided producers, distributors and commercial websites to carry out copyright cooperation to take full advantage of collective action to protect IP rights.

Next, the National Copyright Administration will carry out special action on theatrical releases copyright protection, further increase efforts to crack down on infringement and piracy of theatrical releases, strengthen self-discipline and actions of rights protection in the film and television industries, and promote relevant internet enterprises to take the lead responsibility. At the same time, regarding the current situation that a large number of small piracy websites have servers located outside of China, we will strengthen cross-border law enforcement cooperation with relevant countries and regions to jointly crack down on internet infringement and piracy. Thank you.

Wall Street Journal:

China and the U.S. will hold trade talks next week. What kinds of progress in IPR protection will promote the bilateral talk? Is there any progress made that is targeted to the U.S. concerns? Are there any enforcement measures in place to guarantee more progress in IPR protection? Is it possible to say that China's potential progress in IPR protection will prompt the U.S. side to cancel its tariff toward China?

Shen Changyu:

Thank you for your question. The China-U.S. high-level trade talks are of concern in both countries, as well as in the international community. Not long ago, the two sides made new progress in the ninth round of negotiations, as they implemented the important consensus made by the two heads of state during their meeting in Argentina and held talks on the text of the agreement. IPR protection is an important part of that text, according to releases by related departments. I think their releases also cover the answers to your questions.

Since the country's reform and opening up, and especially after the 18th CPC National Congress, China has strengthened IPR protection and achieved recognizable achievements as it committed to provide equal treatment to domestic and foreign companies. It is fair to say that IPR protection is not only a focus of the China-U.S. trade talks and an issue of international concern, but also a necessity for China's wider opening up and its next step for innovation-driven development. This year, we will take further steps to comprehensively strengthen IPR protection, which may contain answers to your questions.

First, to improve related laws and regulations. We will promote amendments to the patent law and improve the punitive compensation system to significantly raise the cost to offenders. We will impose a fine of up to five times for serious IPR infringements, a high penalty compared to the international standard. The amendments to the Trademark Law that we just completed have increased the punitive compensation for serious trademark infringements.

Second, to strengthen the source protection system. We will improve the quality and efficiency of IPR inspections, cut the process for trademark and patent inspections, and provide timely authorization and sturdy rights. Stricter enforcement measures will also be taken to fight against abnormal patent applications, as well as unethical trademark applications and trademark hoarding. Mr. Zhao Gang already answered questions related to that topic.

Third, to improve law enforcement measures. We will strengthen our market supervision and law enforcement team, improve the judgement criteria for trademarks and patents infringements, and increase effectiveness of law enforcement.

Fourth, to improve the co-governance system. We will take joint punitive actions against serious violators. "Once discredited, violators will face restrictions everywhere." Like I just said, this is among the strictest punitive measures in IPR history.

Fifth, to improve the coordination mechanism to ensure quick authorization, confirmation, and rights protection. We will provide more efficient, easier and less costly channels to safeguard the rights of market entities. 

These works are essential to IPR protection and major concerns of the China-U.S. trade talks, and we are going to promote them throughout the year. Therefore, a large part of the trade talks coincides with what we are doing and will continue to do in the future. And we will strive to advance those related works. Thank you.

Guangming Daily:

World IP Day was celebrated on April 26 this year, with the theme of "IP and Sports." With the scheduled opening of the Winter Olympics in China approaching, my question is about the protection of IP for the Olympic Games. Would you please provide an overview of the pertinent issues?

Shen Changyu:

Thank you. The theme of this year's IP Day was "Reach for the Gold: IP and Sports," which, by my view, is a high integration of IP culture and athletic spirit. It has created a general environment tailored to the Winter Olympics and Winter Paralympic Games scheduled to be hosted in China in 2022.

Actually, IP is closely related to sports, which can be exemplified by the massive adoption of new high-tech in sports fields, upgraded facilities and new materials, many of which are patented products. In addition, copyright protections are highly relevant in the rebroadcast of sports events, brands of sports products, and the ability to generate increased profits from trademark protections.

The protection of IP rights at the Olympic Games has always been a big concern of China. As early as 2002, we issued "Regulations on the Protection of Olympic Symbols," which was amended last year. Regarding the Winter Olympics, we have greatly endeavored to protect its IP rights since China won the bid. We have launched all-around and multi-dimensional protections of the patent, trademark and copyright of the emblem, as well as related symbols.

In the next stage, we'll focus on the IP protection of the Winter Olympics in two underscored aspects. First, we'll endeavor to protect the IP rights of its torch and mascot. Second, we'll establish a system, particularly in Beijing and Hebei provinces, to report on and prosecute any violations relevant to the Games. Meanwhile, we'll also make growing efforts to crack down on any infringements to ensure a splendid Winter Olympics. Thank you.

People's Daily:

Mr. Shen, the Outline of National Intellectual Property Strategy released in 2008 might expire in 2020. So what are our next steps? Thanks. 

Shen Changyu:

Thank you for your question. I believe you are an expert in the field of intellectual property, especially in that you know IP strategy very well. In 2008, China issued the Outline of National Intellectual Property Strategy, which is the first strategy outline in its field. Since its implementation ten years ago, China's IP industry has achieved rapid growth and great results, showcasing the plan's leading role.

Last year, we completed a thorough review of the strategy's implementation. It revealed that the major goals and tasks designed for the year 2020 will be realized successfully, and some of them have already been met. A report of this review was published a few days ago, and provides a systematic display of the achievements made by implementing the strategy outline over the past 10 years. Generally speaking, progress was made in the following aspects:

First, the creation of IPR has been advanced in both quantity and quality, making China a major IPR country. Second, IPR protection has been strengthened and the environment for business and innovation has improved, leading to a steady increase in social satisfaction with IPR protection. Third, the utilization of IPRs has produced a powerful effect, offering a strong impetus for economic development. Fourth, a model of IP management based on China's national conditions has been established, and the performance of regulations and capacity of public services have seen a continual increase. In terms of international IPR cooperation, China has remained a strong defender, major participant and active builder of international trade rules. In addition, since the Outline of the National Intellectual Property Strategy was issued in 2008, public awareness of IPR protection has significantly improved. We have made considerable progress.

To ensure the continuity of the strategy's implementation, to ensure this strategy can keep playing a leading role, and guided by the "two-step" strategy adopted at the 19th National Congress of the CPC and the related policies developed by the State Council, we are working hard to formulate the Outline of the National Intellectual Property Strategy for 2035. We are trying our best to make our country more robust on intellectual property rights, and ensure the continuous implementation of the strategies on intellectual property. The first draft of the outline will be finished at the end of the year and we welcome the participation, support and attention from all parts of society till then. Thank you.

Shenzhen Satellite TV:

Last year, patent application cases in Shenzhen reached 228,600, or approximately 90 patented inventions per 10,000 people on average, nearly 10 times the number of the national average. Additionally, the city has taken the lead among mid- and large-sized cities in the number of applications for the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) for 15 years in a row. At the same time, the "Regulations on IP Protection in Shenzhen Special Economic Zone" is the first comprehensive set of regulations for IP protection in the country. An IP tribunal was also established in the city's Qianhai area. Mr. Shen, how would you evaluate the city's achievements in patent application and IP protection? What's your opinion of the "Shenzhen phenomenon"? Thank you.

Shen Changyu:

Thanks for your questions. During the past few years, Shenzhen has indeed made notable progresses in creating, protecting, using and managing IP rights, particularly with its leading role in the number of PCT applications.

In my view, those achievements should be attributed to the strong creativity of the city, and local innovative entities are important driving forces. Secondly, they should be attributed to the intensive local awareness of IP protection, in support of which a slew of measures have been adopted there. More to the point, awareness of IP rights is strong in Shenzhen. Those factors combined have fueled the rapid development of local IP businesses.

As you said, the number of patent applications, especially those for the PCT in Shenzhen, has continued to boom, which is probably caused by local enterprises' international strategies for global business. Meanwhile, many local companies have developed well in the global market. They have paid substantial attention to international patent applications, which is highly relevant to corporate operations,. 

We hope the city can make more progress in regards to IP operation. Shenzhen is a model city in this particular sector country-wide, a competitive place for the IP industry and a pilot zone for experimental IP projects. We'll increasingly support it in its endeavors in IP development. Thank you.

China Intellectual Property News:

During the "Two Sessions" this year, some NPC deputies and CPPCC National Committee members suggested the amendment to the Patent Law should grant jurisdiction to the court for prosecution of patent invalidity, in order to address the issue of the long duration of patent prosecution. As far as we know, the National Intellectual Property Administration of China is responsible for the prosecution of patent invalidity. What's your opinion on this situation?

Shen Changyu:

Thank you for your question. Indeed, the issue was raised regarding the amendment to the Patent Law during the "Two Sessions" this year. We appreciate their attention to the amendment to the Patent Law. The prosecution of patent invalidity is a fairly professional and complex issue.

As you've said, currently the National Intellectual Property Administration holds responsibility for the prosecution of patent invalidity. Speaking from the nature of the Patent Law, judgment on patent invalidity in China is an important component of the administrative process of patent right confirmation. The procedure is a subsequent administrative oversight and error-correcting program for the earlier authorization and examination act, which is similar to a special kind of administrative reconsideration. Such a system is both a legally mandated duty of the National Intellectual Property Administration and an institutional arrangement that has lasted for decades in China. Also, such duty is practiced by the patent administrations of the majority of countries around the world. China is not the only case in this regard. 

Some experts believe that the long duration of patent prosecution is partly caused by judgment on patent invalidity. Patent prosecution indeed takes a long time, but the reasons for specific cases vary. I think one important reason is that patent cases are generally complicated and involve great technical complexity, thus increasing the difficulty of prosecution.

Some attribute it to the problem of system design, while others believe it's the result of "parallel system," which means that the determination of both patent right and the infringement are charged with different authorities. These type of opinions were discussed in articles and at meetings. However, it doesn't seem quite objective. According to the analysis of the statistics, 93% of the cases on patent infringement judged in 2018 are not influenced by invalid procedures. That is to say, the "parallel system" is not the pervasive factor causing the long period for patent protection.

Some people believe that circulation in patent litigation is another cause for the unreasonable delay in filing patent infringement litigation. This type of opinion also lacks evidence. According to the statistics from 2010 to 2018, only around 30 cases of invalidation application were caused by such reason, accounting for only 0.1% of the total during the same period. So, it is not the major cause for such delay.

However, it still requires more studies from various parties to find out the specific reason. Since we brought up the issue today, I'd like to brief you about China's examination on cases of invalidation application. Currently, China examines efficiently on cases of invalidation application. In 2018, it took 5.1 months on average to examine a case of invalidation application, the shortest in the world. About 97% of the cases of invalidation application will be resolved in the administrative procedures, which supports the intellectual property protection and is widely recognized by the relevant parties. 

Shou Xiaoli:

The press conference ends here today. Thanks to Mr. Shen and our guest speakers, and thank you, everyone.

By Li Xiaohua, Chen Xia, Li Xiao, Wang Yanfang, Guo Yiming, Li Huiru, Zhang Rui, Wu Jin, Zhang Liying, Zhu Bochen, Gong Yingchun, Wang Qian, Li Shen, Zhou Jing, Jennifer Fossenbell, Laura Zheng

.

Read in Chinese

Speakers:

Xiao Weiming, director general of the Department of General Affairs at the Office of the Leading Group for Promoting the Belt and Road Initiative;

Song Lihong, director general of the Comprehensive Department at the Ministry of Commerce

Chairperson:

Hu Kaihong, spokesperson for the State Council Information Office of China

Date:

April 22, 2019

Hu Kaihong:

Ladies and gentlemen, good afternoon and welcome to this press conference. Today, the Office of the Leading Group for Promoting the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) issued "The Belt and Road Initiative: Progress, Contributions and Prospects," and its text has been published by the Xinhua News Agency. To offer more information about the document, we are delighted to welcome two of the officials involved to update you on the development of the BRI and to answer your questions. They are Mr. Xiao Weiming, director general of the Department of General Affairs at the Office of the Leading Group for Promoting the Belt and Road Initiative; and Mr. Song Lihong, director general of the Comprehensive Department at the Ministry of Commerce. Now, I'll give the floor to Mr. Xiao.

Xiao Weiming:

Ladies and gentlemen, friends from the press, when General Secretary Xi Jinping visited Central Asia and Southeast Asia in 2013, he proposed the initiative of jointly building the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, known for the Belt and Road. This has received a positive response and widespread support, and has been followed with great interest by the international community. To promote the implementation of this major initiative, the Chinese government has set up a leading group and established the Office of the Leading Group for Promoting the Belt and Road Initiative within the National Development and Reform Commission.

Ahead of the second Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation (BRF), being approved by the Leading Group for Promoting the Belt and Road Initiative, the Office of the Leading Group has released the book "The Belt and Road Initiative: Progress, Contributions and Prospects." This is the third time for the Chinese government to publish the progress of BRI project construction, which is also one of the major achievements of the second BRF. From an objective, rational and fair perspective, the report has summarized the experience of building the BRI over more than five years as a way to further enhance the international community's understanding of this joint building initiative, and to promote mutual political trust, economic integration and people-to-people connectivity among different countries. The BRI also aims to work together with the international community to cope with the challenges facing the global economy, to create new development opportunities, to seek new driving forces for development, to realize advantageous complementarities and mutual benefits, and to work together toward the jointly building of the community with shared future for mankind — so that a new journey of BRI construction can soon be embarked upon.

The report contains around 18,000 words and consists of four parts: Preface, Progress, Contributions, and Prospects. It will be published in Chinese, English, French, Russian, German, Spanish, Arabic, and Japanese. Today, I will present the Chinese and English versions to you. The other six versions will be issued soon.

The report pointed out that the BRI adheres to the principle of joint construction through consultation to bring benefits to all, and has achieved remarkable results in the past five years. All participants have benefited from the BRI and have a growing sense of identity and engagement with the initiative. This corresponds with an old Chinese saying: the peach and the plum do not speak, yet a path is born beneath them (a sincere man attracts admiration). 

In terms of policy coordination, the Belt and Road Initiative and its core concepts have been written into relevant documents of organizations including the United Nations, the G20, APEC and other regional organizations. So far, China has signed more than 170 cooperation documents with more than 150 countries and international organizations, including the China-Mongolia-Russia cooperation plan, and bilateral cooperation plans with Kazakhstan, Cambodia, Laos, Czech Republic, Hungary and Brunei.

In terms of facilities connectivity, the construction of six international economic cooperation corridors has been steadily advanced, playing an important role in establishing and strengthening interconnected partnerships among countries and building an efficient and smooth market for Asia and Europe. The China-Laos Railway, the Sino-Thai Railway, the Jakarta-Bandung high-speed railway, and the Hungary-Serbia high-speed railway have all solidly advanced. Projects such as Gwadar Port, Port of Hambantota, Port of Piraeus and Port of Halifa are progressing smoothly. Significant progress has been made in energy cooperation ¬– electricity, oil and gas, nuclear power, new energy, coal, etc. – and the construction of cross-border optical cable information channels. As of the end of March, the China-Europe freight rail service network has exceeded 14,000 trips.

In terms of smooth trade, China launched the Initiative on Promoting Unimpeded Trade Cooperation along the Belt and Road -- so far, 83 countries and international organizations have been actively involved. China has signed or upgraded the free trade agreements with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), Singapore, Pakistan, Georgia and other countries and regions. Since the first Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation, China has signed more than 100 customs inspection and quarantine cooperation documents with countries along the route, and has achieved food quarantine access for more than 50 kinds of agricultural products.

In terms of financial and monetary integration, China, together with 27 countries, has endorsed the Guiding Principles on Financing the Development of the Belt and Road. The People's Bank of China has worked with multilateral development institutions to finance over 100 projects stretching across more than 70 countries and regions. The China-IMF Capacity Development Center and the Belt and Road Financial Development Research Center have been inaugurated. So far, 11 Chinese banks have established 76 first-level institutions in 28 countries along the Road. The cross-border RMB payment services have expanded to cover nearly 40 countries and regions along the Road.

In terms of people-to-people ties, China established the Silk Road Chinese government scholarships, and signed agreements with 24 countries along the Belt and Road route granting mutual recognition of higher education degrees and diplomas. China also concluded visa abolition agreements with 57 countries along the Belt and Road covering different types of passports, and reached 19 agreements with 15 countries to simplify visa procedures. The country also established overseas traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) centers and 43 bases for international cooperation on TCM in 35 countries along the Belt and Road.

In terms of industrial cooperation, from 2013 to 2018, direct investment from Chinese enterprises to countries along the route hit US$90 billion and the turnover of foreign contracted projects surpassed US$400 billion. China has signed capacity cooperation agreements with more than 40 countries and signed third-party market cooperation agreements with France, Italy, Spain, Japan and Portugal, to name a few.

The report stresses the initiative is from China, but it belongs to the world. It is rooted in history, but oriented towards the future. It focuses on the Asian, European and African continents, but is open to all partners. In a world undergoing major development, transformation and adjustments; peace, development and cooperation still remain the trend of the times. While the BRI projects are currently being carried out in a steadily and meticulous manner, China stands ready to work with all the parties to promote the implementation of BRI, turning the Belt and Road into a route of peace, prosperity, openness, green, innovation, civilization and integrity. Thank you.

Hu Kaihong:

Thank you, Mr. Xiao. Now, let's welcome Mr. Song to make an introduction.

Song Lihong:

Friends from the media, good afternoon. Today, the Office of the Leading Group for Promoting the Belt and Road Initiative launched the book "The Belt and Road Initiative: Progress, Contributions and Prospects."I'd like to take this opportunity to introduce the trade cooperation under the Belt and Road Initiative, as the former is an important part of the latter. 

Since the proposal of the Belt and Road Initiative, the Ministry of Commerce, guided by Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era and fully implementing the Party Central Committee's policy decisions on the initiative, has worked hard to promote trade cooperation between China and other countries along the routes, and made remarkable achievements. These are evident in five aspects.

First, two-way trades were increased continuously. We actively promoted the expansion of mutual market openness of countries along the routes of the Belt and Road Initiative, and continued to promote trade facilitation. We improved trade structure, and nurtured new areas of trade growth. We also strengthened trade promotion activities with countries along the routes through comprehensive and special exhibitions. We accelerated the innovation of trade forms, and nurtured new models of business, such as e-commerce. 

Between 2013 and 2018, the imports and exports between China and other countries along the Belt and Road exceeded US$6 trillion, registering an annual increase of 4%, which is higher than the increase in China's total foreign trade. The volume accounted for 27.4% of China's total trade in goods.

Second, two-way investments are developing in an in-depth way. We continue to strengthen the necessary service guarantees and encourage enterprises to invest in relevant Belt and Road countries. While realizing their own development, they can also help the host countries to develop their economy and improve local people's livelihood. At the same time, we continue to relax the permission procedures for foreign investment as part of creating a high-standard business environment, set up 12 free trade pilot zones open to the world, and explore the construction of free trade ports to attract countries along the Belt and Road to invest in China. From 2013 to 2018, Chinese enterprises directly invested more than US$90 billion in countries along the Belt and Road, with an average annual growth rate of 5.2%. The turnover of foreign-contracted projects along the Belt and Road has exceeded US$400 billion, while direct investments in China from Belt and Road countries has exceeded US$40 billion.

Third, big projects have been carried out and are producing their intended results. We, along with relevant parties, have launched a series of cooperation projects to build infrastructure facilities and industrial investment. Some big projects have been carried out as planned, one after another. For example, the Addis Ababa-Djibouti Railway has come into operation; the China-Maldives Friendship Bridge has opened to traffic; the Gwadar Port in Pakistan has acquired the capacity necessary to ensure its complete operation. There are so many such infrastructure facility projects, which have effectively promoted the host countries' economic development and the improvement of local people's livelihoods, making them popular among locals.

We have also actively co-built some economic and trade cooperation zones, which have developed and improved over time. These zones play the following roles: they provide Chinese enterprises with platforms for their overseas investment and development; they provide the host countries with opportunities to learn more from China's experience in using industrial parks to boost economic growth; and they also prove to be effective carriers for industrial cooperation between China and these countries. 

Fourth, the construction of free trade areas has sped up. We have expedited the construction of free trade areas with countries along the route of the Belt and Road, and signed or upgraded the free trade agreements with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, Pakistan and other countries and regions. These agreements have provided effective institutional arrangements for the liberalization and facilitation of trade and investment between these countries and China.

It is fair to say that a free trade zone network has gradually taken shape along the route of the Belt and Road. In addition, we have also actively promoted regional economic cooperation. We have signed trade and economic cooperation agreements with the Eurasian Economic Union, and the negotiations on regional comprehensive economic partnerships have made positive progress. 

Fifth, the cooperation mechanism has improved. The Ministry of Commerce has built bilateral economic and trade committee as well as joint committee mechanisms with all countries related to the Belt and Road Initiative. Meanwhile, we also have some regional and sub-regional cooperation platforms. We take advantage of these platforms to strengthen communication and coordination on important Belt and Road topics. 

At the same time, to further strengthen the frequency and effects of coordination, we have built work groups on unimpeded economic and trade cooperation, and investment with relevant countries, under the bilateral committees and joint committees. We have created bilateral e-commerce business cooperation mechanisms with 17 countries, and service trade cooperation mechanisms with 14 countries, as well as signed third party market cooperation agreements with Japan, Spain, the Netherlands, Belgium, etc. All this can be seen in media reports.

Generally speaking, the economic and trade cooperation between China and the countries involved in the BRI have improved greatly. Since the Belt and Road Initiative was proposed six years ago, it has produced remarkable achievements, intensified economic ties, and deepened economic cooperation between China and its partner countries. The initiative has also helped China improve its development through opening-up, and also prompted relevant countries to integrate into regional or even global value chains. This has allowed it to make positive contributions toward the development of economic globalization and the open world economy. Thank you all.

Hu Kaihong:

Thank you, Mr. Song. Now, we open the floor to questions. Please identify the news organization you represent before asking your question.

People's Daily:

The Second Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation (BRF) will be held in Beijing later this week. During the first BRF held in 2017, China and other involved parties reached a number of cooperation agreements and policy measures, resulting in more than 270 deliverables. Could you brief us on the implementation of those results in the past two years? Thank you.

Xiao Weiming:

Thank you for your question and careful attention to the results of the first BRF. Indeed, the forum achieved a remarkable outcome. I'm delighted to announce that, through concerted efforts, all of the 76 items comprising 279 concrete results in five key areas have been completed as planned, and some have even become routine works for further implementation. The accomplishment satisfying to all the concerned parties lays a solid foundation for the second BRF.

I think the 279 concrete results can be summarized as follows:

First is the fresh progress made in policy consultation through closer cooperation and a broader consensus. The Belt and Road cooperation documents signed between China and more than 10 other countries or international organizations during the first BRF have been implemented, effectively enhancing policy connectivity, political trust and the convergence of interests. The BRF Advisory Council and Liaison Office have both been officially established. The Facilitation Center for Building the Belt and Road within the National Development and Reform Commission has begun operation. The ability of the official Belt and Road Internet portal to engage in international communications has been significantly improved.

The second aspect lies in promoting infrastructure connectivity focusing on key projects. We have implemented a large number of infrastructure cooperation projects in such fields as transport, energy and water resources, and gained financing support for the Jakarta-Bandung high-speed railway, Colombo Port City, Hungary-Serbia railway and Line 2 of the Hanoi light rail network, etc. The agreements signed between China and Russia, Belarus, Germany, Kazakhstan, Mongolia and Poland to deepen cooperation in promoting China-Europe regular railway cargo services is being implemented, with an international mechanism for the cooperation playing an important role.

Third is enhanced liberalization and facilitation of trade and investment through expanded industrial investment. China has signed production capacity cooperation agreements with 41 countries, set up platforms of investment and financing such as those linking China-Latin America and China-Africa, and successfully hosted the first China International Import Expo. We have deepened cooperation for connectivity in regard to standards, metrology, customs, inspection and quarantine. Six ports, including Khorgos have started to implement the Convention on International Transport of Goods Under Cover of TIR Carnets. Under the BRI framework, China has fostered agricultural cooperation with Serbia, Chile, Egypt and other countries.

Fourth involves the efforts being made in diversifying systems of financial connectivity through strengthened financing support. China has worked with other concerned parties to jointly formulate guidelines for financing Belt and Road-related development projects, in an effort to establish a stable and sustainable financial safeguard system controlling risk. The Asian Financial Cooperation Association now has more than 100 members, offering special lending schemes worth RMB 380 billion equivalent to support Belt and Road cooperation in infrastructure, industrial capacity expansion and financing. The Silk Road Fund has been expanded by RMB 100 billion.

Fifth is the enhancement of people-to-people exchanges through more interactions. We have deepened cooperation in culture, media, environmental protection with other Belt and Road countries, offered more than 800 short-term research visits to China for foreign scientists, and developed new people-to-people exchange platforms such as a network for cooperation among NGOs in countries along the Belt and Road, a music education alliance and think tank networks. Thank you.

Economic Daily:

Mr. Song of the Ministry of Commerce just now introduced some achievements in the Belt and Road economic and trade cooperation. What measures does the ministry plan to take to promote the cooperation from now on? Thank you.

Song Lihong:

Thank for your question. Last August, President Xi Jinping stressed at a symposium marking the fifth anniversary of Belt and Road construction that high-quality joint construction should be pursued with even more meticulous efforts. We will act strictly in accordance with the requirement by further deepening mutually beneficial and win-win cooperation with relevant countries in the economic and trade fields, and improve the quality of our cooperation to achieve more for the benefit of people all over the world. We will take five specific steps this year:

First is to build a high-level platform for cooperation. As you all know, last year, we successfully hosted the first China International Import Expo. This was an important decision made by the Communist Party of China Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core to promote a new round of high-level opening up, and is a major initiative by China to further open its market to the rest of the world. The successful convening of the first expo exerted wide influence worldwide, winning high praise and establishing an important milestone for high-level opening up in the new era. This year, while consolidating the achievements of the first expo and promoting the completion of deals and contracted projects achieved then, we will make careful preparations for the second expo in accordance with the important instructions of President Xi Jinping to ensure we can host a high-level, productive and increasingly improving event. I believe it will provide a platform for all countries to share the dividends of China's development and an effective promoter for high-quality construction of the Belt and Road.

The second step is to make meticulous efforts for major economic and trade cooperation projects. We will focus on industrial investment and infrastructure connectivity, and promote the construction of a number of major projects with good comprehensive benefits and strong driving effects, so as to help developing countries consolidate their foundations for further economic development, better participate in the global division of labor, and benefit from the global value chain. We will continue putting people at the center of our efforts, delivering timely assistance to the needy, promoting more foreign aid projects concerning people's livelihood and immediate interests, and increase their sense of gain.

Third, we intend to carry out more activities to promote trade and investment. In my opinion, to construct a superior Belt and Road, the government should seek to play a role of higher quality. However, it is still the market that should play the decisive role in allocating resources. Thus, it is up to market players at large to strengthen their cooperation. Entrepreneurs need to meet, negotiate and discover business opportunities. Therefore, we will perform our duty in organizing various kinds of large-scale exhibitions, especially for the Belt and Road countries, and step up efforts in attracting investment and inviting exhibitors. We will also support regional efforts to build trade and investment promotion platforms with distinctive themes and features, creating more business opportunities from interactions among entrepreneurs.

Fourth, we intend to accelerate the development of "Silk Road E-commerce". The internet and the upcoming large-scale commercialization of 5G will create more favorable conditions for e-commerce development. At the beginning of the reform and opening up program, China's trade and investment cooperation with relevant countries proceeded through door-to-door marketing. Now, we do not need to follow that way any longer. With computers and mobile phones, we can select goods and services and have them delivered to us at the press of a button. Therefore, we will make full use of modern information technology to empower, add new impetus and boost the growth of China and relevant countries' foreign trade with e-commerce.

Fifth, we will promote the construction of free trade zones. We will work with willing countries to establish new free trade zones, and upgrade existing ones according to higher standards. In other words, we will reduce institutional and artificial barriers to trade and investment, and promote a grand market of the Belt and Road. Thank you.

AFP:

I have a question on numbers. Could you tell us the total sum of investment and loans for the Belt and Road projects?

Xiao Weiming:

Thanks for your question. Over the years since the Belt and Road Initiative was proposed in 2013, we have invested a total of over US$90 billion in countries along the Belt and Road. The sources of loans for those Belt and Road projects are diverse, including commercial banks, policy banks and international monetary institutions. In doing so, we share both benefits and risks. Thank you.

CCTV:

It is now more than five years since the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) was first raised, and different views towards the initiative have emerged. How does the BRI contribute to the world? I would like to know your point of view.

Xiao Weiming:

Thank you for the question. After fully grasping the guiding principles from General Secretary Xi Jinping's important addresses and instructions, and studying the documents on the decisions and plans of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council, I would like to sum up the great significance of the BRI in the following aspects: 

For China itself, it is the master plan to promote opening-up and international economic cooperation.

For the world, it provides an important platform for promoting common development and prosperity, and building a community featuring a shared future for humanity. 

Domestically, the BRI has further promoted the reform and opening of our country, with the focus on the overall plan for promoting all-round economic, political, cultural, social, and ecological progress, as well as the Four-Pronged Comprehensive Strategy. It has become a distinct symbol of China's reform and opening in the new era. Driven by the BRI in recent years, we have increased the openness of the service sector; made the manufacturing sector basically open to all; widened access to the agriculture, energy and resources sectors; deepened reform of the investment and financing, fiscal and tax systems and the financial sector overall; reduced the negative lists for the access of foreign investment for both nationwide implementation and pilot free trade zones (FTZs); and, it has significantly improved the overall business environment. According to the 2019 World Bank Doing Business Report, China ranks 46th globally, 32 places higher than last year.

We have promoted the opening-up of areas along the coastline and the Yangtze River, as well as in border and inland regions, moving toward nationwide opening-up that connects the eastern and western regions, and attaching equal importance to the "bring in" and "go global" strategies. We have cooperated with some developed countries to jointly explore third-party markets, while constantly raising the quality and standard of opening-up. What I want to emphasize here is that, as they have fully engaged in the Belt and Road development, China's central and western regions, especially the latter, have moved from forming the background to the forefront of China's reform and opening up, and are filled with great vitality. 

The contributions to the international political and economic landscapes lie in the following two aspects: 

First, the BRI's firm support in building multilateralism and the multilateral trading system, as well as enhancing free trade and investment have provided a robust driving force for the recovery of global economy. China has contributed over 30% of global economic growth, which has made us the strongest driving force globally. In addition, the annual rate of contribution of China's final consumption expenditure to global consumption growth in recent years places China as the top contributor. Therefore, due to the BRI, Kazakhstan, the largest landlocked country in the world, is able to establish a corridor to the sea; Belarus is able to develop its own automotive industry; Maldives' dream to build bridges is coming true; Pakistan's electricity shortage is solved because of several new power plants; and Laos will change from being a landlocked country to one that is land-connected once the China-Laos railway opens. These examples show the contributions of the BRI to economic growth and improvement of the wellbeing of people living in the countries along its route.

Second, the BRI helps to improve global governance. Within the BRI, the principles of consultation, collaboration and benefit for all, as well as "the connectivity of policy, transportation, trade, currency and the heart of the people" show the initiative's endorsement of multilateralism, free trade, and a multilateral trade system. We firmly believe in dialogue and consultation, and work collaboratively to promote communication. This is in order to build a community with a shared future for mankind through political and mutual trust, economic globalization as well as people-to-people exchanges. The initiative has been widely recognized worldwide and as I've mentioned before, the BRI has been included into many documents of international organizations like the U.N., G20, APEC, and SCO. It is clear that the BRI fulfills the internal requirements of a global governance system reform, demonstrating the concept of a community with a shared future for mankind and providing Chinese wisdom toward the improvement of the global governance system. Thank you.

Reuters:

China has promised to develop the Belt and Road into a sustainable and green path, and refuted claims of a so-called "debt trap." Do you have any details or concrete measures to share with us on this? In addition, does China have plans to introduce new laws and regulations on company investments to regulate future investments under the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative?

Xiao Weiming:

Thank you for your concern. Promoting the building of a green Silk Road is an important part of jointly building the Belt and Road Initiative. Over the past few years, Chinese companies that are "going global" have been adhering to the idea of green and environmentally friendly development, both in infrastructure investment and manufacturing investment. We have conducted strict environmental assessments in the building of hydroelectricity power plants, coal-fired power plants, roads and ports. We have even hired third-party independent organizations to do some preparatory research. In fact, due diligence is always performed in China by companies to produce a feasibility report. So we are upholding to the idea of green and environment-friendly development as we push forward in our projects.

We are willing to work with all parties concerned to follow through on our commitments to green development. We will strengthen international cooperation on eco-environmental protection to address climate change. We will improve the protection and restoration of the eco-system and develop "green finance." As to the platitudes on the "debt trap," I can say responsibly that since the initiative was proposed, no country has fallen into the so-called "debt trap" for participating in the building of the Belt and Road. On the contrary, all the participating countries have witnessed rapid development. Therefore, the so-called "debt trap" is a false proposition. Thank you.

Song Lihong:

Please allow me to share with you some of my thoughts and what I've learned. Recently, there were many stories about the so-called "debt traps." If a country, a family or an enterprise wants to make progress, the correct way is through self-accumulation before anything else. However, I want to emphasize that if you discover great potential of development, or if you are very confident of achieving development, you need to make extra efforts to realize it. In this situation, you need to use financial leverage tools. In other words, you need to borrow money to achieve development. How to judge if the timing is right for such a move? You must be able to obtain the loan. You must borrow money without doing harm to your reputation. On a country-level, especially those relatively less developed, or are under rather heavy debt burdens, I still don't think they should be deprived of the right of seeking development. Or, to put it another way, they should enjoy the right of seeking development by increasing their leverage ratio a little bit.

In this case, no matter who is involved — the country that lends the money, the country that borrows the money, or the enterprise that take a part in the cooperation, all face certain requirements. The borrower needs to pay close attention to its financial situation. It must focus on economic growth. In particular, it must intensify the efforts in infrastructure construction and industrial investment, so as to accelerate the industrialization process. Meanwhile, countries that lend the money, whether developed or emerging countries like China, are obliged to help the comparatively less developed countries improve their financing conditions. Regarding enterprises that take a part in the cooperation, as Mr. Xiao just said, they need to carry out feasibility studies to manage risks. What is the return of foreign investment? We should understand this concept from two perspectives: One is the time value of the funding, the other is the risk premium of the investment. If you cannot manage the risks, how can you make profits?

Solving the debt issue needs the efforts of all parties involved. We can follow the principle of "consultation, collaboration and benefit for all" to gradually tackle the problem. Although some countries are under high debt pressures, their debts will gradually fall when their industrialization, urbanization and modernization are accelerated. One thing for sure is that without development, without hard work, there will be no hope at all. Thank you. 

Phoenix Satellite TV:

Could you please introduce the progress being made in the construction of overseas economic and trade cooperation zones, and what kind of expectation do you have for the next stage in their development? Thank you. 

Song Lihong:

The overseas economic and trade cooperation zones, as I said at the beginning of the briefing, are an important platform for Chinese enterprises to invest abroad. They are also an "effective carrier" for China to conduct industrial cooperation with countries along the Belt and Road. Since the BRI was first proposed, overseas economic and trade cooperation zones have witnessed fast development. However, it should be noted that these zones were already being established before the BRI was proposed, so they are actually not an emerging phenomenon. However, they have kept expanding ever since the BRI was proposed. You can tell that they have become a major focus of BRI construction and a glorious part of a beautiful landscape. Such examples can be found in many countries, and I believe most of you present may have already witnessed their development, so I will not go into details here. According to the statistics of the Ministry of Commerce, the accumulated Chinese investment in overseas economic and trade zones has reached nearly US$40 billion, while contributing over US$3 billion in taxes and fees to the host countries, and creating more than 300,000 jobs. Over 70% of those economic and trade cooperation zones have been jointly established with countries along the Belt and Road. 

Next, we will enhance the integration of plans, industries and mechanisms with our partner countries through jointly building the Belt and Road Initiative. We strongly advocate openness and cooperation, adhere to the concept of green and sustainable development as well as promote practical cooperation in the construction of cooperation zones. We want to make cooperation zones the effective medium of industrial cooperation between China and the host countries and pilot zones for promoting industrialization by host countries. We should strive to cultivate some cooperation zones with geographical advantages, distinct industrial positioning, advanced management and outstanding construction achievements. We want to let cooperation zones become important international cooperation platforms based on mutual benefit and creating a win for all.  

There will be 12 sub-forums in the upcoming Second Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation. I hope to draw attention to the Overseas Economic and Trade Cooperation Sub-Forum which is sponsored by China's Ministry of Commerce. The preparatory work is now coming to an end. We will invite relevant countries, intermediaries and enterprises to discuss how to develop high-quality overseas economic and trade cooperation zones at the sub-forum. Thank you.

China News Service:

Just like what you said, Mr. Xiao, the Belt and Road Initiative will become the road of peace, prosperity, opening up, green development and innovation, the road connecting different civilizations and the road with high ethical standards. May I ask you to elaborate on the specific plans and designs that China has endeavored to achieve in the aforementioned goals.

Xiao Weiming:

Thank you. First, please allow me to help review the origins of the seven aspects of the abovementioned "road." In May 2017, Xi Jinping, the General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC), pointed out at the opening ceremony of the first Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation that the Belt and Road Initiative should become the road of peace, prosperity, opening up and innovation as well as a road connecting different civilizations. This set the tone and outlined the initiative's five functions. At the same time, he also stressed that we should strengthen international counter-corruption cooperation so that the Belt and Road will be a road with high ethical standards. During last year's Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, General Secretary Xi proposed to adopt the principle of green development when executing the Belt and Road Initiative. Those are the seven principles of the "road," around which our prospects and preliminary plans have formed.

In view of the road being one that leads to peace, we are willing to pursue common, comprehensive, cooperative and sustainable security with the rest of the world, while adhering to the global governance principle of sharing growth through discussions and collaboration. We hope that we can jointly establish dispute settlement, risk early-warning and prevention and control mechanisms, all be resolved to combating terrorism, secessionism and extremism. We want to also promote a new type of international relations featuring mutual respect, fairness, justice and win-win cooperation, forge partnerships of dialogue with no confrontation and of friendship rather than alliance.  

In view of the road being one that leads to prosperity, we hope that we can press ahead with interconnectivity whether on land, at sea, in the air or through the internet, with the rest of the world. We will expand bilateral and multilateral investment and trade, deepen industrial cooperation, cultivate new driving forces and new business models. We also want to establish a stable and sustainable financial service system that keeps risks under control, and achieve economic integration and interconnected development to the benefit of all participants.

In view of the road being one that leads to further opening-up, China upholds and strengthens the multilateral trade system which is rule-based, open, transparent, inclusive and non-discriminative. China promotes liberalization and facilitation of trade and investment by building high-standard free trade areas jointly with other countries. We'll follow the rules of the market as well as internationally applicable standards and rules to build a global economy that is fully open. 

In view of the construction of the Green Silk Road, we are willing to work with countries around the world to implement the overall concept of green development, deepen international cooperation, jointly address various challenges, strengthen ecosystem protection and restoration, as well as exploring the development of green finance. We are committed to creating a way of life and work that is green, low-carbon, circular and sustainable, so as to achieve the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals set by the United Nations.

In view of building a road of innovation, we want to develop a national-level joint scientific research platform with various countries around the world, thus forming a multi-level and diversified scientific and cultural exchange mechanism. We are also willing to strengthen cooperation in frontier, cutting-edge sectors such as the artificial intelligence, nanotechnology and quantum computers, as well as promoting intellectual property protection.

In terms of building a road that brings together different civilizations, we seek to deepen cooperation with many countries around the world in regard to education, science and technology, culture, health, sports, media, tourism and other fields. We will also strengthen our exchanges between political parties, think tanks and non-governmental organizations, as well as promoting exchanges between women and youth. In fulfilling these goals, we are willing to continue providing assistance within our capacity to developing countries along the Belt and Road routes.

In terms of building a road reflecting the high ethical standards, we wish to work with various countries to strengthen supervision, management, and risk prevention and control of the construction projects emerging along the routes. We will make efforts to create a clean and efficient modern business environment, promote international anti-corruption exchanges and cooperation, improve the anti-corruption law system, and continue to crack down on commercial bribery, etc. Thank you.

Kyodo News:

Yesterday, explosions rocked Sri Lanka. Will this incident be mentioned in theis forum? Also, please tell us about the specific discussions on peace building and security aspects.? Thank you.

Xiao Weiming:

Thank you for your question. Regarding the security issue you mentioned, China pays great attention to safety and security in Belt and Road construction. The relevant Chinese government departments have strengthened cooperation with the security authorities of countries along the Belt and Road and conducted institutional dialogues and exchanges. In general, the results of cooperation are extensive and in-depth. We have established an institutionalized security dialogue mechanism with countries in Central Asia and South Asia. The overall goal is to jointly fight against terrorism and various violent crimes through cooperation between the relevant Chinese authorities and those in countries along the Belt and Road, in order to create a good security environment, and provide guarantees for safe and smooth development of Belt and Road projects. We also hope countries along the Belt and Road will continue to strengthen cooperation with the Chinese government, further improve dialogue, and enhance mutual exchange of information and mutual assistance in law enforcement during expanded collaboration in the future. Thank you.

Xinhua News Agency:

It has just been mentioned that, during the Second Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation, the Ministry of Commerce will take the lead to organize two sub-forums, namely the Unimpeded Trade Sub-Forum and the Overseas Economic and Trade Cooperation Zones Sub-Forum. Can you tell us more about these two sub-forums? Thank you.

Song Lihong:

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has held a briefing regarding the Second Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation. Since you are concerned about the two sub-forums hosted by the Ministry of Commerce, I will give you a brief introduction about them.

The Unimpeded Trade Sub-Forum will be held at the National Convention Center on the afternoon of April 25. The sub-forum is organized by the Ministry of Commerce, and is co-organized by the General Administration of Customs, the State Taxation Administration, the Export-Import Bank of China and the China Export and Credit Insurance Corporation. The theme is "Openness, Inclusiveness, and Innovation, Deepening Belt and Road Unimpeded Trade Cooperation." Discussions will focus on "deepening multilateral and bilateral economic and trade cooperation, and promoting openness and integration," "developing new trade forms and promoting innovation-driven development," and "optimizing the business environment, and promoting sustainable development." Judging from the number of sign-ups, the sub-forum has drawn a lot of attention. We estimate that there are about 300 Chinese and foreign participants, including more than 200 of the latter, many of whom are ministerial level and above.

The Overseas Economic and Trade Cooperation Zones Sub-Forum will be held at the National Convention Center on the morning of April 25. The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs and the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce are co-organizers. The theme is "Jointly building overseas economic and trade cooperation zones and promoting Belt and Road international investment cooperation." Participants will discuss the topics of "building overseas economic and trade cooperation zones through discussion and collaboration" and "promoting high-quality development of overseas cooperation zones." There will be about 200 participants, more than half being foreigners.

In addition to the guest speaker session, these two sub-forums also have a discussion session. We believe that all parties will make full use of these opportunities to create a greater consensus on economic and trade cooperation, and make new efforts and contributions to promote the high-quality development of the Belt and Road. Thank you.

Beijing Youth Daily: 

According to the report, China has signed cooperation documents with more than 150 countries and international organizations as well as standardization cooperation agreements with more than 40 countries and regions. My question is, what else should China consider when trying to promote the connectivity of policies, standards and regulations with these parties in addition to the implementation of the agreements and documents?

Xiao Weiming:

Thank you for your question. With the further development of the plan to jointly build the Belt and Road Initiative, the aspect of connectivity has transformed from a "hard" concept in the past five years that mainly involves infrastructure construction, to a "soft" one that now involves standards and regulations. Or, at least equal stress has been placed on both aspects. In my opinion, the integration of the "soft" aspect of the BRI is more important and lasts longer than that of the "hard" aspect, to some extent. This is because all the physical connectivity will depend on the connectivity of standards and regulations eventually. So we are keenly aware of the heavy responsibilities we bear and have already launched an effort to specifically work on the integration of standards and regulations which are already included in the key points of our work in 2019. Related departments have also been instructed to carry out work in this aspect. Here, I would like to emphasize a few points:

First, on the connectivity of policies, I believe that more is better and this is a process that is always underway. The Belt and Road Initiative is an open and inclusive one. We welcome any country that wants to build the Belt and Road Initiative with us. In addition to the more than 150 countries and international organizations you have mentioned before, we welcome and are waiting for other countries to join us.

Second, as for the connectivity of standards and regulations, this is a long and arduous task. It's easy for us to speak in general terms about this issue but, in reality, it's very complicated when you sit down to negotiate about integration. Since the beginning of last century or the end of the 19th century, people have started to draw up international standards and regulations. Among those standards and regulations, there are some related to the Belt and Road Initiative and can be roughly classified into three categories, namely international law, international private law and international economic law. As for the standards of international economic law, those of investment and trade are the top priorities. Aspects like trade, investment, transportation, finance, insurance, intellectual property protection and labor are already included in investment and trade standards. Furthermore, each aspect includes many international treaties, conventions and agreements. So you have to negotiate them individually when you plan to integrate a specific standard or regulation. 

Third, the Chinese government firmly supports the multilateral trading system and free trade based on rules, and upholds the UN Charter. It also observes the international law and the basic norms governing international relations and adheres to international treaties, conventions and agreements China has entered into and participated in. China has always been willing to make her own contributions to the improvement of international standards and regulations based on international treaties, conventions and agreements.

So I think the connectivity of standards and regulations will become the key point of our work in the next phase as we hold the Second Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation and implement its outcomes. Thank you.

China Daily:

Dubbed the "caravans of steel camels", the China-Europe Railway Express has been gradually increasing the number of its freight train runs and expanding its coverage and influence. Could you give us an introduction of its development, the main work and future plans?

Xiao Weiming:

Thanks for your attention to the China-Europe Railway Express, which has been growing along with the Belt and Road Initiative. So far, the cumulative total of shipments has reached 14,691. The freight trains have created a link between 62 cities in China and 51 cities in 15 European countries. A total of 68 rail routes have been developed. All Chinese cities can be linked with any European country via three rail channels -- a western route through the Alataw Pass, an eastern route through Manzhouli, and a middle line through Erenhot -- and then on through central Asia, Belarus and Russia. Goods are flowing continuously via these "caravans of steel camels" as you say. The progress made in China-Europe Railway Express project can be described through several features.

First, the transport quality has improved significantly. The ratio of departing trains to returning trains has gone from 2:1 to 3:2 and to 99% now. A balance in two-way communications has been basically achieved. Currently, 88% of the containers are full of goods, an increase of 4 percentage points compared with last year. We have also beefed up security measures along the routes.

Second, the goods transported have gradually become more diversified. The goods items have expanded from IT products like smartphones and computers to clothing, shoes and hats, automobiles and auto parts, grain, grape wine, coffee beans and logs. Car exports form a new growth pillar. It is worth noting that China-Europe Railway postal services have also become regularized.

Third, the railway has significantly spurred the growth of surrounding areas. With the development of the railway, a safe, convenient and efficient "trade passageway" has opened for countries along the route, and most certainly for China's landlocked regions. Multimodal connectivity projects have appeared and have basically achieved rail-inland water and rail-maritime transportation, contributing greatly to regional economic and employment growth. The total cargo value of China-Europe freight trains reached US$ 3.3 billion in 2018, up 106% from the year before.

Fourth, significant progress has been made in institutional construction. An agreement for further cooperation covering China-Europe Railway has been signed by seven countries, including China, Belarus and Russia. A joint working group has been established, with the addition of three national observers, namely the rail administrations of Lithuania, Latvia and Austria. The joint working group has cooperated to improve the capacity in regard to transport organizing, marketing and information-sharing. Domestically, a coordinating board for China-Europe Railway has been established as a self-coordinating mechanism between enterprises. 

Therefore, we are confident that with the further implementation of the BRI, the China-Europe Railway will enhance international cooperation and interaction between industries, win a higher reputation for itself, further address railway traffic congestion, improve the efficiency of customs clearance, and provide better services for people of countries under the BRI. Thank you.

China Business News:

While trying to meet the challenges from the complicated geopolitical and international trade landscape of China, the United States and Europe, our country is also undergoing domestic economic restructuring. How can we ensure a sustainable development and effective implementation of the BRI in this context? Thank you.

Xiao Weiming: 

That's a fairly broad question. I will have to answer it briefly. The China-U.S. trade friction has drawn worldwide attention, and the Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation will be convened soon. Guided by the principles of openness, inclusiveness, and mutual benefit, we welcome all countries, including the United States, to participate in the BRI and the upcoming forum.

China and the United States are the biggest developing country and developed country in the world. We have huge potential for cooperation with complementary strengths. Last year, the GDP of the United States surpassed US$20 trillion, reaching US$20.5 trillion, while the GDP of China totaled US$13.6 trillion, about 66% of the U.S. figure. However, the per capita GDP of China is only about 15% of the U.S. level. Thus, there is still a big gap between us. We need to learn from the United States, and promote development through economic cooperation. There is enormous room for cooperation between the two countries.

In addition, China is a large market for American agricultural and high-tech products. Therefore, we have good reason to believe cooperation outweighs friction in the China-U.S. relationship. As for trade friction, it's normal for the two countries to have some disputes and differences in trade and opinion. I believe that more countries, including the United States, will gradually embrace the principles of extensive consultation, joint contribution and shared benefits, as well as "a five-pronged approach" [policy coordination, connectivity of infrastructure and facilities, unimpeded trade, financial integration, and closer people-to-people ties] to jointly build the BRI. 

When it comes to the European Union, China and it have long cooperation, and many of EU member states have become important partners to jointly build the Belt and Road. In particular, the EU strategy on Connecting Europe and Asia proposed by the EU dovetails neatly with the BRI, and the two sides are working to enhance the policy coordination. We welcome closer cooperation with the EU and its member states to produce more substantial benefits. Thank you.

Song Lihong:

Please allow me to add something. You asked just now what China's consideration is under the circumstance of facing a very complicated geopolitical situation when promoting Belt and Road construction. I would like to ask you when the geopolitical situation was not complex from World War II until now. And do you know how much the world economy has developed since then? 

Therefore, I do not think that is a problem. As long as countries uphold openness and cooperation rather than working behind closed doors, the general trend of cooperation will be unstoppable. The leaders of all countries have the ability and wisdom to solve these problems, and our people are more than capable of solving these problems with their collective wisdom. Our entrepreneurs are also able to continue strengthening cooperation even though facing complex conditions and various risks.

Your second question concerns China's economic restructuring. Since the 18th CPC National Congress, the central government has held a view that China has entered a new normal in economic development. This means that we have shifted from a high to a medium-high growth rate, our economic structure have moved from low-to-medium level to medium-to-high level, and the driving force of our growth has changed from resource consumption to innovation. China's economy cannot achieve stable, sustainable and quality development without accelerating restructuring. Therefore, we must deepen the reform and open wider. 

Chinese President Xi Jinping has reiterated several times that China's door will never be closed, and it will only open still wider. Regional economy and global economy will make further progress and create more benefits only through continuous openness and cooperation, free flow of elements, better distribution of resources, and deepening integration of markets. 

Of course, when profits grow, we need to distribute them appropriately. But undoubtedly, they are beneficial to both the Chinese and global economies. Thank you.  

Hu Kaihong:

That's all for today's press conference. Thank you all.

.

Read in Chinese

Date:

April 17, 2019

Shou Xiaoli:

Ladies and gentlemen, good morning. Welcome to this press conference. Today, we will release China's economic data. 

Mr. Mao Shengyong, the director general of the Department of Comprehensive Statistics at the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) and spokesperson of the NBS, will present China's economic performance in the first quarter of 2019, and answer some of your questions. 

At this time, I'll give the floor to Mr. Mao.

Mao Shengyong:

Thank you. Ladies, gentlemen, friends from the media, good morning. In accordance with the usual practice, I will introduce the basic situation of the economic operation in the first quarter to you, and then answer your questions. 

In the first quarter, the national economy enjoyed stable performance with growing positive factors.

In the first quarter of 2019, under the strong leadership of the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping as its core, all regions and departments implemented the decisions and arrangements made by the CPC Central Committee. The State Council, adhered to the general working guidelines of making progress while maintaining stability, and fully implemented the new development philosophy. It also conformed to the requirements of high quality development, made solid efforts to advance the supply-side structural reform, strengthened the counter-cyclical adjustment, and spared no effort to put the policies into effect. As a result, the national economy enjoyed stable performance with growing positive factors. There is also stronger market expectation and confidence, which will sustain the momentum of progress in overall economic stability.

According to preliminary estimates, the gross domestic product (GDP) of China was 21.34 trillion yuan in the first quarter, an increase of 6.4% at comparable prices year-on-year. This figure is the same as that of the fourth quarter last year, 0.4 percentage point lower than that of the same period last year and 0.2 percentage point lower than that of 2018. The value added of the primary industry was 876.9 billion yuan, up by 2.7% year-on-year; for the secondary industry it was 8.23 trillion yuan, up by 6.1%; and for the tertiary industry it was 12.23 trillion yuan, up by 7.0%.

1. The agricultural sector posted a stable performance with an improved planting structure. 

In the first quarter, the added value of the agricultural sector (crop farming) posted a year-over-year increase of 4.4 percent. The output of poultry, eggs and milk increased by 2.3 and 2.0 percent year-over-year, respectively; the combined output of pork, beef, mutton and poultry was 22.52 million tons, down 2.8 percent year-over-year. Broken down, the output of pork was 14.63 million tons, down 5.2 percent; but the output of beef, mutton and poultry were up by 1.7,1.4 and 2.1 percent, respectively. In March, the spring ploughing and sowing have proceeded smoothly in most major farming areas, due to favorable sunshine and soil moisture conditions, as well as good light and temperatures. The planting area intended for soybeans increased by 16.4 percent year-over-year, and the area for quality middle-season rice and single-cropping late rice grew by 1.9 percent.

2. The growth of industrial production accelerated and the proportion of high-tech industries rose. 

The growth of the total value added of industrial enterprises above the designated size was 6.5% year-over-year in the first quarter of 2019, or 1.2 percentage points higher than in the first two months, and 0.8 percentage point higher than in the fourth quarter of last year, also 0.3 percentage point lower than the same period last year. Analysis by types of ownership showed that the value added of state holding enterprises is up by 4.5%; that of share-holding enterprises is up by 7.8%; and that of enterprises funded by foreign investors or investors from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan is up by 1.4%. In terms of sectors, the value added of the mining industry grew by 2.2% year-over-year, manufacturing increased by 7.2%, and the production and supply of electricity, thermal power, gas and water increased by 7.1%. The  value added of high-tech industries grew by 7.8% year-over-year, or 1.3 percentage points higher than that of industrial enterprises above the designated size, accounting for 13.5% of all industrial enterprises above the designated size, 0.8 percentage point higher than in the same period last year. The value added of strategic emerging industries grew by 6.7% year-over-year, or 0.2 percentage point higher than that of the industrial enterprises above the designated size. New products registered fast growth, with the output of devices for mobile communication base stations, urban rail vehicles, new energy automobiles and solar cells growing by 153.7%, 54.1%, 48.2% and 18.2% respectively in the first quarter. In March, the total value added of industrial enterprises above the designated size was up by 8.5% year-over-year, 3.2 percentage points higher than that of the first two months, or up by 1.0% month-over-month.

In the first two months, the profits made by industrial enterprises above the designated size stood at 708.0 billion yuan, down by 14.0% year-over-year, a slight decline compared with the same period last year after deducting the Spring Festival factor. The profit rate of business revenue of industrial enterprises above the designated size was 4.79%. Preliminary data shows that industrial enterprises improved realization of profits in March.

3. The service sector grew fast and the growth of major industries rebounded.

In the first quarter, the development of the tertiary industry witnessed progress while maintaining overall stability. Specifically, the added value of leasing and business services grew by 8.3% year-on-year; the financial industry increased by 7%; accommodation and catering services increased by 6%; and the wholesale and retail industry grew by 5.8%. All these growth rates were higher than the fourth quarter of last year. Information transmission, software and information technology services maintained rapid growth, up by 21.2% year-on-year.

In the first quarter of 2019, the national service industry production index increased by 7.4% year-on-year, 0.1 percentage point higher than that of January and February, and 0.2 percentage point higher than that of the fourth quarter of last year. In March, the national service industry production index was up by 7.6% year-on-year, 0.3 percentage point higher than that of January and February. In the first two months of the year, the business revenue of service enterprises above the designated size increased by 10.9% – 0.5 percentage point lower than that of last year.

4. Growth rate of market sales rose; share of online retail sales increased.

In the first quarter, the total retail sales of consumer goods totaled 9.78 trillion yuan, up by 8.3% year on year. This was a 0.1 percentage point higher than that of the first two months this year and 1.5 percentage points lower than that of the same period last year. The retail sales of consumer goods in urban and rural areas totaled 8.34 trillion yuan and 1.44 trillion yuan respectively, up by 8.2% and 9.2% year on year. Catering sales totaled 1.06 trillion yuan, up by 9.6% year on year. The retail sales of commodities totaled 8.71 trillion yuan, up by 8.2% year on year. The sales of cosmetics and communication equipment above the designated size grew by 10.9% and 10.0% respectively. This was 2.6 percentage points and 1.7 percentage points higher than that of total retail sales of consumer goods respectively. In March, the total retail sales of consumer goods increased by 8.7 percent year on year, 0.5 percentage point higher that of the first two months and 0.91 percentage point higher than that of February.

In the first quarter, online retail sales across China totaled 2.24 trillion yuan, up by 15.3% year on year. This was 1.7 percentage points higher than that of the first two months of this year. The online retail sales of physical commodities totaled 1.78 trillion yuan, up by 21% year on year. This accounted for 18.2% of the total retail sales of consumer goods and was 1.7 percentage points higher than that of the first two months of this year. 

5. Investment rebounded steadily and investments in high-tech industries grew rapidly.

In the first quarter of 2019, the investment in fixed assets (excluding rural households) was 10.19 trillion yuan. This marked a growth of 6.3% year-over-year. The growth rate was 0.2 percentage point higher than that of the first two months, or 1.2 percentage points lower than that of the same period last year. Specifically, private investment reached 6.15 trillion yuan, up by 6.4%. Investments in the primary industry grew by 3.0% and the secondary industry was by 4.2%. Among this, investments in manufacturing grew by 4.6%. The tertiary industry grew by 7.5%, of which the investment in infrastructure grew by 4.4%. Investments in high-tech manufacturing went up by 11.4% year-over-year, 5.1 percentage points higher than that of the total investment. Investments in high-tech services went up by 19.3% year-over-year, 13 percentage points higher than that of the total investment. In March, the investment in fixed assets (excluding rural households) grew by 0.45% than that in February. 

The total investment in real estate development in the first quarter was 2.38 trillion yuan, up by 11.8% year-over-year. The growth rate was 0.2 percentage point higher than that of the first two months, or 1.4 percentage points higher than that of the same period last year. The floor space of commercial buildings sold reached 298.29 million square meters, down by 0.9% year-over-year. The decrease was 2.7 percentage points lower than that of the first two months. The total sales of commercial buildings were 2.70 trillion yuan, up by 5.6%, and 2.8 percentage points higher than that of the first two months.

6. The growth of the total value of imports and exports accelerated and the trade structure continued to be optimized.

The total value of imports and exports in the first quarter was 7.01 trillion yuan, up by 3.7% year-on-year, 3 percentage points higher than that of the first two months. The total value of exports was 3.77 trillion yuan, up by 6.7% while the total value of imports was 3.24 trillion yuan, up by 0.3%. The trade balance was 529.7 billion yuan in surplus, up by 75.2% over that of the same period last year. The trade structure continued to be optimized. The value of general trade grew by 6 %, accounting for 59.6% of the total value of imports and exports, 1.3 percentage points higher than that of the same period last year. The export of electrical and mechanical products increased by 5.4%, accounting for 58.8% of the total value of exports. The total value of imports and exports by private enterprises went up by 9.9%, accounting for 40.6% of the total value of imports and exports, 2.3 percentage points higher than that of the same period last year. In March, the total value of imports and exports was 2.46 trillion yuan, up by 9.6% year-on-year, which was 8.9 percentage points higher than that of the first two months. To be specific, the total value of exports was 1.34 trillion yuan, up by 21.3% while the total value of imports was 1.12 trillion yuan, down by 1.8%. 

In the first quarter, the export delivery value of industrial enterprises above the designated size reached 2.77 trillion yuan, up by 4.8% year-on-year. In March, the export delivery value of industrial enterprises above the designated size stood at 1.03 trillion yuan, up by 5.7%.

7. Consumer prices rose slightly and producer prices for industrial products experienced modest growth.

In the first quarter, consumer prices went up by 1.8% year-on-year, 0.2 percentage point higher than that of the first two months, or 0.3 percentage point lower than that of the same period last year. To be more specific, prices went up by 1.9% in urban areas and up by 1.8% in rural areas. Grouped by commodity categories, prices for food, tobacco and liquor went up by 2.2%; clothing increased by 1.8%; housing went up by 2.1%; articles and services for daily use rose by 1.3%; transportation and communication went down by 0.8%; education, culture and recreation increased by 2.6%; medical services and health care went up by 2.7%; and other articles and services rose by 2.1%. In terms of food, tobacco and liquor prices, prices for grain went up by 0.5%, pork fell by 1.2%, and fresh vegetables rose by 6.9%. In March, consumer prices went up by 2.3% year-on-year, 0.8 percentage point higher than that of last month, or down by 0.4% month-on-month.

In the first quarter, producer prices for industrial products went up by 0.2% year on year, 0.1 percentage point higher than that of the first two months, or 3.5 percentage points lower than that of the same period last year. In March, the producer prices for industrial products went up by 0.4% year-on-year, 0.3 percentage point higher than that of February, or up by 0.1% month-on-month. In the first quarter of 2019, the purchasing prices for industrial producers were up by 0.1% year-on-year and in March, it was up by 0.2% year-on-year, the same as that of February.

8. The surveyed unemployment rate in urban areas dropped slightly and the number of rural migrant workers continued to increase.

In the first quarter of 2019, there were 3.24 million new jobs in cities and towns across the country. In March, the national surveyed unemployment rate in urban areas was 5.2%, 0.1 percentage point lower than that of February. To be specific, the surveyed unemployment rate of people aged from 25 to 59 was 4.8%, 0.4 percentage point lower than that in urban areas. The urban surveyed unemployment rate in 31 major cities was 5.1%, 0.1 percentage point higher than that of last month. The employees of enterprises worked an average of 46.0 hours per week, which was an increase of 1.1 hours from February. At the end of March, the number of rural migrant workers reached 1.77 billion, 2.10 million more than that of the same period last year. This figure was up by 1.2%, and marked a 0.1 percentage point increase year-over-year.

9. Resident income grew steadily and the income growth of rural residents outpaced that of urban residents. 

In the first quarter, the nationwide per capita disposable income of residents was 8,493 yuan, a nominal increase of 8.7% year-over-year. The actual increase of price factor was 6.8%, 0.2 percentage point higher than the same period last year. In terms of permanent residence, the per capita disposable income of urban households was 11,633 yuan, an actual increase of 5.9%. The per capita disposable income of rural households was 4,600 yuan, an actual increase of 6.9 percent. The per capita disposable income of urban households was 2.53 times that of the rural households, 0.02 percentage point less than that of the same period last year. The median of the nationwide per capita disposable income was 7,158 yuan, a nominal increase of 8.8%.

10. Economic structure has been optimized, transformation and upgrading have achieved remarkable results.

The supply-side structural reform has been further advanced. In the first quarter, the national industrial capacity utilization rate reached 75.9%, the second highest level since 2013 compared with the same period in the past. At the end of March, the floor space of commercial buildings for sale was 516.46 million square meters, 6.05 million square meters less than at the end of February, and down by 9.9% year-over-year. At the end of February, the asset-liability ratio of industrial enterprises above the designated size was 56.9%, down by 0.2 percentage point year-over-year. In the first quarter, the investment in ecological protection and the environment governance, and the railway transportation industry went up by 43.0% and 11.0% respectively, 36.7 percentage points and 4.7 percentage points higher than the growth rate of the total investment.

Steady progress was made in advancing the "three critical battles"– preventing and defusing financial risks, conducting targeted poverty eradication and controlling pollution. At the end of February, the balance of local government debt stood at 19.14 trillion yuan, which was within the limit approved by the National People's Congress. The work in poverty eradication has progressed steadily, with the per capita disposable income for rural households in impoverished areas registering fast growth. The work of pollution prevention and control has continued to show results and the share of clean energy consumption has increased. According to preliminary estimates, the share of consumption of clean energy such as natural gas, hydropower, nuclear power and wind power in total energy consumption in the first quarter was 1.5 percentage points higher than that of same period last year. The energy consumption per unit GDP went down by 2.7% year-over-year. 

The economic structure has been optimized continually. In the first quarter, the value added of the tertiary industry accounted for 57.3% of total GDP, up 0.6 percentage point year-over-year, 18.7 percentage points higher than that of the secondary industry. It contributes 61.3% to GDP growth, which is 24.4 percentage points higher than that of the secondary industry. Consumption continued to perform as the dominant driving force from the demand side with final consumption expenditure contributing 65.1% to GDP growth. Service consumption took up 47.7% of households' final consumption expenditure, 1.4 percentage points higher than that of the same period last year. With the integrated development of the eastern, central, western and northwestern regions, achievements in the coordinated development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region has made good progress. There has also been accelerated implementation of close coordination on environmental protection along the Yangtze River Economic Belt. The integrated development of the Yangtze River Delta has steadily advanced and the Outline Development Plan for the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area has been released. The building of the Hainan Pilot Free Trade Zone and its layout of development has also been further improved. 

11. Market expectations improved notably and the confidence in development has been strengthened.

The Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) returned to the expansionary range. In March, the Manufacturing PMI was 50.5%, 1.3 percentage points higher than that of February. This brought it back to the range of expansion after staying below the threshold for three months in a row. All five sub-indices rebounded, among which the Production Index and the New Orders Index went up by 3.2 percentage points and 1 percentage point respectively. The Production and Operation Expectation Index was 56.8% , 0.6 percentage point higher than that of February. The Business Activity Index for Non-Manufacturing Industries stayed within the range of expansion. In March, the Business Activity Index for Non-Manufacturing Industries was 54.8%, 0.5 percentage point higher than that of last month. The Business Activity Index for services was 53.6%, 0.1 percentage point higher than that of last month. The New Orders Index for services stayed within the expansionary range for three consecutive months. The Business Activity Index for construction stood at 61.7%, within the expansionary range. The Composite PMI Output Index showed a marked rise. In March, the Composite PMI Output Index was 54%, 1.6 percentage points higher than that of last month. The expansion of production and operation of enterprises accelerated in general. In the first quarter, the Consumer Confidence Index was 124.6, 3.2 percentage points higher than that of the fourth quarter last year.

Generally speaking, the national economy performed within an appropriate range in the first quarter, sustaining the momentum of progress with growing positive factors in the economy's overall stability. This has laid a sound foundation for the stable and healthy economic development of the whole year. However, at the same time we should also be aware that given slowing global economic growth and international trade as well as growing international uncertainties and prominent domestic structural issues, the task of reform and development is arduous and an economic downward pressure still persists. At the next stage, taking Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era as the guideline, we should fully implement the spirit of the Central Economic Work Conference and the decisions of the Report on the Work of the Government. We should also follow the general working guideline of making progress while maintaining stability, focus on supply-side structural reform, and make continuous efforts to win the "three critical battles." In addition, we should also take coordinated steps to achieve steady growth, advance reform, make structural adjustments, improve living standards, guard against risk and maintain stability. We want to also fully mobilize the initiative of all sectors of the society, and redouble efforts to implement policies in order to make the national economy perform within an appropriate range and promote high-quality development. Thanks!

Shou Xiaoli:

Thank you, Mr. Mao. So now we will open the floor to questions, please identify the news organization you represent before asking your question.

CCTV:

According to your briefing, China's economic growth in the first quarter exceeded expectations. The statistics in the industrial and consumption fields were both higher than expected, and major indexes have rebounded. What's your view on China's economic performance in the first quarter? Thank you.

Mao Shengyong:

Statistics show that China's economic performance was stable in the first quarter. In particular, many indexes in March were higher than expected. People have been increasingly optimistic about the market and the number of positive factors has increased. Since the beginning of the first quarter, the Chinese economy has enjoyed steady performance while gathering momentum. I would like to summarize the situation into three points, which may sound cliché, but contain new information.

My first point of view is that the economic performance stayed within a reasonable range. This was shown by the main economic indexes, such as growth, employment, price and income.

Firstly, in the first quarter, GDP grew by 6.4%, obviously higher than market expectations. The figure was previously expected to be 6.2 percent or 6.3 percent.

Second, regarding employment, the surveyed unemployment rate of urban areas was registered at 5.1%, 5.3% and 5.2% in the first three months respectively. The figure dropped 0.1 percentage point from 5.3% in February to 5.2% in March. In the first quarter, the number of newly employed people in urban areas totaled 3.24 million, fulfilling 29.5% of the annual target. The general situation on employment has been stable.

Third, regarding price, the consumer price index (CPI) continued to rise slightly, up by 1.8% on average in the first three months. The producer price index for industrial products (PPI) continued to rise modestly, up by 0.2% on average in the first three months. In March, the CPI growth rate was a bit higher, up by 2.3% year-on-year, while PPI rose slightly by 0.4% year-on-year. The changes show that demand and supply in the market have been more balanced. While supply was sufficient in quantity and better in quality, prices rose slightly, indicating that market demand had improved.

Fourth, regarding income, in the first quarter, the real increase of personal per capita disposable income was 6.8%, 0.2 percentage points higher than the same period of last year. Taking into account the GDP growth rate of 6.4%, the growth of income outpaced GDP in the first quarter. In addition, the gap between the income of urban and rural residents narrowed. The per capita disposable income of urban residents was 2.53 times that of rural residents, 0.02 less than that of the same period last year.

The main indexes indicated that China's economic performance stayed within a reasonable range. This was not easy. 

The second point is that the economic structure has been optimized and upgraded. The structural reform of the supply side has continuously advanced this year. Three hard battles against grave risks, poverty and pollution are yielding results. The economic structure is continually developing in the direction of optimization, adjustment and upgrading. 

This can be seen according to the following angles. First, in terms of industrial structure, the service sectors have maintained comparative fast growth. The proportion of added value of the service sectors to GDP continuously increased in the first quarter, hitting 57.3%, up 0.6 percentage point year-over-year, and the rate of increase is higher than that in the same period last year. Second, in terms of the structure of industries, the growth of high-tech industries and strategic emerging industries remains comparatively fast, up 7.8% and 6.7% respectively. Third, the modern service industries have also kept up rapid growth.

Secondly, in terms of the structure of demand, first of all, the foundation for consumption to play a core role or act as a leading power to stimulate demand is comparatively solid. The contribution rate of consumption to economic growth was 65.1% in the first quarter. Among all residents’ consumption expenditure, service consumption accounts for 47.7%, up 1.4 percentage points year-over-year, which means the consumption structure is improving. Second, investment has maintained momentum through a modest rise, and the internal structure of investment is being further optimized. Investment in technical reform, high-tech industries, social fields and some short-slab fields have maintained relatively fast growth, which will add more impetus to future development. Third, the structure of foreign trade is being enhanced. The General Administration of Customs also released relevant data showing that in the first quarter, the share of general import-export trade is 1.3 percentage points higher than that in the same period last year. 

Thirdly, in terms of regional structure, the coordination among regional developments has improved. The eastern region continues to play a leading role in innovation-driven upgrades and development. The first-quarter total growth of the added value from high-tech manufacturing in the eastern region was faster than in January and February, and the input in research and development is also increasing continuously. The growth rates of industry and investment in the central and western regions are markedly higher than the national average, showing growing advantage to accepting industries transferred from the east. Although the growth speed of northeast China is a bit lower than the national average, an accelerating trend compared with the same period of last year is evident. The key regional development strategies, such as the Yangtze River Economic Belt, Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Coordinated Development, and Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, are all making solid progress.

My next point relates to the notable improvement in market expectations. It is self-evident that the external environment since the second half of last year has been less promising. Based on certain global statistics, growth in international trade and the global economy is slowing, and some leading indicators have also experienced recession to varying extents, which all contribute to lower expectations for global economy. Nevertheless, the confidence and prospects for China's economic growth have steadily improved, which came not without effort, as China owes its stronger market expectations and confidence to the introduction and implementation of a series of policies for reform and opening up. Policies ensuring tax cuts and fee reductions on a larger scale and with greater efforts, which was introduced at this year's NPC & CPPCC sessions, provided a huge boost to the market. Compared with the statistics from February, the PMI in March saw a rise of 1.3 percentage points, while the Business Activity Index for Non-Manufacturing Industries in March also grew by 0.5 percentage point. Additionally, the Consumer Confidence Index was 3.2 percentage points higher than that of the fourth quarter last year.

In addition, some international organizations also raised their expectations of China’s economic growth. For example, the IMF, in its latest report, raised the expectation from 6.2% to 6.3%. Some international investment banks, too, are raising their outlooks on China’s economic growth. Therefore, both Chinese producers and consumers, and foreign organizations have an optimistic outlook on China’s economic growth, and their confidence in Chinese market has increased. Faced with various uncertainties from the external environment and tough challenges posed by domestic reforms, it is not an easy thing to achieve this greatly improved confidence in the market.

However, we should also be aware that at present, the growth of the global economy and of international trade are slowing, and there are still many international uncertainties. Although China's GDP grew by 6.4% in the first quarter of this year, and generally performed better than market expectations, it still declined compared with the same period last year, as well as with last year on the whole, suggesting that the economic downward pressure persists. Therefore, in the next period, we will follow the decisions and arrangements set by the CPC Central Committee and the State Council, and will better implement major policies and measures to ensure the economy operates in an appropriate range, and to march on toward high-quality development. Thank you.

China Business Network:

You have just mentioned that the economic performance figures in March are relatively good, what's the reason behind it? The performance in the first quarter is in line with that of the fourth quarter last year and better than the market expectation. Can you give an analysis of future economic performance?

Mao Shengyong:

Thank you for your question. Last month when I released figures here, people were concerned that the economic performance in the first two months was not so good, but figures in March are now excellent. Some indexes remarkably rebounded and the added value of the industrial enterprises above designated size increased by 8.5%, 3.2 percentage points higher than that of the first two months. Overall investment has picked up and consumption has accelerated slightly. The pickup rate of exports in March exceeded 20% and some indexes rebounded significantly and performed better than expected. 

Generally, the improvement of those indexes can be attributed to the following reasons:

First, there are positive effects of the policies. During the fourth quarter of last year, we carried out six principal policies to stabilize the economy and they are now taking effect. At the beginning of this year, we have continued to implement a series of policies in a bid to expand investments and stimulate consumptions. Meanwhile, the Government Work Report issued in this year's Two Sessions has given birth to a slew of tax reduction polices, which will be specified in the near future. The positive signals released from the trade negotiations between China and the United States have also yielded positive results. The combination of those factors has boosted the confidence of businesses.

Second, stimulated by the policies, businesses and markets have higher expectations and additional growing confidence in the market. Early signals of improvement are already visible. 

Third, the Spring Festival had an impact on deviating the economy from its normal trajectory. Influenced by the particular earliness of this year's festival, the data in the first two months of this year showed signs of declining but eventually rebounded in March. Therefore, we’d better neglect the impact of the festival factor in specific months and hold a panoramic view of the entire quarter while comparing them with those in the same period last year. Many indexes in the first quarter this year dropped year over year, but they almost all are now equal to the data from the fourth quarter of last year and some of them are even higher.

To your question, there are some industrial indexes for reference. When getting the first glimpse of the data, we truly feel it was beyond our expectations. But it becomes rational when putting into scrutiny. Why? Just like what I have said, we need to take a look at the general factors: first, the factor of policies, which stimulate the positive effects of enterprises; second, the factor of enterprises' expectations, which are growing higher and higher; and third, the lowered value-added tax rate, which is considered highly important. For instance, the rate of value-added tax in manufacturing industries has fallen from 16% to 13% since April 1 of this year. Therefore, to enjoy the tax-rebating policies as much as possible, many enterprises asked for more supplies in order to increase their inventories. At the same time, the suppliers from the upstream industries are stimulated to expand their productive capacities. That can better explain the third factor. Fourth, we still need to take into consideration the factor of the Spring Festival. The economy of the industrial enterprises above designated size grew by 5.3% year-by-year in the first two months this year. But the figure could have been 6.1% had the impact of the festival been ignored. However, the growth of 8.5% in March should also be partly attributed to the festival factor. All in all, the industrial economic growth of 6.5% in the first quarter this year sustained a good momentum. This is the answer to your first question.

For the second question, about whether there's sustainability in the next step. For example, from the perspective of industrial growth, some of the factors just mentioned are short-term factors, some are medium- and long-term factors. But in combination, for example, the basis or favorable conditions for supporting the smooth operation of industry is relatively large or many.

The first favorable factor is, starting from April 1, the policy of lowering the value added tax rate has already been implemented, and the supporting rules and details will come out soon. After May 1, the cut of enterprise contributions to social insurance will also be implemented. A series of policies will be implemented, reducing the burden on enterprises and facilitating enterprises wanting to expand investment and increase production.

The second favorable factor is, based on the current situation, the role of finance to serve the real economy is strengthening, and the prudent monetary policy is flexible and appropriate. We see that market liquidity is reasonably abundant. From this perspective, the financial environment for the development of the real economy has improved slightly.

The third favorable factor is export. Exports increased by 21.3% in March, a significant increase of 21.2 percentage points compared with January to February. This was also affected by the factors just mentioned. Export growth in the first quarter was good. For the next stage, exports are still expected to maintain a certain growth. Judging from the situation we know, including from the survey and the data in early April, we see that exports can still maintain a certain growth. From historical data, we see that the growth rate of industrial enterprises above the designated size and the growth rate of exports are closely linked, and it is also a strong supporting force for the steady growth of the industry.

Therefore, many favorable factors support the steady growth of the industry in the next stage. Of course, we also see that there are many external uncertainties, and the growth rate of profits of industrial enterprises above the designated size has slowed. These are negative factors. Taken together, the growth of industrial enterprises above the designated size is unlikely to be as encouraging as what we've seen in March, but the industry can still maintain a stable and healthy development based on conditions and supports.

Bloomberg:

You said that consumption contributed to a higher economic growth. What role did investment play? Is the situation sustainable? As to the decline in vehicle sales, if the cut in vehicle purchase subsidy in the second quarter affect the sales, will the Chinese government introduce some measures?

Mao Shengyong:

Thank you for your question. The fundamental role of consumption in producing economic growth has been strengthening in recent years. First, in terms of spending, the contribution of demands is in a state of flux. In the first quarter, the three major forces driving economic growth, namely consumption, investment and external demand performed well, to a greater or lesser degree. Consumption maintained a rapid growth, and investment increased at a higher rate. Foreign trade, in both goods and services, also registered a good performance. However, an increase in the contribution of one force means a decrease in the other two. In the first quarter, consumption made the largest contribution making up 65.1% of economic growth, performing as the dominant driving force. In the first quarter of last year, foreign trade played a negative role in promoting economic growth, with the net exports registering a negative contribution rate. In the first quarter of 2019, China’s surplus in trade in goods went up by 75.2% over that of the same period last year, indicating an increase in the contribution of net exports. Actually, the contribution made by the net exports of goods and services grew to 22.8%. In addition, despite higher growth of investment and rising capital formation, the contribution of gross capital formation stood at 12.1% – 28.3 percentage points lower than that of the same period last year. Although the respective contribution of the three major demands has changed, consumption, the proportion of which was above 60%, was still the largest contributor in absolute terms.

Second, the contribution of consumption has hovered around 60% in recent years, but has exceeded 70% or even approaching 80% in some individual quarters. This is a testament to the strengthening fundamental role of consumption in promoting economic growth.

Meanwhile, we need to be aware that the potential of consumption has yet to be maximized. China's consumption environment needs further improvement. Some incidents in recent years have added a new urgency to strengthen protection of consumers' rights and interests. Besides, consumption upgrades call for more supply of quality products and services. Therefore, there's still much room for China to unleash its consumer market potential.

Regarding your second question, the fall in car sales has drawn great public attention. Recent statistics show that there was a moderate slowdown in car production and sales. Domestically speaking, it resulted from the booming development of the Chinese car industry in the past 10 years. Car production and sales grew very quickly during that period. But the number of car owners among residents has increased continuously until today. This is the basic situation. The production and sales of cars are likely to enter a short period of adjustment. In some major developed countries, car production and sales have slowed down as well. This is my first point of view.

Second, the statistics in March show that although car production has continued to drop, the speed of the decline has slowed down. The value added of the industry actually saw a positive growth. This means that the upgrading of the industry is accelerating. The situation was the same regarding sales. Therefore, after a period of adjustment, the rate of decline of production and sales will decrease further. 

Third, when analyzing China's car market, we should focus on new cars. Approximately 28 million new cars were sold in 2018. However, we should also pay attention to used cars, because that market has been expanding. Last year, nearly 14 million used cars were sold, accounting for half of the number of new cars sold. The growth rate exceeded 10%. In the first quarter, the transaction of used cars increased both in terms of the number of cars sold and in terms of their transaction value. Therefore, we should consider both new cars and used cars when analyzing China's car market. From what we can see, the used car markets in developed countries are all vibrant. Thank you.

China Global Television Network (CGTN):

We know that the Sino-U.S. trade frictions have persisted for one year since March 2018. I'd like to ask how the trade friction has affected the economic data in the first quarter. Could you please give an analysis on it? Thank you.

Mao Shengyong:

Thank you for your question. Since the second half of 2016, the world economy has recovered following seven to eight years of adjustment. In 2017, the overall recovery momentum of the world economy was relatively strong, but since 2018, it has been slowing down. Later, we find that global economic growth is slowing down and international trade expansion is also slowing down. What is the reason? I think a very important reason is that the rise of international trade protectionism started to intensify in 2018, indicating that protectionism is not conducive to economic growth or world trade growth, and is harmful to the world economy.

As for the issue of Sino-U.S. economic and trade frictions you have asked, the Sino-U.S. economic and trade consultations have been carried out for nine rounds, and positive signals have been continuously released, indicating that the negotiations have made substantial progress. We have seen that every time the Sino-U.S. economic and trade consultations release a positive signal, the international capital market and international companies respond positively, and the market shows a very active state. To strengthen economic and trade exchanges and maintain normal mutually beneficial economic and trade cooperation is not only beneficial to both sides, but also conducive to the development of the world economy and the recovery of international trade. Thank you.

Beijing Business Today:

According to the statistics regarding housing prices in March, the number of cities with increasing sales prices month-on-month of both newly-constructed and second-hand residential buildings is rising. What's your response to this situation? Meanwhile, the growth of the total investment in real estate development in the first quarter is notably faster than that of 2018 and that of the same period last year. What kind of trend does it imply in the real estate market? How much does it contribute to the fix-asset investment? Thank you.

Mao Yongsheng:

Thank you for your question. There are two issues, the first is about housing prices and the second is about real estate development investment. Judging from the house price data of 70 large and medium-sized cities nationwide in March released yesterday, the growth of house prices in first and second tier cities is either slowing or lower year-on-year. In general, house prices in China have overall stability, as the growth in the majority of cities has been subdued and even dropped in some cities. Stability is still the general trend of housing prices. Nevertheless, differences surely exist due to imbalanced regional development, in which growth has been less synchronized.

Regarding the second issue, since last year, real estate development investment has been maintained at around 10%. Over the first quarter of this year, the growth of real estate investment has accelerated. This is due to two reasons: the first is the stabilization of housing prices; and the second is the rise of floor space under construction. Regarding your question about the impact of accelerated investment in real estate: accelerated investment and enlarged floor space now under construction can help to relieve the pressure of rising house prices, increasing the supply of real estate, and better achieve the balance between supply and demand in the market.

From the perspective of the real estate market, the public's expectations are relatively stable. The market positioning of "staying and not speculating" has become clearer. The house is the property of residence. and the property of consumption. We need to improve the quality of demand and the development of new urbanization. It should be clarified that we need to limit home purchases to rein in speculative and investment-driven housing demand. We also need to reinforce the regulation and governance of local government to adapt the policy based on practical situations and enhance management ability. On the whole, the real estate market is expected to be relatively stable, the land price is generally stable, and the house price operation is relatively stable. Thank you.

China News Agency:

We have seen that the GDP growth rate in the first quarter of this year remained flat with little fluctuation compared with that in the fourth quarter of last year. Some people questioned the stability of China's economic growth over the years, during which the data of other countries fluctuated. What do you think of it? Thank you.

Mao Shengyong:

We have learned about what you mentioned through various channels, and I would like to respond to it. We know that China's economy has shifted from high speed growth in the past to high-quality development. In this new phase, the economic growth has slowed down from rapid speed in the past to medium-to-high speed growth. However, while the growth rate is decreasing, the economic operation is becoming more stable. In fact, it reflects the change of the economic development phases and not the smoothing out of economic growth fluctuations. The reasons are as follows:

First, in terms of total volume, China's economic aggregate is growing increasingly larger, with total economic output exceeding 90 trillion yuan in 2018. The increasing amount of money means that economic growth may slow down on the one hand, but it also means that economic growth is not prone to rapid fluctuations and will show greater stability. The larger the economic aggregate is, the less likely it is to fluctuate. But as the economic aggregate becomes larger, every percentage point of growth can bring about incremental economic growth.

Second, from the perspective of industrial structure, the proportion of the service industry's value added in GDP has exceeded that of the secondary industry and become the largest industry since 2012. The service industry has maintained rapid growth ever since, and the proportion of its value added in GDP has continued to increase, sustaining an increasing contribution to overall economic growth. In the first quarter of this year, the contribution rate was 61.3%. In terms of the demand structure, the contribution of consumption to economic growth has been constantly consolidated. In the first quarter, the contribution rate of final consumption expenditure was 65.1%. In terms of production and demand, it is the service industry and consumption that contribute to production and demand respectively, and both of them feature fast growth. We know that consumption and the service industry also both have the very important feature of relatively small volatility, allowing these two leading forces to lead to more stable GDP growth.

Third, from the policy point of view, the CPC Central Committee and the State Council have continuously innovated in macroeconomic regulation and control, and on the basis of strengthening the range control, directional regulation, precise regulation, and camera regulation have been continuously strengthened, which have better responded to the downward pressure on the domestic economy. These efforts have kept the economy running smoothly in an appropriate range, which shows the effects of our policies.

Fourth, when developed economies, including the U.S., Japan and European countries release their quarterly GDP growth, sometimes they release annualized rates first, and then year-on-year rates. Annualized rates will amplify seasonality, both positive and negative, thus magnifying the fluctuation of statistics. For example, during the four quarters of 2018, the first quarter ranked the highest at 6.8%, while the last quarter ranked the lowest at 6.4%. The range of annual economic growth is 0.4 percentage point. Whereas the statistics of the U.S. in 2018 are 3.0% and 2.6% respectively, and the corresponding range of growth is also 0.4 percentage point, which also seems to be fairly stable. However, when based on the perspective of annualized rate, in which the highest growth of the U.S. is 4.2% and lowest is 2.2%, the result is a 2-percentage-point range of discrepancy. This explains the reason why sometimes the annualized rate published by developed countries seem to indicate significant fluctuations while China’s numbers show more stability. This is because the statistics published by China refers to the year-on-year growth and those of foreign countries are based on an annualized rate. If we review the year-on-year growth for both, the statistics released by China and foreign countries remain relatively stable.

Over the past years, people may neglect that the National Bureau of Statistics has also released the quarter-over-quarter growth rate apart from year-over-year rates when publishing the quarterly GDP. If you have interest, you can make some derivation based on the quarter-over-quarter speed of growth and see its annualized rate. Based on our rough calculation, we note that if the annualized rate is determined on the basis of the quarter-over-quarter growth rate, its fluctuation rate is higher than the year-over-year growth rate.

Generally, Chinese economic performance is stable now, which is a manifestation of the objective rules of China’s economic development in the current phase, and is also in line with the international rules of development. It also showcases the effect of policy tuning, rather than deliberately concealing economic fluctuations through statistics. 

Reuters:

According to the statistics you just released, the economic growth in the first quarter was better than expected, and previous policies are paying off intially. Do you think there will be fewer policies to stabilize economic growth in the next stage, especially monetary policies, such as cutting interest rates and required reserve ratios?

Mao Shengyong:

First, in the first quarter, economic performance was quite stable and better than expected. Second, for the next stage, the positive factors for economic growth are accumulating and the market outlook is improving. For the next step, a lot of policies will be implemented and effective, cementing the foundation for steady economic performance. Third, we should notice that the downward economic pressure still exists. There are many uncertainties from the external environment, and the growth of the global economy and international trade is slowing down. Domestically, we also have many structural issues. The growth rate of 6.4% is lower than the same period of last year and the whole year. All of these show that we face pressures in terms of economic performance. Particularly, the real economy was faced with issues such as rising costs and a decline in profit-making.

We have rolled out many polices, and most importantly, our departments and local authorities need to implement the major polices made by the Central Committee of CPC and State Council in both letter and spirit, and give full play to these policies, so as to facilitate steady and healthy economic growth and a higher quality for Chinese economy. Thank you.

ShouXiaoli:

Thank you, Mr. Mao. Thank you, all the journalists. That is the end of today's press conference. Goodbye.

.

Read in Chinese

Speakers:

Liu Yuejin, deputy director of China's National Narcotics Control Commission and counter-terrorism commissioner of the Ministry of Public Security;

Wang Hesheng, deputy director of the National Health Commission;

Chen Shifei, deputy head of the National Medical Products Administration;

Chairperson:

Hu Kaihong, spokesperson for the State Council Information Office of China

Date:

April 1, 2019

   

Hu Kaihong:

Ladies and gentlemen, good morning. Welcome to today's SCIO briefing. Today, the "Statement on Adding Fentanyl-related Substances to the Supplementary List of Controlled Non-medical Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances" was jointly issued by China's Ministry of Public Security, National Health Commission, and National Medical Products Administration. This statement means that the Chinese government has officially begun to include all fentanyl-related substances into the control list. To offer more information on the announcement, we are delighted to welcome three officials to update you on the fentanyl-related substances control and answer your questions. They are Mr. Liu Yuejin, deputy director of China's National Narcotics Control Commission and counter-terrorism commissioner of the Ministry of Public Security; Mr. Wang Hesheng, deputy director of the National Health Commission; and Mr. Chen Shifei, deputy head of the National Medical Products Administration.

Liu Yuejin:

Ladies and gentlemen, good morning! Now, on behalf of the National Narcotics Control Commission, I read out the "Statement on Adding Fentanyl-related Substances to the 'Supplementary List of Controlled Non-medical Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances' issued by the Ministry of Public Security of the People's Republic of China, National Health Commission of the People's Republic of China and National Medical Products Administration."

In accordance with the provisions of "Regulations for Controlling on Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances" and "Methods for Controlling Non-medicinal Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances," the Ministry of Public Security, National Health Commission and National Medical Products Administration have decided to add fentanyl-related substances into the "Supplementary List of Controlled Non-medicinal Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances."

"Fentanyl" refers to a substance that has one or more of the following chemical structures:

1. Uses other acyl groups to substitute for propionyl;

2. Using any substituted and unsubstituted mono-aromatic groups to substitute for phenyl directly connected with nitrogen atoms;

3. Piperidine ring having substituent groups such as alkyl, alkenyl, alkoxy, ester, ether, hydroxy, halogen, haloalkyl, amino and nitro; 

4. Using any other groups (except hydrogen) to substitute for phenethyl.

If the substances listed above are found to have any legitimate pharmaceutical, industrial, scientific research or other legal use, they shall be adjusted in accordance with the second paragraph of Article 3 of the "Methods for Controlling Non-medicinal Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances."

The fentanyl-related substances that have been included into the "List of Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances" and the "Supplementary List of Controlled Non-medicinal Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances" will be supervised and controlled in accordance with the original regulations.

This announcement will take effect on1 May, 2019. 

Ministry of Public Security of the People's Republic of China, National Health Commission of the People's Republic of China and National Medical Products Administration.

Just now, I have read out the announcement that China will include all fentanyl-related substances into the list of controlled drugs, which marks an important and innovative measure taken by the Chinese government in the building of China's anti-drug legal system.

Drugs are a public hazard to all mankind. This issue must be tackled because it concerns the future of mankind. China has knowledge of their harm as we have suffered from serious drug epidemics before. Since the founding of the People's Republic of China 70 years ago, the Party and the government have always attached great importance to anti-drug enforcement. We have consistently pursued and strictly carried out anti-drug policies and adopted the guidelines of comprehensive governance; prevention first; and the four prohibitions of drug abuse, trafficking, cultivation and production. In particular, since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, General Secretary Xi Jinping has laid out important instructions on drug control many times, stressing that political and institutional advantages should be given full play to improve the drug control governance system, and responsibilities be shouldered and the masses should be mobilized. Governance with Chinese characteristics should be followed to combat drugs and win the anti-drug war in the new era. China National Narcotic Control Committee and all local authorities and relevant departments resolutely implements the decisions of the central government and also take the initiative to tackle the difficulties. Hence, steady progress has been made in controlling drugs. At present, the world is undergoing profound and complex changes concerning drugs and the situation is not optimistic. In particular, new drugs represented by fentanyl-related substances have emerged at an unprecedented rate and have been abused on a large scale in some countries, claiming large numbers of lives and causing serious social problems. Facing this international challenge, the Chinese government has added all fentanyl-related substances into the control list. It is not only an important move to prevent the risks caused by the new drugs, but also a measure to protect people's physical and mental health. It is an important manifestation of China's participation in the global control of illicit drugs and the maintenance of international security and stability.

Adding all fentanyl-related substances into the control list is one of the innovative measures that China is taking to tackle the drug problem, bringing opportunities for us to deepen reform and development in our drug control efforts. The Ministry of Public Security, National Health Commission, National Medical Products Administration and other related departments have closely coordinated on a series of relevant studies, risk assessments, expert evaluations, and suggestions. As a result, they have managed to complete the legal procedures to schedule such substances within four months. In particular, the legal definition of fentanyl-related substances has been scientifically determined, which guarantees an extensive and expandable scope of control while ensuring minimum impact on medical industry, scientific research and other legitimate uses.

After issuing and implementing the announcement to list and regulate the entire class of fentanyl substances, the Chinese government will draft and issue a series of documents as soon as possible. This will also include guidance on applicable laws for handling criminal cases related to fentanyl substances as well as protocols for the filing and prosecution of similar cases. The authorities will push for the construction of laboratories that can examine related drugs, develop universal on-site rapid screening equipment, safety protection equipment, formulate public safety industry standards for the inspection and identification of fentanyl substances, and push for the construction of a monitoring system for fentanyl substances based on suspicious substances and spectrum analysis. It will also reinforce the monitoring, on-site inspection, examination, identification and risk assessment of fentanyl substances. In addition, it will provide efficient technical support for daily supervision and law enforcement, and ensure that the regulation of fentanyl substances falls within law enforcement and judicial practices.

Cooperation creates synergy, and co-governance leads to a win-win result. The Chinese government is willing to share its drug control experiences with the world and tackle the drug problem together. The government also wishes to offer Chinese wisdom to address global drug control issues and contribute to the process of building a community with a shared future for humanity as well as promoting peace and development in the world.

Next, my colleagues and I will answer your questions. 

Hu Kaihong:

Thank you, Mr. Liu. Let's start the questions. Please identify the news organization you represent before asking questions.

CCTV:

As far as I know, China has adopted very strict regulatory measures for fentanyl, and the varieties of control have surpassed the varieties of the United Nations. Why do we need to include all fentanyl-related substances into the control list? Thank you.

Liu Yuejin:

Fentanyl-related substances are new synthetic drugs that have only appeared in recent years and have spread rapidly in countries such as the United States and Canada. Due to its strong toxicity and vast variety , this type of substance has become a major problem for international drug control efforts. In this regard, China's anti-drug authorities have comprehensively adopted a series of measures such as increasing the variety of products under control, strengthening daily supervision, tightening inspections, innovating management and control measures, and strengthening international cooperation. China has already issued and implemented regulatory controls on 25 fentanyl-related substances, exceeding the 21 issued by the UN. These measures have effectively prevented the spread of such substances in China. In particular, we have strengthened supervision over the legal production of fentanyl-related drugs, and adopted a very strict process from production to use, completely eliminating abuse of fentanyl-related drugs produced by legitimate enterprises.

As everyone knows, China was historically suffered from drugs. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, the Communist Party of China (CPC) and the Chinese government rooted out drugs in three years, winning China the accolade of "drug-free country" around the world. With the continued spread of global drug trafficking, the drug problem has resurfaced in our country.

Since the 18th National Congress of the CPC, General Secretary of the CPC Central Committee Xi Jinping has attached great importance to anti-drug work and has given a series of important instructions, calling for joint efforts in global drug governance from the perspective of safeguarding of the health, safety and well-being of all human beings. This is pivotal if we are to build a community with a shared future for mankind. Last December, General Secretary Xi Jinping announced that China has decided to include all fentanyl-related substances into the control list, demonstrating China's commitment to participate in the global governance in drugs. It also demonstrates the Chinese government's firm determination on people-centered development and on safeguarding the health and well-being of all people. The decision has been based on the painful lesson from the United States.

We firmly believe that the decision to include all fentanyl-like substances into the control list will completely block all loopholes – currently abused by simply modifying one or several atoms. We will lay a solid legal foundation for public security, customs, as well as law enforcement and judicial departments such as the procuratorate and the courts, so that they can crack down on such criminal activities. We will also effectively prevent the massive abuse of fentanyl-related substances and illegal drug trafficking and smuggling activities, contributing Chinese wisdom and power to global drug control.

Phoenix Satellite TV:

The United States has accused China of being the main source of fentanyl-related substances. What do you think of this accusation? In addition, this time China will add all fentanyl-related substances into the control list. Do you think this move will be helpful to address the U.S. concern? Thank you.

Liu Yuejin:

The control of fentanyl-related drugs in China is very strict. Fentanyl-related drugs produced by legal manufacturers have never been abused, nor can they flow into the United States. China's law enforcement authorities have investigated and cracked down on several illegal cases of processing and trafficking fentanyl-related substances to the United States. All these cases were committed by both domestic and foreign criminals in collusion with each other. The drugs were transported to the United States in disguise or hidden in international parcels, but the number was extremely limited. It cannot be the main source to the United States. So, the U.S. accusation lacks evidence and goes against the facts.

The Chinese government has always adhered to the principle of strict drug control, earnestly fulfilling its international drug control obligations and actively participating in tackling the global narcotic drug abuse problem with the attitude of a responsible major country. The manufacturing, trafficking and abusing of fentanyl-related substances is an international problem, which is unlikely to be solved by relying solely on the efforts of a single country. It requires the joint efforts of all countries. The Chinese government is willing to work with the international community, including the United States, to study ways of responding to this global problem and controlling the use of psychoactive substances such as fentanyl.

We believe that the abuse of fentanyl-related substances in the United States is due to its own internal issues. The first is due to traditional causes. There is a widespread tradition of abuse of prescription painkillers in the United States, and Americans, who make up 5 percent of the world's population, consume 80 percent of the world's opioids. The second cause is the profit motive of drug companies. In order to maintain considerable profits, large-scale pharmaceutical companies have the tendency to fund experts to do research and conclude that opioids are harmless. Pharmacies are eager to sell them and doctors prescribe excess drugs, all of which form a complete profit chain of overlapping interests. Thirdly, supervision is weak and prescription drugs are not well regulated. Abusers can travel to another state to get more prescription drugs, and doctors can repeatedly prescribe the same drugs without supervision. This is a glaring loophole in the medical system. The fourth cause is cultural in nature. There is not enough publicity about the dangers of drugs. Some people have even linked drug use to "freedom," "personality" and "liberation" and more than half of the states in the U.S. have "legalized marijuana." These factors combine to create a large-scale abuse of fentanyl-related substances in the United States.

I believe that if the United States really wants to solve its fentanyl-related substance abuse problem, it needs to strengthen its work domestically. It should find the causes of the large-scale abuse of fentanyl-related substances, identify the abusing groups as well as the source of fentanyl-related substances and the channels used to smuggle and traffic the drugs. It must identify the crux of the problem and find the right solution. They must also strengthen drug prevention education, starting with reducing the demand and curbing the spread of fentanyl-related substance abuse. While intensifying domestic efforts to crack down on drug-related crimes, they should also carry out international cooperation and strengthen intelligence exchange, evidence sharing and joint investigations, instead of blaming other countries. Thank you.

CNN:

First, I would like to confirm with you the issue of overall control of fentanyl-related substances that you just mentioned. As neither of us are experts in the field, will the new regulation actually be able to block existing loopholes? Will the regulation cover all aspects no matter how illicit drug makers change the chemical compositions or structures? Or is this an open announcement that can be amended to adapt to different situations? I have another question. You must know that U.S. President Donald Trump is very concerned about the issue. In a Twitter post last December, he called for China to impose the death penalty on distributors and pushers of fentanyl-related substances as a means to solve the problem. As a Chinese law enforcer, what is your opinion on this? Finally, some Americans have been concerned that no matter what policies the Chinese central government introduces, local governments may not implement them or even totally ignore them due to corruption? How do you respond?Thank you.

Chen Shifei:

The purpose of drug control, in addition to preventing abuse, is to minimize the impact on legitimate medical needs and safeguard necessary clinical use. Therefore, in the process of argumentation for listing all fentanyl-related substances under control, we have mainly taken following measures: First, we have fully evaluated the varieties of all fentanyl-related substances and their potential legitimate use. Second, we have scientifically identified the scope of fentanyl-related substances, so as to avoid impact on legitimate medical use. Third, we have formulated regulations on exceptions. If any fentanyl-related substance under control is found to have legitimate application in the pharmaceutical, industrial, scientific or other sectors, we will make a dynamic adjustment between the non-medicinal and medicinal categories. Of course, with the gradual improvement of legislative techniques and administrative supervision methods, if we have better legislative methods or control measures in the future, we will make timely adjustments. Thank you.

Liu Yuejin:

The other question you've asked was about U.S. President Donald Trump's tweets regarding China's problems and speculations about the law enforcement process of fentanyl, including new psychoactive substances. Let me answer this question briefly. The Chinese government is resolutely committed to the fight against the drug-related crimes, and we have clear legal regulations on that. We have been highly concerned about new fentanyl drugs before they spread on a large scale. As many as 25 types of fentanyl-related substances and two other fentanyl precursor chemicals have been included onto our control list, exceeding the 21 categories under the UN rules. Moreover, regarding law enforcement, China has always acted strictly in accordance with the law to ensure the strict law enforcement. By scheduling the whole fentanyl-related substances, the Chinese government will crack down on all kinds of criminals in accordance with the law, showing no mercy. Thank you.

CNN:

First, I would like to confirm with you the issue of overall control of fentanyl-related substances that you just mentioned. As neither of us are experts in the field, will the new regulation actually be able to block existing loopholes? Will the regulation cover all aspects no matter how illicit drug makers change the chemical compositions or structures? Or is this an open announcement that can be amended to adapt to different situations? I have another question. You must know that U.S. President Donald Trump is very concerned about the issue. In a Twitter post last December, he called for China to impose the death penalty on distributors and pushers of fentanyl-related substances as a means to solve the problem. As a Chinese law enforcer, what is your opinion on this? Finally, some Americans have been concerned that no matter what policies the Chinese central government introduces, local governments may not implement them or even totally ignore them due to corruption? How do you respond?Thank you.

Chen Shifei:

The purpose of drug control, in addition to preventing abuse, is to minimize the impact on legitimate medical needs and safeguard necessary clinical use. Therefore, in the process of argumentation for listing all fentanyl-related substances under control, we have mainly taken following measures: First, we have fully evaluated the varieties of all fentanyl-related substances and their potential legitimate use. Second, we have scientifically identified the scope of fentanyl-related substances, so as to avoid impact on legitimate medical use. Third, we have formulated regulations on exceptions. If any fentanyl-related substance under control is found to have legitimate application in the pharmaceutical, industrial, scientific or other sectors, we will make a dynamic adjustment between the non-medicinal and medicinal categories. Of course, with the gradual improvement of legislative techniques and administrative supervision methods, if we have better legislative methods or control measures in the future, we will make timely adjustments. Thank you.

Liu Yuejin:

The other question you've asked was about U.S. President Donald Trump's tweets regarding China's problems and speculations about the law enforcement process of fentanyl, including new psychoactive substances. Let me answer this question briefly. The Chinese government is resolutely committed to the fight against the drug-related crimes, and we have clear legal regulations on that. We have been highly concerned about new fentanyl drugs before they spread on a large scale. As many as 25 types of fentanyl-related substances and two other fentanyl precursor chemicals have been included onto our control list, exceeding the 21 categories under the UN rules. Moreover, regarding law enforcement, China has always acted strictly in accordance with the law to ensure the strict law enforcement. By scheduling the whole fentanyl-related substances, the Chinese government will crack down on all kinds of criminals in accordance with the law, showing no mercy. Thank you.

Agence France-Presse (AFP):

The United States recently summoned several Chinese nationals for alleged crimes of trafficking fentanyl-related substances. What's your comment on this? What measures will China take?

Liu Yuejin:

China and U.S. law enforcement departments have been jointly investigating the cases you have mentioned. We work effectively and have a close relationship. So far, the Chinese side has not found any violation of Chinese law on the part of those Chinese nationals. The American side has also yet to present any evidence for their breach of Chinese law. Our cooperative investigation is still underway. However, the American side has already started the prosecution, among other measures, without communicating with us in advance. We regret over such approach, which has undermined our cooperation.

As for law enforcement, we will continue to keep a close eye on the investigation and prosecution enforced by the American side. On our part, we will also investigate these cases and people further. And we are ready to strengthen intelligence information sharing with our U.S. counterparts. Thank you.

China Daily:

What measures will you take to ensure the full and effective implementation for the decision to include all fentanyl-related substances onto the control list? And what will you do in terms of stepping up international cooperation to combat crimes in this field? Thank you.

Liu Yuejin:

In the legislation, after we have included all fentanyl-related substances into control list, the relevant authorities in the Chinese government will take a host of measures to ensure full and effective implementation. The main measures will be taken as follows:

First, we will run thorough investigations. There will be in-depth investigations into suspected bio-medicine bases and chemical parks to eradicate the illicit manufacturing of fentanyl-related substances. Information on the internet relating to drugs will be taken down, and we will cut off online communication and transaction channels for criminals.

Second, there will be an intensified effort to combat drug smuggling and trafficking. We will urge delivery companies to register the sender's real name, conduct out-of-the-box inspections and utilize security machines. More examinations will be done on international parcels in high risk customs clearance zones, and the proportion and frequency of inspections will be increased to prevent fentanyl from being smuggled out of the country.

Third, we will conduct criminal investigations. We will put together special teams to look into the smuggling, manufacturing and trafficking of fentanyl-related substances and other drugs.

Fourth, we will deepen law enforcement cooperation. China will take the initiative to strengthen information sharing and case cooperation with relevant countries to jointly investigate smuggling cases, and take the utmost effort to destroy transnational networks of drug smuggling.

Fifth, we will step up research on technology. More effort will be taken to develop examination and identification technologies, and to work on accelerating onsite investigation technology and developing lab testing equipment. We will develop a rapid assessment system for the fentanyl addiction in line with China's national conditions. 

In the next step, China will work with the international community, including the United States, in a joint response to combat the challenges posed by fentanyl-related substances. Thank you.

Yicai.com:

I have two questions. One is that, after including all fentanyl-related substances under control, will legitimate pharmaceutical companies producing related products see more rigid regulation to avoid their products being used illegally? The other is about industrial hemp that has received much attention recently. We noticed that the National Narcotic Control Committee has issued several statements before. We want to know if the many domestic companies involved in the planting and purification of hemp are acting legally and if there will be more rigid regulatory measures for industrial hemp in the future. Thank you.

Chen Shifei:

The Chinese government joined the United Nations' Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs in 1985. The former health ministry issued measures to control narcotic drugs in 1987, which listed fentanyl, sufentanil, and alfentanil as narcotics for regulation. The government has been taking rigorous measures to control narcotics through the processes of scientific research, production, distribution, use and export. All related scientific research programs require registration and approval. Production is limited to appointed manufacturers with the quantities prescribed. The distribution is also strictly confined to fixed channels to avoid related products entering illegal channels and causing undesirable consequences. A mechanism that involves producers, suppliers and medical institutions has been functioning well and prevented undesirable consequences from happening.

As for the export of narcotic drugs, we handle this with strict approval and control procedures within the framework of the UN. Currently, the amounts of exports are quite small. I think our current regulatory measures for narcotic drugs including fentanyl-related substances are efficacious and adequate. Thank you.

Liu Yuejin:

I will briefly answer the question regarding "industrial marijuana." Here in China, we have rigorous management procedures and total quantity control over the production, plantation, storage, and transportation of "industrial marijuana." All this has proceeded under the strict supervision and control of relevant government departments. Therefore, as far as this problem is concerned, there are no serious violations in our country. Currently, on the premise that many countries have legalized marijuana, China will tighten up its supervision and control over "industrial marijuana," close all loopholes, and improve all kinds of management systems. Thank you.

Financial Times:

Just now, Mr. Liu mentioned the cooperation between China and other countries. Here is my question for you. Are there any countries besides the United States that is concerned with the inflow of the illicit drug smuggled from China? I see lots of representatives from embassies seated here today. Could you please tell us about other countries' concerns, as well as China's cooperative endeavor with them? Thank you.

Liu Yuejin:

Regarding the fentanyl-related substances, the joint efforts in finding clues and the lawsuits involved, the US law enforcement authorities have remained China's major partners while pushing forward the smooth and close cooperation in exchange of intelligence and information, as well as joint detections. The US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) has been very pleased and complimented the overall cooperation with China's law enforcement authorities. In regards to other countries, especially European countries, China has worked with them in concerted efforts to detect and crack down on the new psychoactive substances other than fentanyl-related substances. These cooperations include exchanging intelligence, sharing information, and coordinating joint detections. The cooperation is also smooth. It should be mentioned that China has cooperated well with the rest of the world, in addition to the United States, in line with its anti-drug endeavor. Thank you.

Hu Kaihong:

The press conference ends here today. Thanks for our three guest speakers, and thank you, everyone.

Read in Chinese

Speakers:
Norbu Dondrup, a member of the Standing Committee of the Tibet Autonomous Regional Committee of the Communist Party of China and executive vice chairman of the regional government;

Dawa, deputy director general of the United Front Work Department of the CPC Tibet Autonomous Regional Committee;

Luo Jie, director general of Ecological Environment Department of the regional government;

Ren Jingdong, deputy director general of the Development and Reform Commission of the Tibet Autonomous Region and head of the Energy Bureau

Chairperson:
Hu Kaihong, spokesperson for the State Council Information Office of China

Date:
March 27, 2019

Hu Kaihong:

Ladies and gentlemen, good morning. Welcome to this SCIO briefing. Today, the SCIO will brief the media about our white paper titled "Democratic Reform in Tibet - Sixty Years On". We are delighted to welcome the following attendees to today's briefing: Mr. Norbu Dondrup, a member of the Standing Committee of the Tibet Autonomous Regional Committee of the Communist Party of China and executive vice chairman of the regional government; Mr. Dawa, deputy director general of the United Front Work Department of the CPC Tibet Autonomous Regional Committee; Mr. Luo Jie, director general of Ecological Environment Department of the regional government; and Mr. Ren Jingdong, deputy director general of the Development and Reform Commission of the Tibet Autonomous Region and head of the Energy Bureau.

My name is Hu Kaihong, and I am a spokesperson for the State Council Information Office of China. First of all, I will give you an introduction about the white paper.

The white paper released today implements General Secretary Xi Jinping's important exposition on Tibet, by focusing on people-centered development that is innovation-driven, coordinated, green, oriented toward global progress, and beneficial to all. It is guided by Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era and the principles of the 19th CPC National Congress.

In order to make Tibet's development full of vigor and vitality, we have made great efforts to boost its economic and social development; safeguard and improve people's livelihood; promote interaction, communication and integration between ethnic groups; as well as strengthen eco-environment protection and construction. 

The White Paper focuses on the backwardness of Tibet's reactionary feudal serfdom in the past, the historical inevitability and significance of democratic reform in Tibet, the progress made through the reform, and the new look that Tibet puts on in the new era of development. With sufficient facts and a significant amount of data, the White Paper expounds that the democratic reform has been a magnificent revolution in Tibet's history with its great significance and far-reaching influence. The reform fundamentally transformed the social system of Tibet; emancipated and expanded the productive forces, and greatly promoted the overall progress of Tibetan society. It carries great significance in the history of the development of human society. 

The White Paper points out that the 60 years of great progress in Tibet bears testament to the fact that the reform conforms to the developmental path of the time, satisfies the essential needs of the different ethnic groups of Tibet, and is in line with the demands of Tibet's social development. This is an inevitability in Tibet's history of development. If the reform hadn't taken place, Tibet would not have been able to make the historic changes in its society and adapt to the developments of the time. Its residents also would not have been able to live happy lives and have their rights fully protected. 

Democratic reform is a heroic undertaking that has benefited Tibet's different ethnic groups. Through the reform, the people of all ethnic groups in Tibet have become the masters of the country. Deeply rooted in the hearts of the people is their dedication to unswervingly upholding the leadership of the Communist Party of China, the socialist path of development, and the system of regional autonomy for ethnic minorities. Now, under the guidance of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, the people of all ethnic groups in Tibet are striving, together with the whole nation, to create better lives for themselves and to realize the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. The mission to promote socialism with Chinese characteristics for a new era has been launched and the future of Tibet will grow ever brighter. 

The full text of the white paper is about 25,000 words. It consists of three parts: preface, body and concluding remarks. It has been published in Chinese, English, French, Russian, Spanish and Arabic by the People's Publishing House and Foreign Languages Press. It will be issued across the country by the Xinhua Bookstore.

Now I have briefly introduced the contents, I will give the floor to Mr. Norbu Dondrup to discuss the situation in Tibet since the democratic reform. 

Norbu Dondrup:

Ladies and gentlemen, journalists and friends, good morning. This year marks the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China. It is also the 60th anniversary of the democratic reform in Tibet. Before 1959, Tibet was a feudal serfdom society that was darker and backward than the European Middle Ages. In 1951, the Central People's Government and the local government of Tibet signed the "Agreement on the Peaceful Liberation of Tibet" (referred to as the 17-Article Agreement). Since then, Tibet has shaken off the fetters of imperialist aggression, achieved peaceful liberation, and created a basic premise to achieve common progress and development with other parts of the country.

However, with the support of the imperialist forces, some of Tibet's ruling elite ignored the people's rising demand for democratic reforms. They stubbornly opposed reform and attempted to maintain feudal serfdom and the unity of politics and religion forever.

On March 10, 1959, they publicly tore up the 17-Article Agreement and instigated a full-scale armed rebellion. In order to uphold national unity and safeguard the fundamental interests of Tibetan people, Chairman Mao Zedong and the CPC central committee, led the Tibetan people to put down the armed rebellion. On March 28, 1959, Premier Zhou Enlai signed an order to dissolve the local government of Tibet, ending the dark history of the feudal serf system and the integration of politics and religion in Tibet. 

Under the leadership of the Party, millions of serfs carried out vigorous democratic reforms; and eliminated the political, economic, cultural and social systems that protected the interests of their feudal serf owners. Having shaken off the shackles of being oppressed, exploited and enslaved, the feudal serfs were utterly liberated, becoming masters of their country and their society, and critically, masters of their own destiny. Tibet's democratic reform is the most extensive, profound and greatest social change in the history of Tibet's development. It is an epoch-making and significant historical event for the development of Tibet's society and human rights. It is also of great significance in the history of human civilization and the history of human rights in the world.

We hold grand ceremonies to mark the democratic reform in Tibet, which is a magnificent feat in the history of human civilization. It is of great significance for us to deeply implement the Party's policies on Tibet and put into practice Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era; particularly the principles from General Secretary Xi Jinping's major expositions on governing border areas and stabilizing Tibet as well as a series of major instructions on work in Tibet. It is also of great significance to encourage government officials and the people of all ethnic groups in Tibet to push forward Tibet's rapid development and long-term stability, and thus write a good Tibetan chapter in realizing the Chinese dream of great national rejuvenation.

In 2009, the Second Session of the Ninth National People's Congress of the Tibet Autonomous Region decided to set March 28th as the "Serfs Emancipation Day". The Serfs Emancipation Day was set up to let the Chinese people of all ethnic groups, including the Tibetan people, remember more firmly the great historical event of democratic reform in Tibet, which marks the watershed between the old and new societies; see more clearly the cruelty and darkness of old Tibetan feudal serfdom; see more clearly the reactionary nature of the Dalai Lama clique; cherish more consciously today's hard-earned happy life in Tibet; and work harder to create a beautiful future for new socialist Tibet.

Tomorrow, the Tibet Autonomous Region will have a series of commemorative celebrations. To mark this important day and event, the State Council Information Office today has issued a white paper titled "Democratic Reform in Tibet: Sixty Years On." It is the 14th book on Tibet published by the State Council Information Office.

Using a large amount of historical materials and comparisons between the old and new societies, the white paper exposes the extreme darkness, cruelty and backwardness of the old Tibetan feudal serfdom; reveals the historical inevitability and great significance of the democratic reform in Tibet; and demonstrates the magnificent achievements in Tibet where productive forces have been unleashed and the people have become the masters of their own affairs. It reflects the historical progress of Tibet's political, economic and social development, ecological conservation, freedom of religious belief, and the equality and solidarity among all ethnic groups over the past 60 years.

With irrefutable facts, the white paper once again proves that the past 60 years of democratic reform in Tibet have witnessed the great victory of the Party's ethnic policy; the successful practice of the regional ethnic autonomy in China; and that the Tibetan people feel grateful to the Party and follow the Party.

The publication of the white paper fully reflects that the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core places enormous importance on Tibet and all ethnic groups in the region. It fully reflects the common aspirations of the people of all ethnic groups in Tibet to cherish the Chinese dream and strive for a new era.

Here, on behalf of the CPC Tibet Autonomous Regional Committee, the People's Government of the Tibet Autonomous Region, and the more than 3 million people of all ethnic groups in the region, I would like to express our firm and loyal support to the central government's decisions.

As we all know, serfs and slaves, who made up 95 percent of the total population in old Tibet, were completely deprived of their personal freedom and political rights. With the abolition of feudal serfdom during the democratic reform, the Tibetan people, like the Chinese people of other ethnic groups, became masters of their own country and society, gained the right to participate equally in managing state affairs, took control of managing social affairs in Tibet and their own destiny, and are able to create and enjoy the material and cultural wealth in Tibetan society. People of all ethnic groups in Tibet and other Chinese people live in harmony, and are working to create a wonderful new life together. In the span of a few decades, Tibet went through the democratic reform, the founding of the Tibet Autonomous Region, reform and opening up and other important stages of development. Under the strong leadership of the CPC, Tibet has achieved historic leaps in economic and social development, following the path of socialism with Chinese characteristics. Since the 18th CPC National Congress in particular, government officials and the general public of all ethnic groups have rallied closely around the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core, and held high the banner of socialism with Chinese characteristics. They have earnestly studied and fully implemented Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, and the guiding principles from the 18th and 19th CPC national congresses, as well as the Sixth Central Conference on Tibet, and put into practice General Secretary Xi Jinping's major expositions on governing border areas and stabilizing Tibet, as well as his guiding principles on the work in Tibet. They strive with gratitude and help each other on the way, breaking new ground featuring significant development and long-term stability. At present, Tibet sees the CPC leadership strengthened in all respects, with accelerated economic and social development, greatly improved livelihoods of the people and substantially enhanced capacity in public services. Tibet also boasts a good ecological environment, a stable society, united ethnic groups, harmonious religions and consolidated border areas. People of all ethnic groups show increasing support to the CPC and love to the great motherland, and increasingly cherish their hard-won happy lives, ethnic unity and social harmony. The longing for stability there is stronger than ever before.

The brilliant achievements of democratic reform in Tibet in the past 60 years, especially the historic achievements and changes made since the 18th CPC National Congress, fully demonstrate the unrivaled superiority of the socialist system, the unrivaled warmth of the great motherland and the unrivaled correctness of the CPC's strategy for governing Tibet. Feudal serfdom in Tibet already passed into history, and a new Tibet has been unveiled to the world, with its people now working together with the Chinese people of other ethnic groups to build a moderately prosperous society in all respects and to enjoy a modern life for all people. All these achievements are the result of the strong leadership and kind care of the CPC Central Committee, the strong support of the government departments, ministries and commissions, as well as support from provinces and municipalities, central enterprises and people across the country, plus the joint efforts of CPC organizations at all levels, CPC members, and people of all ethnic groups in Tibet.

We firmly believe that as long as we adhere unswervingly to the leadership of the CPC, follow the path of socialism with Chinese characteristics, uphold the system of regional ethnic autonomy, and implement the CPC's strategy for governing Tibet and General Secretary Xi Jinping's major expositions on governing border areas and stabilizing Tibet, the future of Tibet will be even brighter. Now, the floor is open to questions.

Hu Kaihong:

Thank you, Mr. Norbu Dondrup. Now, the floor is open to questions. Please identify your media organizations before asking questions.

Hong Kong Ta Kung Wen Wei Media Group:

We know that the human rights situation in Tibet Autonomous Region has seen tremendous change since the beginning of democratic reforms 60 years ago. However, some countries and the Dalai group claim that the human rights situation in Tibet is not so good. What is the human rights situation in Tibet like? Are there any violations of human rights in Tibet? Thank you.

Norbu Dondrup:

There is an old Chinese saying: "a resonant drum needs no heavy beating, and a running horse needs no spur." Many people here today are from Tibet and most of them are local officials of ethnic minority groups whose parents suffered from ruthless oppression and exploitation under feudal serfdom. Today, we come to the press conference with a brand-new attitude. The people next to me are both officials of ethnic groups, and so am I. You can see from us the remarkable achievements that the cause of human rights has made. There are abundant historical materials in the white paper released today which provide detailed information on democratic reforms in Tibet and its landmark achievements under the leadership of the Communist Party of China. Therefore, regarding the human rights situation in Tibet, I can tell you that it is not just good, but it's very good. The public's sense of happiness over the development of the cause of human rights and protection of human rights in Tibet is not just strong, but very strong. Some people abroad and the Dalai group cast blame on our human rights, but I believe they have ulterior motives. What I have mentioned about the tremendous changes in political, social and economic aspects in Tibet are exactly the achievements and changes we have made on the cause of human rights development. 

We know very well that before 1959, the millions of serfs in Tibet had almost no words or concepts of "human rights" in their minds. They did not realize the concept of human rights because, in the old Tibet ruled by Dalai, they were entirely deprived under the feudal serfdom. Their basic right to life was absent, let alone their right of development. The last generation of our people to have witnessed this said that it was an extremely dark and cruel society, where millions of the serfs were merely "talking tools." The feudal serfdom regime in Tibet divided people into three distinct social classes and nine ranks. People of the highest rank were literally worth their weight in gold, while people of the lowest rank were worth only the price of a straw rope. There was no equality before the law. Serfs could be sold, transferred and even slaughtered or put into jail. Serfs could be randomly selected to have their skin pulled, their tendons pulled out or even their eyes gouged out. All of this has been mentioned in the white paper. How could people have human rights under those circumstances? There were no human rights at all. Therefore, when the Dalai Lama attacks our human rights today he definitely has motives behind it. His abuse of human rights disqualifies him from talking about the human rights.

Some countries, coaxed or misguided by slanders from the Dalai Lama clique, attack our human rights conditions. Human rights in China are closely integrated with our own national conditions; have answered and satisfied the people's demands; and have been catered for the broad masses of the population and the people of Tibet. In evaluating human rights conditions, one should listen to the people, especially the more-than-3-million Tibetan people, who should have the final say. In my view, the satisfaction and happiness of the people are the best testimony for human rights conditions.

In turn, we now feel that we have been liberated and have been empowered to become masters of the country and society, and have the right to pursue our own destiny. We are therefore proud of it. We are very happy to live in the socialist family under the leadership of the Communist Party of China. Just as what I have mentioned to you, we are not only the offspring of the serfs, but also the living witnesses to six decades of brilliant development of Tibet's politics and economy. We are the real beneficiaries of the achievements of all aspects of social development and human rights in Tibet.

Broadly speaking, human rights can be prioritized in two basic rights—the right to life and the right to development. Compared with old Tibet, Tibet's human rights are an epoch-making leap. Since the democratic reform, under the cordial care of the Party Central Committee, Tibet's human rights and all aspects of Tibet's development have indeed achieved unprecedented and tremendous historical achievements.

First, the Tibetans enjoy the equality of political rights and are able to participate in the administration of regional and state affairs. In the national and local people's congresses and the annual Two Sessions (the National People's Congress and the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference), the deputies are composed by a majority of Tibetans and other minorities from the Tibet Autonomous Region. They are always greatly pleased and highly honored to attend the sessions. In their strikingly embroidered traditional clothes, they speak on behalf of their people. They fulfil the duties entrusted to them by their people and extend the wishes of Tibetans and other minority people as much as they can. 

The Chairman of the Tibet regional government and the Director of the local People's Congress are cadres of ethnic minorities, mainly local Tibetan cadres. Most Party secretaries and county heads of Tibetan cities and counties are also ethnic minority cadres. People here enjoy equal political participation, and representatives are chosen regardless of their ethnic nationality and social status. The right to live is also clearly protected and the Constitution and laws guarantee the lives and property of the general public in Tibet. People can participate in economic and social activities as long as they fall within the law and are free to love, marry, and hold weddings and funerals. The Party and the government have also taken many measures to improve medical conditions, extend the life expectancy of the people of Tibet and improve the health of the people. We have invested a large amount of funds and started many projects in this aspect. There are many endemic diseases in Tibet, such as high-altitude cardiovascular disease and rheumatism, and there are children with congenital heart disease. The Party and the government attach much importance to this and have made great efforts to build a large number of medical institutions at the autonomous region, prefecture and county levels. We now have big hospitals at the autonomous region level, Class A hospitals in the counties, health centers in the towns, and health clinics in the villages — all staffed with many medical professionals. They have worked hard to serve the people and patiently prevent and treat diseases for the general public. Therefore, many people are now freed from the pain of disease and live a happy and healthy life.

Every time there is a big natural disaster, our government is quite concerned about the people in Tibet, and tries the best to help the people there. Saving lives is always the top priority. All ethnic groups in China are united and dependent on each other, and we are as inseparable as fish is to water. Whether you are of Tibetan or Han ethnic group, we are inseparable from each other. Ethnic minorities are also inseparable from each other and when encountering natural disasters, everyone rushes to the front line to help in disaster relief efforts. In the face of disasters, they demonstrate that "when one has difficulties, all others would support" and rescue victims of disasters such as earthquakes and mudslides in a timely manner.

As specified in the white paper, we also enjoy sufficient rights to carry out further development. But what I want to tell you is that there was no decent road in the old Tibet. All materials required for production as well as daily necessities were transported over thousands of miles by people who carried them on their backs, and by mules, horses, cattle and even sheep. The movement of such materials to Tibet relied solely on these forms of transportation. But now our infrastructure, including transportation, water, electricity, communications, etc., extends in all directions. Modern roads in Tibet now stretch over 90,000 kilometers. In the past, millions of Tibetan serfs had never left their villages, never seen a plane or even heard of a car, but now almost every family has their own vehicles, and is free to travel everywhere. Those who had never seen an airplane, now not only can board a plane and go to various places in China, but also have the option to become a pilot themselves. In the past, people lit up their homes with oil lamps, but now homes can be brightly lit by electric lamps with just a flick of a switch. The roads and highways are also all illuminated by lights. It is clear that human rights have developed and progressed in Tibet.

In terms of education, I would like to talk about my own experience. When I first left home, I did not know much about the outside world. We were not educated back then. However, now I am not only fluent in the Tibetan language, but also the Chinese language. I can communicate conveniently with people from the rest of China and other parts of the world.

Besides, in the old Tibet, only 5 percent of the people, mostly feudal serf owners, were entitled to education; and the rest of the people, about a million serfs, did not have the right to education. Now, we are all entitled to education, and the state has founded many schools in Tibet.

As far as I know, there are over 2,200 schools of various kinds in Tibet, and all school-age children can go to school. They enjoy education in a good environment, and can learn a lot of knowledge. They learn the Tibetan language, the Chinese language, and even the languages of many other countries. This is a huge historic breakthrough of human rights in the field of education. The serfs could not even dream about this before, as it would have been totally unimaginable.

In terms of culture, our Party and state pay great attention to the cultural development of Tibet. Many cultural and historical sites in Tibet have been well protected and developed. As many temples are made of wood and mud, the state has spent huge amounts of money to renovate and protect them from weathering and natural disasters. There are 55 national cultural relics protection units and 616 regional cultural relics units in Tibet. Some important historical sites, including the Potala Palace in Lhasa, have entered the UNESCO's world cultural heritage list, and have enjoyed appropriate protection. 

In terms of freedom of religious belief, there is a saying that "seeing is believing." You can go all around Tibet and see that people are free to practice their religious beliefs. The law protects every person's right to freedom of religious belief, and there are no restrictions on religious beliefs. In addition, the state constantly renovates religious buildings, and connects them with running water, electricity and roads, which was unimaginable in the past. Many of the temples in Tibet are built on high mountains, but are now easily accessible by car now. The monks' lives have become more convenient, and they can feel that the Party and the government sincerely care and pay great attention to them.

Tibet has always prioritized ecological protection, and many measures have been taken and many laws and rules issued. We have implemented the concept that fresh water and lush mountains are invaluable assets. The ecological environment in Tibet has been fully protected.

In short, people of all ethnic groups in Tibet can not only take part in the management of state and local affairs on an equal footing, but can also enjoy a peaceful and happy life in which babies can be nurtured, children can be educated, workers can be duly paid, patients can be treated in time and the elderly can be supported appropriately.

People can receive payment for all their work. All people have places to live in and all needy hands can be helped. People of different ethnic groups in Tibet love the CPC and their motherland. They feel content with their happy lives in the big family of the motherland, under the leadership of the Party. And they tend to use all kinds of ways to show their appreciation to the Party. 

For example, every year during the National Day, local people hang the national flag at home to show their devotion to the motherland. In the Spring Festival and Tibetan New Year, they devote the first cup of highland barley wine, the first piece of hada and their first song to the Party, the motherland, the leaders and relatives in other parts of the country. This speaks volumes about the historical achievements of human rights conditions in Tibet, as well as local people's satisfaction with the development and conditions of human rights in Tibet.

CCTV:

My question is about Tibet's poverty alleviation. We know that the Tibet is the only contiguous poor area at the provincial level and a poverty-stricken region of China. So how is the poverty alleviation work going in Tibet? Thanks.

Norbu Dondrup:

As we have said, the old Tibet was a society of feudal serfdom, lacking good geographical conditions and a natural environment for development. For a long time, the Dalai group has engaged in a series of sabotage activities in Tibet. Therefore, Tibet is a poverty-stricken area at large. Through poverty alleviation work, great changes have taken place in Tibet. But compared to other areas of China, we still lag behind. We have more areas with severity poverty. And the cost and efforts for poverty alleviation are huge. At the end of 2015, 590,000 people were registered as households living under the poverty line, with a poverty headcount ratio of 35 percent.

General Secretary Xi has given an eminent place to the poverty alleviation work in Tibet. To lift the people in Tibet out of poverty has always a major concern of his. During the conferences on poverty alleviation held in Fuping, Yan'an, Guiyang, Yinchuan, Taiyuan and Chengdu, General Secretary Xi has put the poverty alleviation work first and pointed out that building a moderately prosperous society in all respects means leaving no ethnic minority group behind.

Therefore, the Party committees and governments at various levels stand firm and take targeted measures to lead the masses combating poverty with a straight forward spirit. Many preferential policies, particularly for the development of Tibet, have been carried out, which do not only greatly push forward the alleviation work but offer another opportunity of historical significance. Tibetans living in poverty appreciate everything General Secretary Xi and the government is doing to lift them out of poverty. They have said that General Secretary Xi is busy with various national affairs, and yet he still cares about the people in the most remote areas. They appreciate General Secretary Xi and the CPC Central Committee with all their heartfelt intention.

The CPC Tibet Autonomous Regional Committee and the regional government have unswervingly implemented the strategy of precision poverty-reduction and poverty-eradication. In accordance with the requirements, we set forth the objective of providing adequate food and clothing while ensuring access to compulsory education, basic medical services and housing. "Providing adequate food and clothing" here means that people in Tibet eat better than before. In the past, people living in the old Tibet don't have enough food and clothes, nor hopes for having more tomorrow. Their lives were miserable.

I came from a rural area. Many officials, including me, have made many visits at the community level in the Tibet Autonomous Region to see the real conditions there, so as to connect more closely with the people, as required by General Secretary Xi. Poverty reduction has achieved great progress in the impoverished areas. People now have access to a variety of food, including beef, butter, drinks and barley wine. In addition, thanks to a series of measures, vegetables can be planted at high altitudes and fresh vegetables are available to the people there. People have new clothes to wear for the New Year, and have more choices. This is what I mean when I said "providing adequate food and clothing."

The medical services and housing are even better. We have a medical insurance system based on free medical services, ensuring the public has access to medical services. If people get sick, they can seek medical services both in villages and townships. The public can receive not only disease prevention services, but also treatment in other regions. The public can even seek medical services in other regions of China by plane. Why can this happen? Because of the government's good policies, which provide the public with something to rely on. Moreover, the improved livelihood of the public allows them to afford greater expenses. All of these are true facts. Regarding the housing safety issue, the residential buildings built in the past were relatively low in quality, however, new buildings are spacious, bright, comfortable and of good quality. You can go to Tibet Autonomous Region to see for yourself. In accordance with the requirements of the central authorities, the CPC Tibet Autonomous Regional Committee and the Tibet Autonomous Regional Government resolutely put poverty alleviation as the top priority and the first livelihood project, and placed it at the top of the "three major battles" (poverty relief, environmental protection and preventing financial risks). The achievements have been fruitful. Party committees and governments at all levels have concentrated more efforts on poverty alleviation, pledging that they will never stop until winning the battle with the belief that if they don't win the battle, it's because they haven't made enough efforts. We work towards poverty alleviation through targeted measures, including: who is the one we need to help? What has caused his poverty? We conduct multiple analysis from various aspects, such as poverty level and cause, before helping. We will continue to make specific plans and measures for poverty alleviation, and provide them with necessary technology, funds and production materials, in a bid to help them get rid of poverty and achieve prosperity as soon as possible. 

We are determined to promote poverty alleviation industry projects based on our strengths. At present, over 2,300 poverty reduction projects have been carried out, lifting 211,000 people out of poverty. You may not understand that it is very difficult to develop the industry in Tibet, especially in places where there are snow and ice, very high altitudes and harsh conditions. However, our Party and government have taken special measures to overcome various difficulties to promote industries in impoverished regions. A large number of crop production, breeding and processing cooperative organizations have been established and they have proved to be very helpful. Moreover, many enterprises participate in the poverty alleviation battle. They have set up their own poverty alleviation contact offices, and developed an array of industries to promote poverty reduction. Due to some severe lack of resources, the high cost for providing access to water, electricity and roads, or extremely poor natural environments, it was really difficult to assist some impoverished people in places they used to live, so we encouraged them to relocate to places with convenient transportation conditions, surplus resources, and a higher level of urbanization so that they can get rid of poverty in a new environment. During this process, we fully respected their willingness, and helped them relocate step by step. We never forced them to relocate. We encouraged people who live in highly and extremely cold pasturing areas, deep mountains and valleys, places with endemic diseases, places with frequent geological disasters and ecologically vulnerable places to move out so that they will have the chance to get rid of poverty and achieve prosperity. Those impoverished people who relocated have moved into very good residences which they could not have imagined before. The relocation sites are all equipped with public services facilities, such as hospitals and schools. Some 266,000 people have showed their willingness to relocate, and 236,000 of them have finished their relocation. We address poverty reduction by carrying out training and teaching skills in a bid to help impoverished population increase confidence in their own ability to lift themselves out of the poverty and see that they can access the education they need. We would hereby like to express our gratitude to the people in other regions of China. The central government has spent a large amount of money and investment to fight against poverty in Tibet. A lot of provinces and cities have provided their assistance to the region, bringing advanced technology, modes of production and management ideas. They have provided training and tought skills for local people who were hindered by traditional thoughts and not market-minded. This has obviously enhanced local people's ability to lift themselves out of poverty. They are on the one hand the objects of the poverty reduction, but on the other hand, they have become the major driver in the battle. Consequently, the public say they have learnt a lot in the poverty eradication process. Remarkable changes have taken place. They say their income in the past was too low, but now, it has increased significantly. Moreover, they can do more things after mastering skills. 

The central government has formulated many policies for us, and we Tibetans have benefited greatly. The autonomous region has pooled funds of more than 40 billion yuan to implement these policies. The central government agencies and the provinces, cities and enterprises which provide aid to Tibet, have invested nearly 50 billion yuan to promote its economic and social development, as well as intensifying poverty alleviation inside Tibet. Meanwhile, with the pair-assistance, Tibetans not only learned about the technology, but also directly gained benefits in fighting against poverty. We persisted in enhancing Party building and promoting poverty eradication. Many officials are stationed to help villagers escape poverty, standing with them throughout the process. Poverty alleviation has had some initial achievements. Since 2016, 55 poverty-stricken counties have been removed from the list of impoverished counties, 4,714 poor villages have been withdrawn from the poverty system, and 478,000 people have been lifted out of poverty. The poverty incidence has dropped from 35.2 percent before 2015 to below 6 percent now. We regard it as a miracle. The general secretary's effective strategy of precision poverty alleviation shows the greatness of our Party and the superiority of the socialist system. Now we still have 19 counties, 662 poor villages and 150,000 people that need to shake off the mantle of poverty. These places experience the most extreme poverty because they live with difficult conditions in the most remote areas at the highest altitude. Poverty alleviation in these places will be very difficult. However, with the warm care of the Party Central Committee, the wise guidance of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, the unparalleled superiority of the socialist system and the firm determination of the communists, the selfless assistance of our people throughout the country, and the joint participation of people of all ethnic groups in Tibet, we will surely achieve the goal of getting rid of poverty according to schedule, and we will build a moderately prosperous society in all respects along with the whole country. We have confidence and determination in the poverty eradication of the last 19 impoverished counties and we also have sufficient preparation. Thank you all.

Reuters: 

Why not allow the people in Tibet to decide their own future and conduct an independence referendum?

Norbu Dondrup:

The situation in Tibet has already been fully detailed in the white paper. Tibet has been an inalienable part of China since ancient times, and all ethnic groups in Tibet are members of the Chinese nation. What you mentioned just now, to speak bluntly, was created by the imperialists. We have never recognized the independence of Tibet and no country in the world has ever recognized Tibet as an independent state. Moreover, Tibet now lives happily within the big family of China. I have already spoken at length earlier that we have now become the masters of the country, society and our own destiny. The Government of the People's Republic of China has been recognized as the sole legal government representing the entire Chinese people. The so-called "Tibetan Independence" does not exist. Established by the Dalai clique outside China, the so-called "government in exile" is invalid, illegal and has not been recognized by any country in the world. Under the leadership of the Communist Party of China, we enjoy the warmth of the big family of our socialist motherland and have complete control over our own destiny. Thank you. 

China News Agency:

Traditional Tibetan culture has long been attracting attention from home and abroad, and education is also related to the future development of Tibet. Please give introductions in these two aspects. Thank you.

Norbu Dondrup:

Mr. Dawa, deputy director general of the United Front Work Department of CPC Tibet Autonomous Regional Committee, will give you an introduction on the education in the autonomous region.

Dawa:

Let me introduce the cultural aspect first. The central government always attaches great importance to the protection, inheritance and development of traditional Tibetan culture. The CPC Committee and government of Tibet Autonomous Region always places the protection and development of traditional Tibetan culture as an important part of economic and social development, and supports it with policies, projects, capital, technologies, talents and so on. The autonomous region collected, edited and published seven literature and art compendiums such as, "Compendium of Chinese dramas: Tibetan volume" and "Compendium of Chinese Ethnic and Folk Dance: Tibetan volume". Meanwhile, historical buildings like the Potala Palace have been included in the UNESCO World Heritage List; while the Tibetan opera, the Epic of King Gesar and the Lum Medicinal Bathing of Sowa Rigpa (the Tibetan Medicine) have been included on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. There are also 89 national-level representative projects, 96 national-level representative inheritors, 460 autonomous region-level representative projects and 350 autonomous region-level representative inheritors in the autonomous region. Four organizations including the Potala Palace have been included on the list of National Key Organizations for Protecting Ancient Documents and Anthologies, and 291 ancient books have been included on the list of National Precious Ancient Books.

At the same time, the Central People's Government and the People's Government of the Tibet Autonomous Region have always protected the inheritance and development of minority languages. The regional government, according to relevant stipulations of the Constitution of the People's Republic of China and the Law on Regional Ethnic Autonomy, formulated rules on learning, using and developing Tibetan language; developed the Tibetan language teaching and textbook system from elementary school to high school; and has vigorously supported the production of Tibetan language newspapers, magazines, books, radio and television programs. These have effectively promoted the widespread use of the language. The Tibetan language has become the first Chinese minority language with international standards. Now, the Tibet Autonomous Region publishes over 100 kinds of books in Tibetan language every year. All these efforts make sure the Tibetan language continue to be used in radio broadcasts, television programs, online pages, newspapers and magazines, textbooks and other published books.

As for education, as the previous speakers have mentioned, the vast majority receiving education in old Tibet were children of aristocrats. Serfs, who made up 95 percent of the total population, had no right to education, and the illiteracy rate of young adults was around 95 percent. Since democratic reform, Qamdo Primary School, Lhasa Primary School, Lhasa Middle School and many other schools have expanded rapidly. Middle schools and primary schools were established in various prefectures and counties, with primary schools set up in most townships and some villages. In 1961, Lhasa Normal School, the first school for teachers in Tibet, officially opened, and since then, Tibet University, Tibet Agriculture and Animal Husbandry University, Tibetan Traditional Medicine College and Tibet Vocational Technical College have also been established. A relatively complete modern education system covering pre-school education, basic education, vocational education, higher education, adult education, and special education has been formed in Tibet, and the right to education for all ethnic groups is fully guaranteed.

By 2017, a total of 1,239 kindergartens, 806 primary schools, 132 junior and high schools and seven universities and colleges had been built in Tibet. The number of graduates from all kinds of schools increased from 18,000 in 1959 to over 530,000 in 2017. Other places in China also yielded a fruitful outcome in educating students from Tibet. Now, classes and schools for Tibetan students have opened in 21 provinces and municipalities, which have cultivated over 36,000 graduates with a diploma of technical secondary school or above. In 1985, the country began to cover all food and boarding fees, as well as basic expenses for study, for children of farmers and herdsmen and those from urban families with financial difficulties, and raised the standard 18 times in later years. Since 2012, Tibet has fully implemented the 15-year compulsory education policy and the level of protection has continuously improved. In 2018, the net enrollment rate of primary schools reached 99.5 percent; the gross enrollment rate of middle schools reached 99.5 percent; high schools reached 82.3 percent; and universities and colleges reached 39.2 percent. Each person in Tibet received 9.55 years of education on average. Thank you.

China Daily:

The vice chairman just mentioned there are great changes in the medical industry in Tibet. Can you please give a detailed description of the changes? Thank you.

Ren Jingdong:

As we all know, there were only small-scale government-run medical institutions in the old Tibet, employing less than 100 people. What is worth noting also is that the limited medical resources then were restricted to aristocrats, higher-ranking officials and lamas. A large number of working-class people were unable to get treatment when they contracted diseases. Over the past 60 years, the backward medical services in Tibet have witnessed a fundamental change and have virtually improved and developed in sync with the rest of the country. With steady improvements in medical services, maternal and child health care, Tibetan clinics and medicine, and disease prevention and control, infectious diseases which had severely threatened the public health in the autonomous region had been basically under control by the end of 1970s. The mortality rate and incidence of infectious and endemic diseases had also been substantially reduced. In addition, a number of hospitals have since been renovated and upgraded, including hospitals at the autonomous region level, the prefectural level and 71 medical institutions at the county level. A four-tier medical service system (referring to the autonomous region, cities including prefectures, counties and townships) covering urban and rural areas has been established. Here, I want to stress that, under the special care of the CPC Central Committee, delegations of medical professionals have been dispatched to Tibet in recent years, which include medical staff from 17 provincial and municipal regions involved in a group support program to aid Tibet. Some of them are from renowned hospitals, such as the Peking Union Medical College Hospital, Peking University People's Hospital and Peking University Hospital. Those professionals have strongly promoted the development of the medical industry in Tibet. 

There is a substantial amount of facts and data in the White Paper. This series of facts fully shows that the right to health of all ethnic groups in Tibet has been effectively guaranteed. Thank you.

Economic Daily:

During the past few years, we have observed, that transportation in Tibet has undergone a big transformation. Would you please tell us whether the constructions of infrastructure in such large scales, like, the new railways and new roads, will affect the ecological environment in Tibet?

Luo Jie:

Thanks for your concern regarding the ecological environment in Tibet. As was mentioned by Mr. Norbu Dondrup, Tibet did not have a single decent road until the liberation. The modern roads, including, the Qinghai-Tibet Highway, the Sichuan-Tibet Highway and many other roads that connect Tibet to the surrounding areas were paved at one of the most difficult times in the country. However, since the democratic reform, the transport network, including, Xinjiang-Tibet Highway, Yunnan-Tibet Highway, China-Nepal Highway, has taken shape quickly. At the same time, the Sichuan-Tibet Highway and Qinghai-Tibet Highway were renovated with asphalts. Additionally, a highway connecting Lhasa, capital of Tibet, and Gongga Airport, was also completed. Moreover, in recent years, Tibet's transport system, consisting of highroads, railways and airlines has developed well. The mileage of its highways open to traffic reached 97,800 kilometers. The Qinghai-Tibet Railway and Lhasa-Shigatse Railway have been completed, while the Lhasa-Nyingchi Railway is currently laying rail tracks. There are 92 air routes in Tibet's five airports from both home and abroad.

However, neither infrastructure constructions nor resource exploration will shake Tibet's determination to prioritize environmental protection as its top concern. The major constructions should all abide by the eco-friendly evaluation system, and the counter-pollution facilities should be designed, built and put into use at the same time with the main projects. The Qinghai-Tibet Railway, a project best known for its eco-friendly endeavor, can be one such model.

The Tibet Plateau is located in the core area of the third pole of the Earth. Protecting the ecological environment of the Tibetan Plateau has important strategic significance for safeguarding the global ecological balance. Over the years, the central government and the local government of Tibet have always regarded the protection of the plateau ecological environment as a top priority. In this regard, we have also taken many specific measures:

First, we have increased our efforts to protect the local ecological environment. Tibet has formulated the "Measures of Tibet Autonomous Region's Implementation of Regulations of the People's Republic of China on Nature Reserves" and the "Measures on Supervision and Management of Ecological Environmental Protection in Tibet Autonomous Region." We have issued a number of guidelines concerning ecological conservation, such as, "Opinions on Building a Beautiful Tibet" and "Opinions on Building an Important National Shield for Ecological Security and Accelerating Ecological Progress." Those legitimate the conservation of natural reserves and wetlands, the protection of wild animals, the prevention and control of desertification and the return of farmland to forests and grassland.

Second, the total area of the ecological protection zones continues to expand. Since the establishment of Mount Qomolangma National Nature Reserve in 1988, Tibet has established 47 nature reserves with a total area of 412,200 square kilometers, accounting for 34.35 percent of the region's territorial area. In addition, 22 ecological function protection zones have been built, including one national-level zone. 36 counties have been included in the national key ecological function protection zones; and four national-level scenic spots, nine national forest parks, 22 national wetland parks and three national-level geological parks have been established. China continues to increase investment and implement ecological compensation policies for the costs of ecological environmental protection. Since 2001, the accumulated compensation funds have reached 31.6 billion yuan for forests, grasslands, wetlands and key ecological functional zones.

Third, is the continued restoration of biodiversity. Tibet has successively implemented the ecological security shield protection construction project and the afforestation project in the basins of the Yarlung Tsangpo, Nujiang, Lhasa, Nyangchu, Yalong, and Shiquan rivers. The effect of the ecological protection initiatives has been remarkable. At present, the forest covers 12.14 percent of the whole region, and the forest area is 16.02 million hectares, including forest land, shrub land and other woodland. The comprehensive vegetation coverage of natural grassland in the region reached 45.9 percent, the natural grassland area reached 88.93 million hectares, and the wetland area reached 6.53 million hectares. Tibet has 141 kinds of nationally and autonomous region-protected wild animals, 38 kinds of nationally protected plants, and 22 unique bird species. The important ecosystems in Tibet have thus been effectively protected.

At present, the structure of the various ecosystems in the Tibetan Plateau is stable, the ecological quality is stable and positive, and the quality of water, gas, sound, soil, radiation and the ecological environment are also in good condition. The water quality of major rivers and lakes such as the Yarlung Zangbo River and the Nujiang River is maintained as either Class I or Class II, and the quality of drinking water sources is good. The source areas of big rivers, grasslands, lakes, wetlands, natural forests, water ecology, geological relics and biodiversity are effectively protected. Most of the areas are still in their original state. Tibet is still one of the areas in the world with the best environmental quality. Thank you.

Hu Kaihong:

Today's press conference ends here. Thank you.

.

Read in Chinese

Speakers:
Luo Wen, deputy head of the National Development and Reform Commission;

Lin Shaochun, member of the Standing Committee of the CPC Guangdong Provincial Committee and executive vice governor of Guangdong province;

Matthew Cheung Kin-chung, chief secretary for Administration of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region;

Mi Jian, director of the Policy Research and Regional Development Service of the Macao Special Administrative Region

Chairperson:
Xi Yanchun, spokesperson for the State Council Information Office

Date:
Feb. 28, 2019

Xi Yanchun:

Ladies and gentlemen, good afternoon. Welcome to this press conference. "The Outline Development Plan for the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area," recently released by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and the State Council, has received a lot of attention. To offer more information about the plan, today we are delighted to welcome four of the involved officials to explain the plan and answer your questions. They are Mr. Luo Wen, deputy head of the National Development and Reform Commission; Mr. Lin Shaochun, member of the Standing Committee of the CPC Guangdong Provincial Committee and executive vice governor of Guangdong province; Mr. Matthew Cheung Kin-chung, chief secretary for Administration of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region; and Mr. Mi Jian, director of the Policy Research and Regional Development Service of the Macao Special Administrative Region. Now, I'll give the floor to Mr. Luo.

Luo Wen:

Ladies and gentlemen, dear friends, Good afternoon!

Thank you for your attention and support to the development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area. Let me take this opportunity to express my sincere thanks to our friends from various sectors of society for their interest, understanding and support for this initiative.

Promoting the development of the Greater Bay Area is a major national strategy that General Secretary Xi Jinping has planned for, made decisions about and promoted in person. On July 1, 2017, he witnessed the signing of the Framework Agreement on Deepening Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Cooperation in the Development of the Bay Area between the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), and the governments of Guangdong Province, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and Macao Special Administrative Region, signaling the development of the Greater Bay Area was officially made a national strategy.

General Secretary Xi Jinping subsequently issued a number of important instructions on the development of the Greater Bay Area, clearly setting out the objective of "developing a vibrant and internationally competitive first-class bay area", showing clearly the direction for our future work. Different from other bay areas in the world, the development of the Greater Bay Area faces many new challenges as it will be carried out under the "one country, two systems", involving three customs areas using three different currencies, which is without precedent internationally. Therefore, it is not only an attempt to break new ground in pursuing opening-up on all fronts in the new era, but a further step in advancement of the practice of "one country, two systems". In formulating the outline development plan for the Greater Bay Area, we have always borne in mind the principle of "one country, two systems" and acted strictly in accordance with the Constitution and the Basic Laws, aiming to support the integration of the development of Hong Kong and Macao into the development of the country as a whole, fully leverage their unique advantages, promote cooperation to achieve win-win outcomes, give new impetus to their development, and provide strong support for the implementation of the innovation-driven development strategy and the building of a new system for an open economy. Based on these considerations, the outline development plan attaches special importance to the following four aspects:

First, taking into full consideration the overall development of the country when defining the strategic positioning of the Greater Bay Area. The [latter] plays an important role in China's reform, opening up, and socialist modernization. We have always kept the overall situation in mind, with a global vision in our study, and put forward five major strategic positions, so as to further enhance the Greater Bay Area's supporting and leading role in China's reform and opening up, and better serve the country's development strategy.

The second involves adhering to the principle of "one country, two systems" to maintain the long-term prosperity and stability of Hong Kong and Macao. The outline development plan stresses the importance of implementing the principle of "one country, two systems" and acting in strict adherence to the Constitution and the Basic Laws, with a focus on promoting coordinated and synergistic development of Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao, expanding the development space for the latter two, and enriching the practice of "one country, two systems".

The third aspect concerns fully leveraging the comparative advantages of Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao, and enhancing the region's international competitiveness. The outline development plan underlines the importance of properly leveraging the benefits of the "two systems" to stimulate institutional vitality and the market, and strengthen the core competitiveness of the Greater Bay Area.

The fourth aspect involves deepening reform to give play to the decisive role of market forces in resource allocation. The outline development plan highlights the critical role of innovation, with a focus on removing all institutional and systemic obstacles hindering cooperation and development of the Greater Bay Area. It strives to expedite early and pilot implementation of certain major reform measures in the Greater Bay Area and employ market-oriented, law-based measures to tackle problems in development.

Generally speaking, the main contents of the plan can be summarized as follows: One focus, one vision, seven priorities and four measures. "One focus" refers to supporting the integration of Hong Kong and Macao into the overall national development; "one vision" involves developing a vibrant and internationally competitive first-class bay area and build a role model of high-quality development; the "seven priorities" define the seven major areas for development, including building a globally influential international innovation and technology hub, and expediting infrastructural connectivity; the "four measures" involve strengthening organizational leadership, pressing ahead with the major tasks, preventing and mitigating risks, and broadening social participation.

In fact, we have been working with Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao, as well as relevant departments to advance development of the Greater Bay Area in an orderly way. For example, the infrastructure connectivity of the Greater Bay Area has been enhanced. The Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge has officially opened to traffic, and the Hong Kong section of the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Rail Link has also started operation. Construction of an international innovation and technology hub is progressing steadily, with the development of the "Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong-Macao" innovation and technology corridor. Progress has been achieved in investment facilitation, trade liberalization and facilitation of the flow of people and goods, and the extent of market integration in the Greater Bay Area has been greatly enhanced. Policies and measures facilitating Hong Kong and Macao residents to live and work on the Chinese mainland have been introduced, and the sense of fulfillment and well-being of residents in the Greater Bay Area has been greatly enhanced.

Next, we will act in accordance with the decisions and plans of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council, step up communication and coordination, meticulously organize the implementation, and carry out the follow-up analysis and evaluation, so as to fulfill all tasks set in the outline development plan.

We firmly believe that, under the strong leadership of the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at the core, we will advance the development of the Greater Bay Area step by step and move toward the objective of building it into an international first-class bay area with the joint efforts of various areas, all departments and different sectors of society.

Thank you!

Xi Yanchun:

I'll give the floor to Mr. Lin Shaochun.

Lin Shaochun:

Ladies, gentlemen and friends of the media, hello everyone! I'm glad to meet with you here. Thanks for everyone's attention and support for the efforts made by Guangdong province to advance the construction of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area. Now, I will give a brief introduction of the latest progress of the initiative.

A mechanism of coordination has been established. A steering group of Guangdong province to promote Greater Bay Area construction was established, with provincial Party secretary Li Xi and the provincial governor, Ma Xingrui, assuming the roles of director and executive deputy director. In addition, six special task forces were assembled to coordinate work in key areas. The province also formulated a series of matching policies implementing the Outline Development Plan for the Guangdong-HongKong-Macao Greater Bay Area with systematic approaches.

Scientific and technological innovation and cooperation have been deepening in the Greater Bay Area. Phased work on the Shenzhen-Hong Kong Technology Innovation Cooperation Zone has been progressing smoothly. The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology has set up a branch campus in Nansha district of Guangzhou city. In Shenzhen a total of 6 higher education institutions from Hong Kong have set up 72 scientific research facilities. A total of 151 programs were jointly built by Guangdong and Hong Kong to offer financial aid to promote innovation. Policies were issued to offer guidelines for the overseas use of Guangdong provincial financial funds for scientific research.

Significant growth has been seen in infrastructure construction and interconnectivity. The Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge opened to traffic last October. The Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Rail Link has been put into use and offers a co-location arrangement at West Kowloon Station. The Shenzhen-Zhongshan Link is under construction. And the entry port of Hengqin in Zhuhai started to provide 24-hour customs clearance services.

The local business environment has been shifting to meet growing needs. Guangdong province opened 153 service industry sectors to Hong Kong and Macao compatriots, accounting for 95.6 percent of the 160 categories classified by the World Trade Organization. The procedures for opening a business now take no more than 5 working days.

Interconnectivity in the finance sector is steadily advancing. China UnionPay's Quick Pass application mode has reached Hong Kong and Macao. WeChat Pay Hong Kong started to provide local users with mobile payment services in the Chinese mainland. And for the first time, Guangdong and Macao jointly set up a 20 billion-yuan (first phase) fund for cooperation and development.

Residents of Hong Kong and Macao now enjoy increasing convenience when working and living in Guangdong through 53 measures issued to facilitate the construction of the Greater Bay Area. Fifty higher education institutions in the province have been enabled to enroll students from Hong Kong and Macao. The number of medical facilities with Hong Kong and Macao investment has now reached 48. The number of accepted applications for residence permits for Hong Kong and Macao residents has reached 90,000.

In the future, Guangdong will deepen its understanding of General Secretary Xi Jinping's expositions on the construction of the Greater Bay Area, position the project as the main driving force of reform and opening-up in the province, and fulfill the important duty of the construction of the Greater Bay Area. Guangdong expects to make its due contribution to integrate the development of Hong Kong and Macao into the overall development of the country and to facilitate the quality economic growth of the country.

Thank you all!

Xi Yanchun:

Now, let's invite Mr. Matthew Cheung Kin-chung to give us an introduction.

Matthew Cheung Kin-chung:

Ladies and gentlemen, friends,

The development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (Greater Bay Area) is a national strategy that was planned, arranged and promoted by President Xi Jinping in person. It is not only an attempt to break ground by pursuing opening up on all fronts in the new era, but also a further step in pushing forward the practice of "one country, two systems." By further deepening cooperation, it aims to promote coordinated economic development in the region, to make use of the complementary advantages of the three places, and to further enhance the Greater Bay Area's supporting and leading role in the nation's economic development and opening up policy.

"One country, two systems" is the advantage of Hong Kong in the Greater Bay Area, and serves as an important foundation for the Greater Bay Area to go global. Chinese leaders commonly reiterate the principle of "one country, two systems," under which the people of Hong Kong govern themselves with a high degree of autonomy. Promoting the development of the Greater Bay Area enriches the practice of "one country, two systems," which is conducive to maintaining Hong Kong's long-term prosperity and stability. It will not blur the boundary of the "two systems" like some people fear, nor will it affect Hong Kong's status as a separate customs territory.

Under the "one country, two systems" policy, Hong Kong enjoys unique dual advantages. Even as part of the country, it has its own economic, legal and social systems. It is a highly open and international city with an inviting and convenient business environment and excellent professional services. We can join these advantages of Hong Kong to the vast market, complete industrial system, strong technological presence and other advantages of the nine mainland cities in the Greater Bay Area. By promoting the coordinated development of the Greater Bay Area, Hong Kong will further enhance its status as an international financial, shipping and trade center, as well as an international aviation hub.

Hong Kong will be an active participant, facilitator and promoter. It can share its rich experience in international connections with the mainland and help introduce foreign investors. It can also work with mainland enterprises to jointly explore overseas markets and seek out development opportunities, and consequently, to promote the economic growth of both sides and achieve mutually beneficial results.

Xi Yanchun:

Thank you, Mr. Zhang. Now, Mr. Mi Jian, please.

Mi Jian:

Good afternoon. I'm going to talk about our understandings of the outline development plan from the perspective of the Macao SAR.

Firstly, the outline development plan bestows Macao with a new historic mission and new responsibilities. We find there are 49 items in the outline development plan concerning the Macao SAR, highlighting the importance of Macao during the development and construction of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area. Let me summarize this aspect under four headings.

First, it lists Macao as one of the four principal cities involved in the development and construction of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, making it a "core engine" for regional development. For a small area like Macao to undertake such a significant role shows the central government's trust in us and its sense of anticipation.

Second, the 12th and 13th Five-Year plans clarified Macao's roles as a global tourism and leisure center, as well as an economic and trade cooperation platform between China and Lusophone countries. This has been stressed again in the outline development plan.

Third, it calls on Macao to develop into a base for exchange and cooperation where Chinese culture is the mainstream but co-existing with diverse cultures. This reflects a high appreciation of the historical position and distinctive culture of Macao, as well as the successful co-existence of diversified cultures.

Fourth, one of the key goals of the outline development plan is to pursue the development of the "Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong-Macao" innovation and technology corridor, where Macao becomes one of the supporting points. These four aspects summarize the positioning and the mission given to Macao, reflecting its responsibility as well as the challenges it faces.

In addition, the release and implementation of the outline development plan will bring a once-in-a-thousand-year chance for Macao's development. If Macao can seize this opportunity, proactively participate in the development and construction of the greater bay area, it will surely achieve "leapfrog development" of itself, and diversified economic and social development in this process. This would create conditions and lay a solid foundation for the prosperity and stability of Macao as well as ensuring better lives for future generations. That's a social and historical responsibility the Macao SAR government must undertake. Thank you.

Xi Yanchun:

Thank you, Mr. Mi. Now, the floor is open to questions. Please identify your media organizations before asking questions.

CCTV:

Under the practice of "one country, two systems," Hong Kong and Macao have different social and legal systems than Guangdong. They are separate customs territories. So, the Greater Bay Area faces various challenges in its development. What measures will be taken to promote the development of the area given the policy of "one country, two systems?" Thank you.

Luo Wen:

Thank you for your question. The biggest difference between the Greater Bay Area and other international first-class bay areas is that under the practice of "one country, two systems," it is recognized that Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao are three separate customs territories with three different currencies and legal systems. This means there are both advantages and challenges in its development. Hong Kong and Macao are developed market economies and free trade ports. Their economic performance, social governance, rules and standards, and government administration are more in line with international practice. Guangdong is the largest provincial economy on the Chinese mainland and also a forerunner of reform and opening up. Hong Kong, Macao and Guangdong, forming the bay area, however, do share the same cultural roots. Their people also have close ties and similar customs. Each of them has their own advantages in terms of economic development. Synergy is bound to be achieved as long as they can foster close cooperation. Meanwhile, the Greater Bay Area is also confronted with challenges in regard to scientific and technological innovation, the flow of production factors, and the alignment of systems and mechanisms.

Looking forward, we will focus on the following areas in our work to promote the development of the Greater Bay Area.

First, we need to uphold the principle of "one country, two systems." What has happened fully demonstrates that "one country, two systems" is the best institutional arrangement to ensure long-term prosperity and stability of Hong Kong and Macao. It is imperative to fully and faithfully implement the policies of "one country, two systems," "the people of Hong Kong governing Hong Kong," "the people of Macao governing Macao," and a high degree of autonomy being granted to the two regions. It is also imperative to maintain a strategic resolve, enhance confidence, unswervingly implement the policy of "one country, two systems" and make sure that it is fully applied without being bent or distorted in any way.

Second, we have to act in accordance with the law. The Greater Bay Area has a unique developmental environment and great policy sensitivity. We will act strictly in accordance with the Constitution and the basic laws of the two special administrative regions, particularly respecting their social and legal systems and the high degree of autonomy granted to them. When handling issues related to Hong Kong and Macao, we will solicit and adopt constructive suggestions from figures from SAR governments and all the other sectors of society, to ensure the legitimacy of procedures, the integration of power and responsibility, and the compliance with laws and regulations.

Third, it is necessary to fully leverage the role of the market. We will ensure it plays a decisive role in resource allocation, and we will continue to free our minds and reduce administrative intervention. We will make greater use of market mechanisms to allocate and integrate quality resources around the globe, in an effort to create a stable, fair, transparent and predictable business environment. We will deepen mutually beneficial cooperation among Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao, in such fields as trade, business, technology, education, personnel exchanges, youth development, infrastructure connectivity and platform building.

Four, we intend to promote innovation in institutions and mechanisms. We will utilize the systemic strengths of "one country, two systems," the unique strengths of Hong Kong and Macao, as well as the strengths displayed in the early and pilot implementation of reform and opening up in Guangdong, to properly handle possible obstacles resulting from the differences of the "two systems." We will attach importance to innovation, explore ways to enhance synergy of different systems, build "bridges" connecting policies, so as to facilitate the flow of resources and production factors, as well as the integrated development of the markets among Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao.

Matthew Cheung Kin-chung:

Hong Kong has a special advantage under the "one country, two systems" principle. We have sound rule of law and extensive international connections. We are an international financial center, enjoy a predominant geographical position and have a free and open market. We come out top in rankings on international competitiveness. Hong Kong has been ranked as the world's freest economy for 25 consecutive years. The "one country, two systems" practice is an asset for Hong Kong in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, as well as a key for the bay area to connect with the international community. The Hong Kong SAR government will continue to implement the principle of "one country, two systems" and do its utmost to contribute to the construction of the bay area. Hong Kong will integrate the country's needs with its own strengths, and let the market play its full role. Keeping in view the bigger picture of the country's development, Hong Kong will also seek new growth points for its economy and provide a better life and development opportunities for its citizens. The outline development plan makes clear that Hong Kong's role as an international financial, shipping and trade center as well as as an international aviation hub will be cemented and strengthened. In addition, according to the plan, innovation and high technology will be encouraged here, and the city will establish itself as the center for international legal and dispute resolution services in the Asia-Pacific region. All of this will help Hong Kong build itself into a more competitive global metropolis.

Thanks.

Mi Jian:

You've raised a core question and it is not the first time we have been asked this. Indeed, we will have to address the "one country, two systems" arrangement during the economic integration process in the bay area, otherwise it will impact everything. It took a long while for the outline development plan to roll out, and a lot of study about Macao has been done along the way. How do we practically address this quite complicated issue now that the outline development plan is released? At present it seems the best way out is to simplify, but as to how to simplify is still under discussion.

As to the answer to your question, you can find it in President Xi's remarks at his meeting with the Hong Kong and Macao delegations on last year's event marking the country's reform and opening-up. The essential ideas are: first, Hong Kong and Macao played an irreplaceable role in the Chinese mainland's reform and opening-up process; second, the biggest reason behind their irreplaceable role was exactly the "one country, two systems" principle; and, third, Hong Kong and Macao are expected to continue to contribute to the country's new round of reform and opening-up, and the precondition of this is, of course, "one country, two systems." Therefore, the key to the success of this round of reform and opening-up is to continue practicing "one country, two systems." The new round of reform and opening-up is actually closely related with the construction of the bay area. You don't have to be too worried about this.

The Southern Daily:

Here is my question: Hong Kong and Macao are home to numerous research and higher educational institutes, where there are plenty of talented young people desiring innovative jobs or eager to establishing start-ups in the mainland. At the same time, the Outline has stipulated that the Greater Bay Area should support young people from Hong Kong and Macao to get employed or establish their own businesses. Therefore, I would like to know what achievements Guangdong province has made in shaping up incubator facilities backing innovation and entrepreneurship? What measures are in the pipeline? Besides, how can the governments of Hong Kong and Macao SARs assist their young people to seize the opportunities emerging from development of the Greater Bay Area?

Lin Shaochun:

Thanks for your questions. Young people from Hong Kong and Macao have always been welcome to work or start their own businesses in Guangdong province. According to incomplete statistics, over 360 start-up teams of young people from Hong Kong and Macao have settled in Nansha of Guangzhou, Qianhai of Shenzhen, and Hengqin of Zhuhai, since the establishment of relevant support platforms. These start-up teams are involved in cyberspace development, finance, science and technology, biology and medicines, and they have created job opportunities for nearly 4,000 people and made significant achievements. From now, the Guangdong government will upgrade the platforms and improve relevant policies on stimulating start-ups and increasing the number of jobs available. To be specific, we will improve platform functions in the following aspects: First, we will establish a base at provincial level in the Greater Bay Area for young people from Hong Kong and Macao to work for innovation concerns or start their own businesses. At the same time, we are seeking insightful exploration of the existing platforms in Qianhai, Nansha and Hengqin, summarizing their operational experiences to offer more precise services in future. We'll expand the platforms to other six cities within the Greater Bay Area. Therefore, there will be 12 platforms in total to help young people from Hong Kong and Macao to develop their careers.

Meanwhile, our policies are designed to improve relevant backup services. First, Guangdong province is addressing employment and start-up services with supportive policies and positive fiscal measures, targeting all young people from Hong Kong and Macao working in the Area. We plan to buttress the policies for encouraging local young people to seek jobs or start their own businesses in the province, which can also be applied to the young people from Hong Kong and Macao, and we will offer our support as long as they abide by the laws. Second, we will create a convenient business environment, streamlining administrative registration and providing a one-stop service for them, as we find they are unfamiliar with how to handle their tax obligations or apply for bank loans. Third, we will continue to review the supportive policies concerning their accommodation, medical insurance and taxation. In this regard, we are conducting holistic analysis and thorough research. All in all, young people from Hong Kong and Macao are welcome to seek employment or carry out a business in Guangdong, where we offer our all-around support to them. We hope they can make great achievements here.

Thank you!

Matthew Cheung Kin-chung:

The Hong Kong SAR Government attaches great importance to the development of young people, who are nothing less than our future and our hopes. We hope that young people in Hong Kong will carry the concept of the country, love for Hong Kong, and a vision for the world. We also hope that they can aim high and look far, exploring opportunities outside of Hong Kong.

We encourage Hong Kong youth to participate in the development of the Greater Bay Area, and we strive to provide more space for development and opportunities for Hong Kong's innovative and entrepreneurial young talent. We strive to make the Greater Bay Area a world-class international platform for innovation and entrepreneurship, while promoting the upward mobility of Hong Kong youth and enabling them to participate in the overall development of the Greater Bay Area and the country.

The Hong Kong SAR Government will integrate the innovative and entrepreneurial resources in the Greater Bay Area and build a sustainable ecosystem to support Hong Kong youth's innovation and entrepreneurship, using the region's youth innovation and entrepreneurship base as its core.

Specifically speaking, the Hong Kong SAR Government will work with non-government organizations to provide entrepreneurial Hong Kong youths with subsidies, support, counselling, guidance and incubation services, as well as work with the Guangdong provincial government to set up a Greater Bay Area Hong Kong Youth Innovation and Entrepreneurship Base Alliance, and to build a one-stop publicity and compatible platform to support Hong Kong entrepreneurs to develop and settle in the Greater Bay Area.

Thank you.

Mi Jian:

The Macao SAR Government attaches great importance to youth work. This is not only a topic in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, but has also been a key task for us for a long time.

As a department that provides advice to the Chief Executive for decision-making and government administration, we are deeply aware of the SAR Government's input in this regard. When the Chief Executive led a government delegation to visit nine cities in the Greater Bay Area last year, he took a special youth delegation along to follow the government delegation on their tour in the region.

Last year we also held a youth forum in the Greater Bay Area. At the forum, young people from the region were given the opportunity to exchange ideas, and in particular, the forum made the young people from Macao realize the demands and challenges facing them on the advent of the Greater Bay Area.

More than a hundred years ago, there was a saying by Liang Qichao that everyone in the room knows: "When young people are strong, China will be strong." We also pointed out at the forum that the future Greater Bay Area is the Greater Bay Area of the youth. So if the young people in the Greater Bay Area are strong, the Greater Bay Area will be strong.

In this regard, the SAR Government has done a lot of work. First, we have implemented the "Thousand Talents Plan" which allows young people to participate in exchanges and study in the mainland, so as to prepare them for innovation and entrepreneurship. The young people in Macao are largely accustomed to staying in their comfort zone and are unwilling to step out. Now we will tell them, you must face this era and embrace the era of the Greater Bay Area.

Second, we have implemented the youth's Greater Bay Area innovation and entrepreneurship program. Third, we provide an interest-free business loan with a ceiling of 300,000 yuan to support young people's enterprises. Many young people rely on this government policy to go to Hengqin and other cities in the Greater Bay Area to start their businesses.

Fourth, for several consecutive years, the "Macao Youth Entrepreneurship & Innovation Delegation" has been organized to study innovation and entrepreneurship experiences in the mainland. Fifth, we have set up a one-stop youth innovation and entrepreneurship platform in Zhongshan. In addition, Governor Lin said just now that we provide practice platforms for young people in Hengqin, Nansha and Qianhai. There are many specific tasks involved that I won't elaborate at this time.

Ta Kung Pao:

The outline development plan calls for strengthening strategic emerging industries and nurturing particular major industry projects such as 5G technology. We wonder if the 5G technology will be commercially used first in the Hong Kong and Macao regions? Thank you.

Luo Wen:

5G is regarded as one of the core technologies representing the new round of technological revolution and industrial transformation. It is also the strategic information infrastructure for the Internet of Things and human-machine interaction. China has placed great importance on the development of 5G technology and is stepping up the commercial use of this technology. In accordance with the requirements of high-quality development, relevant departments are improving coordination and enhancing policy guidance, so as to make a primary plan to promote 5G research and its commercial application, which relies on the dominant role of enterprises and focuses on industry development. We support the enhanced synergy and exchange between enterprises of the Greater Bay Area and encourage them to share their achievements. We encourage telecom operators in Hong Kong and Macao to make commercial use of 5G technology and make the technology better serve the residents there. In the next stage we will, together with other involved departments, proactively advance the work in this regard. Thank you.

Xinhua News Agency:

We know that the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area is actively building an international science and technology innovation center. Presently, the Outline Development Plan lists this center as one of specific tasks in the first chapter. My question is why the central government is supporting Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao to jointly build this innovation center? What is the next step in the project, and how will the three places move it forward? Thank you.

Luo Wen:

Thank you for your question. General Secretary Xi Jinping once described the vision of the construction of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area: It will be a dynamic and internationally competitive first-class bay area and a model for high-quality development. To achieve this, building an international science and technology innovation center is a top priority, a key of all keys, and this is one of the most agreed-upon and advantageous parts of the construction of the Greater Bay Area. It shoulders the historical responsibility of setting a new high point for innovation and development in our country, and driving the Pearl River Delta region to take the lead in achieving innovation and transformation. The reason why the central government should support Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao to jointly build an international science and technology innovation center is mainly based on the following three aspects:

First, there is an urgent need to improve the overall layout of China's regional innovation and to accelerate the shift of economic development to becoming innovation-driven.

The Greater Bay Area's science and technology innovation center follows the examples set by the two science and technology innovation centers in Beijing and Shanghai, and has been planned, arranged and promoted by General Secretary Xi Jinping in person.Through the construction of the science and technology center, we can fast-track the full integration of scientific and technological innovation into the real economy, modern finance and human resources. We can also promote the economic aggregates of these three massive urban clusters — Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei, Yangtze River Delta, and Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area — which account for nearly 40 percent of the country's economy, to be built into an innovative economy, in turn leading the transformation of China's economy as a whole into one that is driven by innovation.

Second, we will give full play to the comparative advantages of Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao and maintain the fundamental requirements for long-term prosperity and stability in Hong Kong and Macao. Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao complement each other powerfully in terms of innovation. By co-constructing the science and technology innovation center, Hong Kong and Macao's advantages in basic research, talent cultivation, modern finance and knowledge-intensive services will be amplified. This will then interact with Guangdong's real economy, extending the industrial chain and innovation chain, opening up broad market space and maintaining long-term prosperity and stability in Hong Kong and Macao.

Third, we will make use of Hong Kong and Macao's internationalization, and drive the Greater Bay Area to accelerate their incorporation into the global innovation network. Hong Kong and Macao are two of the world's free trade ports, with flexible market mechanisms and a high degree of internationalization. They have established extensive innovation connections with major countries and regions around the world. By co-constructing the science and technology innovation center, they will attract high-level innovative talent, enterprises and scientific research institutions to gather in the Greater Bay Area, which will encourage the enterprises, technologies and standards of the Greater Bay Area to venture out and deeply integrate into that global innovation network.

In the next step, based on the decisions and deployments made by the central government, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) will coordinate with other relevant departments, as well as with Guangdong province, Hong Kong and Macao, to build a splendid scientific and technological innovation center for the Greater Bay Area in the following aspects:

First, we need to establish an appropriate working mechanism. According to the deployment of the State Council, the NDRC will set up a team designated to work for the scientific and technological innovation center under the leadership of the Greater Bay Area Construction Leading Group. It will coordinate the work on how to chart roadmaps, develop policies, distribute assignments and allocate resources. With the support from relevant departments and local governments, the innovation center can be run jointly from top to bottom.

Second, we will devise coordinated policies. We support the pilot operations of innovative cooperation zones in Shenzhen and Hong Kong, in Zhuhai's Hengqin, and in Guangzhou's Nansha, spearheaded in the policies designed to protect Intellectual Property Rights, supervising markets, developing scientific and technological finance, creating talent pools and encouraging high-tech applications. We will establish cross-border platforms to facilitate the flow of various elements, facilities, creative development and people-to-people interconnectedness, bringing deepened innovation-centered structural reform not only to the Greater Bay Area but also the country as a whole.

Third, we want to ensure that the major programs run well. Based on the scientific and technological innovative corridor comprising Guangzhou, Shenzhen, HK and Macao, we plan to make good use of central governmental, regional and social resources, spending them on a number of infrastructure developments for major scientific and technological projects, interdisciplinary research platforms and frontier high-tech innovation centers. We want to bring about a batch of high-quality innovations, establish a host of highly internationalized sci-tech centers, leading more regional and social investment and attracting top-end higher educational institutes, research and R&D centers to develop in the Greater Bay Area, upgrading the scope and prominence of regional sci-tech centers.

Fourth, we intend to deepen reform and cooperate for expanded innovation. We want to remove the obstacles that affect the easy elemental flow of talents, technologies, funds, facilities, information, data and samples and support deepened cooperation among Guangdong, HK and Macao. The reform at the pilot zone level can be escalated to a higher standard and expanded to more extensive spectrums so that the communication, exchanges and innovative cooperation of the three regions can take on a new shape. We will fully adhere to the internationalization drive, grasping and making full use of global resources, to support the enterprises, standards, technologies and products to go abroad and expand the dimensions of innovation, cooperation and openness.

Lin Shaochun:

As far as I know, scientific and technological innovation in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area is not only a necessity to lead economic development, but also for strengthening areas of weakness. The Greater Bay Area covers an area of 56,000 square kilometers, has a population of more than 70 million, and an aggregate economy now valued at more than US$1.5 trillion.

Compared with other bay areas in the world, such as the San Francisco Bay Area, there are shortcomings in our technological innovation. Key laboratories and scientific and technological institutions in Stanford University, University of California, Berkeley and the University of California are highly developed. The Tokyo Bay Area, where the University of Tokyo is located, is also home to many Nobel Prize winners.

The Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area enjoys special favors from nature, and has a large population, an industrial system complete with all necessary departments, and a very well-developed manufacturing sector. From a strategic perspective, the central government has put science and technology in first place to lead local development, which is, I think, very much to the point.

Guangdong still has a long way to go, and I would like to explain this point in more detail. While implementing central government decisions, the province will promote the establishment and improvement of cross-border scientific research cooperation systems. Guangdong has its own advantages, as do Hong Kong and Macao. Guangdong's advantages include a complete range of scientific research and industrial application systems, which can pool resources to get the big jobs done. The advantages of Hong Kong and Macao's include high-end scientific research forces and high-level internationalization and marketization. So, how can we combine the advantages of all partners?

First, we will establish a cooperative mechanism to bring the various advantages into full play. We will organize and guide all the major enterprises, research institutes and universities in the Greater Bay Area to deepen their basic and applied basic research, and to participate in the key projects launched in Guangdong. According to General Secretary Xi Jinping's instructions to Guangdong, the projects will cover nine aspects – generation of new information technology, equipment manufacturing, biomedicine, a green low carbon approach in development, the digital economy, new materials, the marine economy, engineering technology and seedling industry of modern agriculture.

Second, we will work in close cooperation with Hong Kong and Macao to build a science and technology innovation corridor linking Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Hong Kong and Macao. The project will focus on accelerating the building of the necessary technological infrastructure and frontier subject research platforms. At the same time, we will build the Shenzhen-Hong Kong Science and Technology Innovation Cooperation Zone, the Sino-Singapore Guangzhou Knowledge City, the Nansha-Qingsheng Science and Technology Industrial Park, and Hengqin Traditional Chinese Medicine Industrial Park as the bases to speed up the commercialization of R&D achievements.

Third, we will explore ways to strengthen resource sharing and promote the exchanges of innovative elements. We will no longer impose restrictions on financial research funds in Guangdong. That means financial funds in Guangdong to support scientific research can be used across the border to Hong Kong and Macao. Moreover, scientific research institutions and laboratories in Guangdong will be fully open to Hong Kong and Macao compatriots. If Hong Kong and Macao universities and research institutes need to use the equipment in Guangdong, they can simply apply. For example, Dongguan's spallation neutron source will be fully open to research institutions from Hong Kong and Macao.

In the next step, under the leadership of the CPC Central Committee, we will further strengthen communication with Hong Kong and Macao, and do more research on supportive policies and measures in scientific and technological innovation. Thank you.

Matthew Cheung Kin-chung:

Hong Kong possesses world-class universities, a strong research capacity, a sound judicial system and intellectual property rights protection system. Hong Kong can make use of its international business environment to pool resources from the mainland and other parts of the world. While attracting international innovation enterprises into the Greater Bay Area, we will also help mainland technology start-ups to "go global," in an effort to promote the development of an international innovation and technology hub. This HKSAR government attaches great importance to innovation and technology, and has earmarked HK $100 billion, or 86.1 billion yuan, for this work. Hong Kong is ready to play an important role in building the Greater Bay Area into an international innovation and technology hub. The HKSAR government sincerely thanks the Central Government for supporting Hong Kong's development of innovation and technology. In the instructions made by President Xi Jinping last May, he said that Hong Kong has a strong science and technology foundation and a large group of high-tech talents; and he praised the contributions made by the Hong Kong sci-tech community to the development of the SAR and the country. He also affirmed support for Hong Kong's development as an international innovation and technology hub. In the past year, the Central Government introduced a number of concrete measures to support Hong Kong, including cross-border allocation of national research foundations, and the decision to set up schools and institutions affiliated with the Chinese Academy of Sciences, as well as placing some of its research institutes at the two innovation and technology platforms established in the Hong Kong Science Park.

Looking ahead, we will intensify our efforts to promote the development of an international innovation and technology hub. The following are the specific measures: first, to support the development of the Hong Kong-Shenzhen Innovation and Technology Park in the Lok Ma Chau Loop; second, to establish a base for research and cooperation by attracting first-class Chinese and foreign companies, research institutes and universities; third, to actively advance the establishment of two innovation and technology platforms on "medical technologies" and "AI & robots" in the Hong Kong Science Park. Our efforts to encourage technological innovation focus on four sectors, namely: biotechnology, AI, smart city and FinTech. The HKSAR government will continue to develop the necessary innovation and technology infrastructure, attract talents, facilitate R&D and promote "re-industrialization," and increase support for the scientific community. I would like to emphasize that the past year has seen remarkable improvement in the innovation environment of Hong Kong. Thank you.

Mi Jian:

Earlier I was introducing Macao's role in the construction of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area and I mentioned a "corridor" of international technological innovation linking Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Hong Kong and Macao that is envisioned in the Outline Development Plan for the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area. It makes us proud that Macao is seen as an important link of the corridor.

Macao's situation may not be able to compare to what was described by Mr. Lin and Mr. Zhang. However, the city is home to four State key laboratories and this is something special among the city clusters in the Pearl River Delta, especially in the cities along the western banks of the river. Now, the Macao Special Administrative Region government is seeking to enhance cooperation with other cities in the Greater Bay Area via the four laboratories, and exploring cooperation plans.

The Macao SAR government has placed the project in a very important position. Last year, it established a working committee for the construction of the Greater Bay Area. This year we have created a special task force for technological innovation and smart city development, which will be responsible for a series of technological innovation programs to be carried out in the future.

The development of technological innovation carriers and platforms will be accelerated, including the Traditional Chinese Medicine Science and Technology Industrial Park of Co-operation between Guangdong and Macao, located in the Hengqin New Area of Zhuhai, and the platform for development of TCM science and technology industrial park.

Investment in the higher education sector has been taking up a sizable portion of Macao's entire GDP. In recent years, the SAR government has invested heavily in both higher education and scientific research, and it plans to increase input to help higher education institutions and research facilities to actively participate in the development of the Greater Bay Area.

Macao now plans to strengthen cooperation with the Ministry of Science and Technology and the China Association for Science and Technology. By utilizing the technological strengths of the mainland will enable Macao to fulfill its historic responsibility of constituting the envisioned international technological innovation corridor in the Greater Bay Area.

My answer to the reporter's question is that it is in line with the trend of the times for the Outline Development Plan for the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area to make international scientific and technological innovation a core aspect. We may say that the Outline Development Plan reflects a deep insight of the global trend. Everyone can see from the recent changes of the world that future socioeconomic development cannot do without the development of science and technology. Only through continued efforts in scientific and technological innovation can our country realize fast growth in manufacturing and the real economy and present a stronger image on the global stage.

Thank You.

Radio Television Hong Kong:

I would like to know how you plan to ease the pressure on Hong Kong and Macao in the process of integration while developing the Greater Bay Area, and what measures will be taken to ensure Hong Kong and Macao residents participate in the development of the Greater Bay Area without concerns? Thank you.

Luo Wen:

Thank you for your question. General Secretary Xi stressed the importance of formulating and improving policies and measures to make it more convenient for Hong Kong and Macao residents to pursue career development on the Chinese mainland, and develop "one-hour living circles." This is the very response to the people's expectations and their pressing need. These measures will continue to address people's growing needs for a better life.

There is a special chapter in the development plan regarding development of a quality circle for living, working and traveling in the Greater Bay Area. It calls for active construction of the "one-hour living circle." In this regard, we will adopt three specific measures:

The first is infrastructure construction. We will promote establishment of an infrastructural network with a rational layout, comprehensive functions, smooth connections and efficient operations, so as to achieve an average one-hour commuting between the major cities in the Greater Bay Area.

The second is customs clearance facilitation. We will continuously raise the level of convenience in the use of the Mainland Travel Permit for Hong Kong and Macao residents through the means of digitalization and informatization. We will increase the number of automatic clearance channels for inbound and outbound travelers at major land control points, so as to achieve 24-hour customs clearance at more ports. We will also enhance collaboration between Mainland customs authorities and those of Hong Kong and Macao to further enhance efficiency of cross-border logistics.

The third is about public services. We will enhance the dovetailing of cross-boundary public services and social security, and facilitate reductions and even removal in long-distance and roaming charges for mobile phones in Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao. We will also enable eligible children of Hong Kong and Macao residents to enjoy the same rights as Mainland residents regarding compulsory education and senior secondary education, and improve the linkage mechanism for emergency medical rescue services to provide residents in the Greater Bay Area with timely, efficient and convenient public services.

Mi Jian:

I understand the point of your question from the Macao perspective. First, there is a need to face the increasingly open trend of the times. No city can progress if it closes itself off, and we have to deal with some pressure from this process. In recent years, Hong Kong and Macao have seen the entry of large numbers of tourists. I noticed that Macao was full of people during the Spring Festival, and Hong Kong faced similar pressure; however, as I have often discussed with young people, the reason why Macao is where it is today is that it is an open and international city. The same applies to Hong Kong. Therefore, we must mentally prepare ourselves for the pressure brought by the flow of people with development of the Greater Bay Area. However, that does not mean we will do nothing about it and let it continue unchecked. This must be avoided, and requires the wisdom of government departments. It is also necessary for the three places to cooperate. However, all in all, it is a trend that we must face. Thank you.

Xi Yanchun:

The development plan aims to enable the people of the three regions to live a better life. It will also take into account the needs of the three places in various aspects.

TDM:

The outline plan mentioned that Macao is required to work together with adjacent cities on disaster prevention. My question is how that work, which involves Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao, is going so far. Thanks.

Lin Shaochun:

Thank you for the question. In the Greater Bay Area, Guangdong and Macao share close cooperation in this regard. I believe you must be aware of the typhoon in 2017, which led to two days of blackouts and seawater encroachment in the area. The challenge is how to prevent natural disasters. We have made efforts as follows. First, we have built a meteorological information sharing system to forecast inclement weather. The three places have joined this system, which can accurately forecast weather disasters and related information.

Second, we have formed a mechanism that requires us inform each other of pertinent and timely information before disasters occur. That is to say, Guangdong must keep related departments in Hong Kong and Macao advised of relevant information, and vice versa. By this process, the three locations need to collaborate with each other to resolve disaster prevention problems together. We discuss the issues together.

Third, more specifically, we have installed a two-circuit electrical supply in Macao, improving the reliability of Macao's electricity through underground cable. Additionally, you may be interested in the tide gates. Fernando Chui, chief executive of Macao, cares profoundly about this issue, and he came to Ma Xingrui, Guangdong's provincial governor, to talk about it. Guangdong supports Macao initiating the work. After the project is approved, the two sides will assess its ecological and environmental influences and conduct accurate monitoring and measuring of astronomic tide data, in a bid to roll out an effective prevention and control method. We are building these mechanisms and will continuously improve relevant facilities, working together to effectively prevent and control natural disasters. Thank you.

Mi Jian:

Let me supplement by talking about some of the work done by Macao. Your question relates to Typhoon Hato on Aug. 23, 2017, which caused the loss of life and property in Macao. The disaster shook the special administrative region, and offered a profound lesson to the SAR government. Consequently, within three months, the design of the tide gate was approved. Chui, the chief executive of Macao, has been involved in the entire process, collaborating with Ma Xingrui and Lin Shaochun, Guangdong's provincial governor and vice-governor. The project is supported by the Ministry of Water Resources, and has demonstrated high efficiency in regional cooperation.

As for now, the draft of our 10-year disaster prevention and reduction plan has undergone six revisions. A critical component is the tide gate, which has come to the phase of technological verification. Although the tide gate's basic plan is workable, it still requires comprehensive analysis of astronomical and meteorological data, as well as tides and water supply, to determine whether it can be built and managed effectively. It is a very complex project. But you can send a message to Macao citizens that they can rest assured that the Macao SAR government is treating this with the utmost importance, and will not allow Macao to experience another situation like Typhoon Hato of Aug. 23.

China Business Network:

My question is related to the capital markets. There are two major stock exchanges in the Greater Bay Area in Hong Kong and Shenzhen. I would like to know, in the process of the construction of the Greater Bay Area, how can the two exchanges contribute to its development. Another concern is the future reform of the growth enterprise market of the Shenzhen Exchange, as we know both Shanghai and Hong Kong have made some institutional breakthroughs in supporting technology innovation enterprises to be listed. What will be the key point of Shenzhen Exchange's reform in the future? Thanks.

Lin Shaochun:

Thank you for the question. As you said, finance is very important in the construction of the Greater Bay Area, and the financial industry is of great significance to the economic development of Guangdong, whose gross domestic product reached 9.72 trillion yuan last year, with more than eight percent contributed by the financial industry's added value. I think we should make efforts in the following aspects to promote the development of financial industry while constructing the Greater Bay Area.

First, the finance must be stable and free of problems. If there is something wrong with finance, the influence upon the whole economy is unacceptably great. So, we must abide by the State's relevant financial policies to boost the development of financial industry in the Greater Bay Area. Second, you mentioned that Shanghai has transformed its approval system to a registration system regarding technology and innovation-based enterprises' application for stock market listing. We are also seeking support from the central department for this. Currently, we are following the central government's requirement and improving the relevant conditions. Third, we follow the central government's requirements to strengthen supervision in preventing financial risk. Among the three difficult battles involved, the first is to prevent and control financial risk. In future, we must ensure the financial industry serves economic development, and healthy development of the financial sector. Thanks.

Economic Daily:

Accelerating the connection of infrastructure facilities is an important support element for construction of the Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao Greater Bay Area. But apart from the hardware connections, society also expects more convenient management measures to facilitate the exchanges of people and transport vehicles, so as to promote the flow of production factors. My question is: what consideration, if any, is being given in this regard.

Luo Wen:

Thank you for the question. The efficient flow of production factors is not only a foundation for market integration and Greater Bay Area construction, but also an issue society cares about and that should be solved. General Secretary Xi Jinping has pointed out that we should strengthen the "soft connection" of mechanisms and "hard connection" of infrastructural facilities. We must implement his important guiding spirit to promote the efficient flow of production factors. Specifically speaking, we need to do two jobs well.

First is the "hard connection" of infrastructural facility construction. We should plan it as a whole and expedite planning of construction of inter-city railways and connection of the infrastructural facility construction in the Greater Bay Area, among which the connection of the Mainland with Hong Kong and Macao, and the connection between the east and west banks of the Pearl River are key jobs. We should further improve the network of major railways in the Greater Bay Area, and construct an express inter-city transportation network consisting of high-speed railway, inter-city railways and high-speed roads. We need to improve the Pearl River Delta port cluster's international competitiveness, and accelerate the construction of a world-class airport cluster.

Second is the "soft connection" of institutions and mechanisms. The work should be led by the construction of an international science and technology innovation center, a focus on science and technology innovation, personnel exchanges and some other key areas, and promoting the rollout of systematic pro-innovation policies to facilitate the flow of science and technology talent and research cooperation.

We should strengthen collaboration among the customs departments and ports in Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao, to expand and improve their functions, and facilitate customs clearance in the three places according to law, so as to make it more convenient for personnel exchanges between the Mainland and Hong Kong and Macao. We are working to optimize policies allowing Hong Kong and Macao single-plate registered automobiles to enter the Mainland, and exploring the possibility of letting Hong Kong and Macao residents living and working in Guangdong, to enjoy the same welfare level in education, medical care, pension, housing and transportation as their Mainland counterparts. Thanks.

Xi Yanchun:

I'd like to thank our four speakers for attending this news conference. Thank you all. That's the end of today's event.

.

Read in Chinese

Speakers:

Li Xiaopeng, minister of transport

Liu Xiaoming, vice minister of transport

Chairperson:

Hu Kaihong, spokesperson for the State Council Information Office of China

Date:

Feb. 28, 2019

   

Hu Kaihong:

Ladies and gentlemen, good morning. Welcome to this press conference. The development of transport has received a lot of attention in our society, and has improved people's sense of fulfillment and happiness. To help you better understand the issues concerning transport development, today we are delighted to welcome Mr. Li Xiaopeng, the minister of transport, to explain the planning and progress of supply-side structural reform and the development of high-quality transport. He will also answer your questions. We also have with us Mr. Liu Xiaoming, the vice minister of transport. At this time, I'll give the floor to Mr. Li.

Li Xiaopeng:

Thank you, Mr. Hu. Ladies and gentlemen, members of news outlets, good morning to you all. I am very happy to be here today. Mr. Liu Xiaoming and several of my colleagues will join with me today to introduce the development of China's transportation and answer any of your questions.

In 2018, China's transportation industry was proactively implementing the decisions and deployment made by the CPC Central Committee and the State Council, from the perspective of serving the public, overall situation, and the grassroots community. It should be said that we have made significant progress.

First, the infrastructure has been improved. Last year, the fixed-asset investment in transportation amounted to about 3.2 trillion yuan, of which 800 billion yuan was in railways, 2.3 trillion yuan in roads and water transportations, and 80 billion yuan in civil aviation. More than 2,600 kilometers of high-speed railways and 5,000 kilometers of newly-built highways have been put into operation. Second, logistics costs are further reduced. We have taken a series of measures to reduce logistics costs by 98.1 billion yuan in 2018. Third, the transportation structure has been adjusted. The focus has been shifted from large-scale, long-distance cargo to rail transport. The volume of rail transport increased by about 350 million tons last year. Fourth, both the capacity and service of the transportation systems have been improved. Last year, the number of passengers nationwide reached 17.9 billion, the volume of cargo reached 50.6 billion tons, and the volume of express delivery reached 50.7 billion. Fifth, the business environment has been improved. Last year, a total of five administrative examination and approval items were canceled, and another 20 administrative approval items were made possible to be reported online. Sixth, there has been an increase in the modes of transport that are on offer. Ride-hailing services and shared bicycles have been standardized, with an average of 20 million people using ride-hailing services and about 10 million people using shared bicycles on a daily basis.

Li Xiaopeng:

In 2019, we will focus our work on promoting the high-quality development of transport and the supply-side structural reform of the transport industry. We will implement the eight-character policy of "consolidation, improvement, enhancement and facilitation". We will consolidate the achievements in improving weak links and lowering costs, and we will also expand the achievements. We will improve the operating environment and services, enhance the innovative growth and the momentum of growth, and facilitate national economic development through further raising efficiency and integration. We will lay stress on six principle points in this year's work – improving efficiency, lowering costs, ensuring safety, deepening reform; expanding openness; and promoting innovation.

We will follow the guidance of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, implement the decisions made by the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC), the second plenary session of the 19th CPC Central Committee and the third plenary session of the 19th CPC Central Committee. We will follow the Party's line, principles and policies and ensure the decisions and plans of the Party and the State Council are fully implemented.

We need to seize opportunities, make progress while maintaining stability, and remove obstacles so that we can forge ahead. We will work hard in close collaboration to meet the increasing demands of the people for better lives and for better transportation facilities. We are doing our best to make our transport system more convenient and smoother. We are looking forward to celebrating the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China with our outstanding achievements.

Thanks for listening to my briefing. Now, Mr. Liu Xiaoming and I would like to take your questions. Thank you.

Hu Kaihong:

Thank you Mr. Li. Now, the floor is open to questions. Please identify your media organizations before asking questions.

CCTV:

I would like to ask Minister Li, as this year is also the fifth anniversary of General Secretary Xi Jinping's important directives known as the "Sihao Rural Roads" ["Four Good Principles on Rural Roads"]. As an important emerging force for rural revitalization, what kind of welfare does the transportation industry bring to the people in rural areas?

Li Xiaopeng:

Thank you for your question. The "Sihao" of "Sihao Rural Roads" refers to four elements essential to rural roads: good construction, good management, good maintenance and good operation. This "Sihao," also known as "four good principles," was summarized and proposed by General Secretary Xi Jinping himself, in order to lead a project that will win people over, benefit their livelihood, and be generously administered. The first time the general secretary gave instructions on the "Sihao Rural Roads" was in March 2014. It has been five years since that, and in that five years, the Ministry of Transport has implemented the important instructions of the general secretary, and worked with related departments and provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities to promote the construction of the "Sihao Rural Roads" according to the "four good principles."

To review the achievements of the past five years, we can say three sentences to conclude: First, the scale of the rural road networks has expanded; second, a structure for joint construction and joint administration has been formed; third, the service level has been steadily improved. In terms of the scale of road networks, in the past five years we have built and renovated 1.392 million kilometers of rural roads. By the end of last year, the total mileage of rural roads reached 4.05 million kilometers, and 99.64 percent of towns have hard-surfaced road access, while 99.47 percent of the administrative villages have hard-surfaced roads installed. In terms of the administration structure, 31 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities have attached great importance to the implementation of the "Sihao Rural Roads," issuing instructions on how to construct and implement them, or incorporating this work into the government assessment system. The pattern of joint construction and joint administration has taken initial shape. In terms of transportation services, when the roads open, the traffic should also be there. By the end of last year, 99.1 percent of the townships and 96.5 percent of the administrative villages had buses services. Once they have buses, farmers can step onto the paved roads and hardened roads, and board the buses. They can get around more conveniently. 

Of course, even as we celebrate the achievements, we must also be aware of the problems and weaknesses. The first is that the demands for construction are still huge. Everyone may ask, you just said that more than 99 percent of the towns and villages have paved the hardened road, so then how can you still need a large scale of construction? But our country is too big, even 0.1 percentage points represents a big number, and there are still many rural areas that have no hard-surfaced roads. Second, the issue of maintenance is still outstanding. After a road is built, how to maintain it, how to manage it? Although there is a preliminary institutional mechanism, it is still not perfect. Third, there have been some phenomena, such as asphalt roads turning back into sand, or "good roads going bad" due to lack of maintenance, because the standards of early construction are not high; or due to other problems, the roads that once were smooth now became less clear. Fourth, the laws and regulations as well as systems and standards are still not perfect. Finally, the accountability system is not yet fully established. All these issues must be given full attention and resolved in seriousness.

We'll better implementation of rural road construction in the next stage according to the "four good principles." There are generally three points related to our efforts. First, we need to increase involvement, accelerate construction and overcome obstacles. Second, we need to improve our planning and our polices, laws, regulations and standards. We are drafting "Opinions on how to Press Ahead with Quality Development of Rural Roads by the Four Good Principles." 

Regarding legal aspects, we have drafted "Rural Road Regulations" after soliciting public opinions, based on which we are rectifying the legal items. We'll do our best to carry this out as soon as the legislative procedure allows. 

Third, we need to strengthen our implementation. As with any task, we need to implement construction of rural roads soundly, specifying in detail the measures and approaches in different locations and regions, with regard to grass-roots communities in particular. There are designated personnel to take charge of each road and they ought to be motivated to ensure the smooth operation of roads in line with the "four good principles." We expect their experiences to be shared. We'll also move forward with the selection of model counties that excel in the construction and operation of rural roads according to the "four good principles" in all ways, making them locomotives to lead the rest of the regions in their construction of rural roads.

All in all, the construction of rural roads is important to help farmers rise out of poverty and enable them to lead decent lives. It also serves as a key strategy to fulfill rural rejuvenation and has a major impact on agricultural and rural modernization. The Ministry of Transport will, therefore, work hard on the instructions of President Xi Jinping, with all involved departments and regions making a concerted effort to push this construction forward. Thank you.

Xinhua News Agency:

A dozen cities, including Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen, have rolled out some policies concerning the road test for automatic driving, Has the Ministry of Transport granted any policy support this development?

Li Xiaopeng:

Thank you for your question.

Since automatic driving is a cutting-edge technology in the area of transportation, we pay close attention to research and development into self-driving technologies. In last April, the Ministry of Transportation, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and the Ministry of Public Security jointly issued a pilot regulation for the road testing of intelligent connected vehicles, marking the first time a national guideline on road testing for self-driving vehicles has been issued. Last July, the Ministry of Transportation issued provisional measures for the construction of closed test sites for automatic driving, which will serve as a guide for the construction of closed test sites across the country. At present, we have authorized three such units, one each in Beijing, Chongqing and Xi'an.

All of these moves demonstrate our emphasis on the technology, especially in regard to its application. The development of automatic driving is of great significance for ensuring safety, enhancing efficiency, improving services and promoting industry growth. Our principle is to encourage exploration, tolerate failures, ensure security and oppose monopoly. Next, we will undertake the following work.

First, we should strengthen inter-ministerial coordination, and establish a cross-departmental coordinative working mechanism with relevant ministries, to develop a guidance system for the development of autonomous driving. Secondly, we should strengthen R&D and test verification of key technologies and equipment to achieve synergy between automatic driving and road improvements, and promote the formulation and revision of the relevant standards. Third, we should speed up research, formulation and promulgation of relevant laws and regulations in the field of automatic driving. Fourth, the pilot projects of application and commercialization should be carried out in a steady and prudent way. We have already established pilot projects in some localities. For instance, we have selected some areas in Zhejiang province, Xiamen and Xiongan New District as pilot demonstration areas. Fifth, we should strengthen international cooperation on self-driving technologies with other countries.

Self-driving is a new and vibrant technology. It requires time to put the technology into full use. We need to work together to make it safe and promote its application as well as related services. 

Legal Evening News:

A multi-department group including supervisors from the Ministry of Transport began their in-house safety inspection at China's ride-hailing firms last September. What progress has been made in ensuring these platforms' compliance with regulations? What measures will be introduced to tighten supervision over them? Thank you.

Li Xiaopeng:

Thank you. Mr. Liu will answer your question.

Liu Xiaoming:

Thank you for your question. As you know, transport is at the forefront of the internet economy, and the development of mobile internet has led to a marked rise in new forms of transport business. As one of the new forms, ride-hailing is an innovative transport service offering better travel experience, and also a more convenient way of commuting. However, this new business also faces many problems, including excessive growth, unhealthy competition and safety loopholes. 

In recent years, a series of regulatory measures have been introduced at the national level, gradually putting ride-hailing services on track toward orderly development. Of course, intensified efforts are still needed to make further progress.

To address the safety concerns of ride-hailing and car-pooling services, on Sept. 5, 2018, an in-house joint inspection, by the relevant departments of the inter-ministerial joint conference on coordinated oversight on new forms of transport, as well as the Department of Emergency Management, launched an investigation to detect safety loopholes and problems involving eight major entities in the industry, including Didi Chuxing, Shouqi Yueche, Shenzhou Zhuanche, Caocao Zhuanche, Yidao Yongche, Meituan Chuxing, Dida Chuxing and AutoNavi. The inspection groups pointed out various problems they identified in regard to safety and the services being offered, and gave each of those involved relevant rectification requirements. To date, all of the eight entities platforms have produced their respective rectification plans and published them on the website to solicit for public opinions. The rectification work is now underway.

The General Office of State Council issued a guideline in July 2016 to actively and steadily promote the reform of the taxi industry. Seven ministries, including the Ministry of Transport, also released a joint order to strengthen the management of online taxi booking services. A series of support measures were drafted to guide local governments to extend reform of the taxi industry, improve the management of online ride booking services, reinforce joint supervision, and particularly to speed up compliance from online taxi booking companies.

The online taxi booking industry has now stepped onto the path of standardized development. About 247 cities across the country have taken specific measures to regulate online ride hailing services. Internet enterprises, regular taxi companies, car rental companies and vehicle manufacturers will all participate in the taxi industry actively and lawfully, making people's transport options more diversified and convenient. So far, over 110 online taxi booking platforms have obtained management permits; about 680,000 drivers and 450,000 vehicles have been given certificates to provide online ride booking services. Despite the smooth progress, we also acknowledge that there are various problems and contradictions interwoven, and that deepening the reform of the taxi industry is a highly complicated and systemic task. The Ministry of Transport will urge local authorities to fulfill their responsibilities and implement related policies. We will do more research and evaluate the implementation of policies in due time. We will also gradually establish a more diversified system to promote the taxi industry's sound and sustainable development to better facilitate transportation.

Yicai.com:

Another question about the ride-hailing industry. Many of the involved companies felt a burden amid the downward economic pressure since last year. Recently, Didi Chuxing said it would be cutting jobs. Moreover, drivers and suppliers have complained about overdue payments from Yidao Yongche around the Spring Festival. What will the ministry do to deal with such problems?

Liu Xiaoming:

Thank you. I think the general public are also extremely concerned about these questions. Transport, both the traditional and new forms, are involved in the transportation of tangible goods and providing service. Despite the development of the ride-hailing industry and other new business forms, the nature of transport won't change. Commercial capital investment and the internet may help some new business forms grow rapidly at first, when enterprises seek growth through single-minded pursuit of traffic flow and added value. As a result, they fail to establish a successful business mode featuring both profit pursuit and sustainable growth. Seeking unchecked growth also creates management loopholes such as high safety risks, lack of strict verification for drivers and vehicles, and information security vulnerabilities, all of them of great public concern. The Ministry of Transport has been promoting the development of new business forms based on the principle of putting passengers first, encouraging innovation, never crossing a certain line, seeking benefit and avoiding harm, seeking orderly development, and conducting regulation in a tolerant and prudent way.

It seems the unhealthy growth of new business forms isn't going to last for long. Through a comprehensive in-house inspection launched by the ministry last year, some ride-hailing platforms came to recognize that passenger safety is their main responsibility, obligation, and the only foundation for further development. All the platforms calmed down and considered whether they could upgrade their systems and overcome their shortcomings, striving to find a development mode more sustainable and acceptable to the public. We heard the news that Didi would cut jobs after the Spring Festival; meanwhile, the company announced it would hire employees possibly more than it would cut to further enhance security systems and improve services. There are some other enterprises facing financial difficulty due to a money-burning subsidy strategy generated by the single-minded pursuit of traffic flow. We pay close attention to the development of the industry, urging the platforms to protect the legitimate interests of both the passengers and drivers, so as to promote rectification and healthy development of enterprises. We will keep track of the development of ride-hailing platforms in the future, in order to defend the rights and interests of both passengers and drivers. Thank you.

Li Xiaopeng:

Just now, two journalists asked questions about online car-hailing, and there may be others interested in issues related to new forms of transportation. We all know  that transportation is a traditional industry; yet, combined with computers, cloud computing, big data and the internet, new types of business will emerge, such as online car-hailing and bike sharing. Vice Minister Liu Xiaoming has alreadyoffered his perspective on this topic, I completely agree with that, and now I'd like to give my comments.

Firstly, integrating with new technology allows a traditional industry like transportation to create new types of business. Thanks to more convenient service, these new forms have become popular. Our attitudes towards them are active support, better assistance and fully cooperation. 

Secondly, like all new things, such businesses are less than perfect and probably bring with them new problems, requiring new ideas in management and supervision. In regard to these new problems and requirements, our attitude can be summed up as inclusive encouragement, prudent management, and regulated development.

Thirdly, both the traditional industry and new types of business are directly serving the people, and are closely connected to people's life and the safety of their property. Transportation concerns everyone's health, property and life. Therefore, all practitioners, no matter whether in the traditional industry or new types of business, have to give top priority to the related safety aspects. Safety is the unchallenged bottom line, so the focus of our supervision of these new types of business is also safety.

Fourthly, new forms of transportation havesignificance in regard to economic development, employment opportunities and sci-tech innovation. In order to provide the best possible management and services for better development and application, governments, enterprises and all walks of life should make joint efforts. Thank you.

Guangming Daily:

What are the achievements we have made in shaping the comprehensive transport system for reinforcing the integration of Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei province and facilitating the construction of Xiong'an New Area?

Li Xiaopeng:

Thank you. The question concerns the integration of Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei province and the construction of Xiong'an New Area. The coordinated development and integration of Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei province is a major strategic deployment of the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at the core. At the same time, the historic construction of Xiong'an New Area stems from President Xi's initiative, decision and promotion. Last year, the ministry worked in the following aspects, focusing on the two undertakings.

First, we have reinforced top design aspects. We have issued numerous plans and measures to enhance this, such as, "The Implementation Opinions on the Construction of Comprehensive Transport System in Hebei Xiong'an New Area with the Support of the Ministry of Transport (2018-2020)" and the "Three-year Action Plan for the Integration of the Transport System Involving Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei Province and the Comprehensive Transport System of Xiong'an New Area (2018-2020)."

Second, we have facilitated the construction of arterial roads connecting Xiong'an New Area and surrounding areas, started construction of the Beijing-Xiong'an Intercity Railway and accelerated work on a number of construction projects exemplified by the Tianjin-Shijiazhuang [capital of Hebei province] Superhighway.

Third, we have pressed ahead with coordinated development for the integration of Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei province, completing a beltway connecting Tongzhou and Daxing district, around the southeast to southern areas of Beijing. The construction of Beijing Daxing International Airport is now nearing completion and projects linked to the Winter Olympics, such as, the Beijing-Zhangjiakou high-speed railway and Yanqing-Chongli Superhighway are progressing smoothly. 

Besides, we have restructured the transport system to further promote integration.

In 2019, we'll improve our work in the following aspects: First, we'll continue to accelerate the construction of the major traffic system comprising the Beijing-Xiong'an Intercity Railway, the Tianjin-Shijiazhuang Superhighway and the Beijing-Xiong'an and Xiong'an-Shangqiu sections of the Beijing-Hongkong-Taiwan High Speed Railway. Second, we will accelerate work on the Beijing section of the Beijing-Shenyang [capital of Liaoning province] High Speed Railway, Datong-Zhangjiakou High Speed Railway and the Zunhua-Qinhuangdao [Hebei province] of the Beijing-Qinhuangdao Superhighway. We will also accelerate the construction of green ports, in Tianjin and Hebei province, as well as coordinated development of various airports in the region. Third, we will speed up transport system restructuring, directing long-distance and bulky commodities transportation to choose railways or waterways to alleviate the pressure on the roads. 

Fourth, we will speed up Winter Olympics-related construction. Fifth, we will endeavor to provide a good transport service to ensure this year's Beijing World Horticultural Exposition is run successfully. Thanks.

CRI:

We notice that converting the expressway manned  toll booths for mobile payment is on the ministry's 12 things-to-do list in 2019. How is the work progressing now? And what has still to be done? Thank you. 

Li Xiaopeng: 

Thank you for your question. Mobile payment is very convenient and popular. So far, among the 29 provinces forming the country's expressway toll network, 14 have introduced mobile payments at the toll booths, and the other 15 are speeding up their efforts to meet this goal. All the work is expected to be completed by the end of 2019, with mobile payment covering all the manned toll lanes.

However, we still suggest people use the electronic toll collection (ETC) system which is more convenient and environmentally friendly. 

Thank you.

Phoenix TV:

This is a question on the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area. The area is an important strategic deployment of the country. As the Greater Bay Area aims to integrate its transport systems, what infrastructural development plans does the Ministry of Transport have for the Greater Bay Area?

Li Xiaopeng:

Thanks for the question on the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area. It is fair to say that transport infrastructural facilities are of great importance for the development of the Greater Bay Area. As of now, the Greater Bay Area has relatively good transport infrastructure facilities; in the future, it needs to be further improved and developed. On Feb. 28, the CPC Central Committee and the State Council published the Outline Development Plan for the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area. According to the central authority's deployment, the Ministry of Transport is working on the Guideline Opinions on the Greater Bay Area Transport Development. It lays out some key tasks, which may be of interest to you. 

There are seven aspects. The first aspect is to promote comprehensive foreign-bound transportation aisle construction. The second aspect is to construct rapid transportation networks in the Greater Bay Area. The third aspect is to improve the international competitiveness of the port cluster in the Pearl River Delta. There are many ports in the Pearl River Delta, and the ports' development level is comparatively high. The next step is to improve its international competitiveness. The fourth aspect is to build a world-class airport cluster. There are many airports in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area. The next task is to coordinate these airports to help them play more significant roles by improving the efficiency and raising their service levels. The fifth aspect is to enhance the service for both travelers and cargo. After the roads are built, ports are upgraded, and airports are developed, the service level for transport of goods and travelers should be further improved. The sixth aspect is to improve the ability of transport science and technology innovation. The seventh is to build a green ecological transport system. We need to ensure the safety, convenience, and efficiency of the transport of travelers and goods. Moreover, the transport infrastructural facilities and the transport itself should be energy-saving and environmentally friendly.

Next, we will act in accordance with the CPC Central Committee and the State Council's decision and deployment to implement the development plan. We will give full support for the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area to accelerate the construction of a modern comprehensive transport system with global competitiveness and influence, and promote the development of the Greater Bay Area. Thank you.

Hu Kaihong:

We will hold a press conference on the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area this afternoon. You are welcome to attend the meeting and raise questions on this topic.

China Daily:

Good morning, Mr. Li. Just now, you spoke of new forms of transport. Here I would like to ask one more question about bike sharing. We all know that the bike sharing company Ofo has stalled on its deposit refunds in the last several months. Currently, there are still more than 10 million online applications for deposit refunds. So, how will the Ministry of Transport respond to the recent problems of the developing bike sharing industry, M. Li?

Li Xiaopeng:

Thank you. Mr. Liu will take your question.

Liu Xiaoming:

Thank you for your question. Bike sharing is a new form of transport, combining the mobile internet and bike rental, which has enjoyed a very rapid development in recent years. It has provided a new convenient choice for people to travel short-distances, playing a very important role in building a green urban travel system.

However, like any other new business form, there are various problems with the developing bike sharing industry: some enterprises have failed to fulfill their due responsibilities, some are involved in vicious competition, shared bikes are messily parked everywhere, and users' rights and interests have not been fully guaranteed.

In August 2017, ten departments jointly issued guidelines on encouraging and regulating online bicycle rental, in which they clearly stated the requirements for user deposit management. However, the guidelines fail to be well implemented in some bike-sharing enterprises. As a result, deposit security and stability risk has become quite a prominent issue. In some cases, enterprises embezzled deposits and could not refund deposits to users. This has aroused widespread concern from the society and also caused many adverse effects.

We have attached great importance to the issue and have taken the following corresponding measures.

First, we have worked with the member units of the inter-ministerial joint conference on coordinated oversight regarding new forms of transport to conduct careful analysis and judgment.

Second, we have guided local transportation departments to make appropriate plans to deal with the problem in accordance with law and fulfill their due responsibilities under the leadership of local government.

Third, we have urged related bike-sharing platforms and enterprises to provide easy and quick access for users to get back their deposits, so as to protect the legitimate rights and interests of users.

Fourth, we are working to strengthen the management of deposits and establish a long-term management system. The Ministry of Transport, the People's Bank of China and other related departments are working together to make relevant measures for the management of user's funds in new forms of transport, including their deposits.

The relevant requirements set out in the instructions from the 10 departments in 2017 are very clear. The first is to encourage enterprises to waive deposits and provide services through credit. The second is to provide services in the form of rent-and-deposit and rent-and-refund. The third is to provide service by means of a deposit with the consent of the user. However, the instructions are also clear that to collect user deposits, the operating company must assume the main responsibility and be strict in the use and management of the deposits. If a user applies for a refund of the deposit, the enterprise must return it in a timely and unconditional manner.

Next, we and the People's Bank of China and related departments need to accelerate the promulgation of measures of deposit management. At the same time, we must work with departments to strengthen the management of deposits, to ensure that deposits go into specific funds, are earmarked for particular use, and cannot be misappropriated. Everyone knows very well that the new modes of transportation are crossover services and crossover operations. The corresponding supervision work requires multi-sector cooperation. With the approval of the State Council, there is now a joint meeting mechanism for the coordination of new modes of transportation. The mechanism will create better conditions for the development of our new modes, and at the same time, we can better strengthen supervision, provide better travel services for the people, and safeguard their interests. Thank you.

Li Xiaopeng:

I think Vice Minister Liu Xiaoming responded in a very clear way to your question. However, I still feel it's worth adding a few more words on this subject. First, bicycle-sharing emerged as a new transportation form offering convenience for people. We encourage and support the operation. Second, the developing bicycle sharing industry is facing a host of problems which have drawn our great concern, such as, parking issues and the guarantee deposit system. We hope it can be addressed with the joint efforts of the different parties. Enterprises, society and governments should make concerted efforts to create a good environment and address emergent problems, ensuring the shared bicycle network can better serve the people. Third, regarding the guarantee deposit aspect, Mr. Liu has made clear we intend to make sure people can enjoy it freely. If the companies insist on some advance payment , they should work out standardized management according to relevant laws. They should strictly follow every regulation stipulating the ways of renting, charging and refunding, adopting specialized and standardized management approaches. Customers are entitled to retrieve the deposit quickly as required. We will enhance our supervision and push relevant regional administrations to address the needs of bicycle sharing in an appropriate way. Those are a few of extra points that I would like to share with you. Thank you.

China News Service:

How does the building of Beijing Daxing International Airport go? When will it come into service? What are the respective tasks for Beijing's two international airports? What are their specific positions? Thank you.

Li Xiaopeng:

Thanks for your question. Building Beijing Daxing International Airport on the border of Beijing's Daxing district and Hebei province's Langfang city is an important national project. It is of great significance for Beijing to optimize its functions and industries. It is also very important for Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei transport integration and the building of the Xiongan New Area.

Started at the end of 2014, construction work has basically finished. Four runways have been connected; the terminal is being equipped and decorated; roof sealing of the five function areas in the bases of China Eastern Airlines and China Southern Airlines has been completed. The western control tower has been capped; air control facilities are being deployed, and the aviation fuel pipeline will soon be connected. Thus, the building of the airport has entered the home stretch. 

The airport conducted its first test flight on Jan. 22 and completed all flight checks on Feb. 24, 19 days earlier than expected. We are shifting our focus from construction to preparing for its opening. We aim to finish all the construction work by June 30 and put it into operation by Sept. 30. Related departments are exerting every effort to achieve this schedule. 

Your question pertains to the functions and positions of the two airports. Some time ago, the Civil Aviation Administration of China issued a document defining the positions of the two airports. 

Beijing Daxing International Airport is positioned as a large international aviation and transportation hub in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region to bolster the construction of the Xiongan New Area and serve as the new engine of national development. Largely relying on the bases of China Eastern Airlines and China Southern Airlines, the new airport will build a well-functioning airline network. The airport will be able to handle 45 million passengers by 2021 and 72 million passengers by 2025.

Beijing Capital International Airport is also positioned as a large international aviation hub, and as a complex hub in the Asia-Pacific region, supporting the core functions of the capital. Serving as the base for Air China, Beijing Capital International Airport will restructure its flight routes, strengthen its transit capacity and increase its international competitiveness. The airport has set out goals for 2020 and 2025 to boost its capacity and services. 

The two airports will coordinate and compete with each other to move toward the goal of building themselves into "double hubs" and help form a world-class airport cluster in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region. Thank you.

Hu Kaihong:

Given our tight schedule, we will now take the final question.

Workers' Daily:

My question is, what has the transportation industry done to support the Yangtze River Economic Belt strategy, and what is the work plan for the next stage? Thanks.

Liu Xiaoming:

Let me take the question from Workers' Daily. The Ministry of Transport carefully studied and implemented the spirit of the important speech of General Secretary Xi Jinping of the Communist Party of China Central Committee last year, and we highlighted key tasks and made significant achievements related to the Yangtze River Economic Belt comprehensive transportation corridor construction. First, the development of green transport was deepened, and the emissions control zone was expanded to include key coastal waters and the main line of the Yangtze River. A total of 1,361 illegal ports along the Yangtze River were renovated, while 556 cases of illegal sand excavation were cracked.

Second, the functions of the golden waterway have been further improved. The 12.5-meter deep channel of the Yangtze River downstream from Nanjing, Jiangsu province, was finished half a year in advance, and was put into trial operation. The northeast channel and the second stage of the Anqing project, along with other key projects, were completed. Meanwhile, several projects were begun, including the 6-meter deep channel from Wuhan to Anqing, the first stage of Yangtze River southern delta flume channel renovation, the Yangtze River-Huaihe River water transfer shipping project, and the Hangzhou section of the Beijing-Hangzhou Canal. The channel network is gradually taking shape, with increasingly more branch channels being linked to the main channels.

Third, comprehensive transportation infrastructure recorded remarkable achievements. The Hangzhou-Ruili high-speed road was opened to traffic. A total of 13,700 kilometers of rural roads in the middle and upper regions of the Yangtze River were built or renovated. About 2,500 more villages were connected by roads. The construction of the Chengdu-Chongqing-Shanghai high-speed railway along the Yangtze River has been planned, and preliminary work has started simultaneously in different sections. Airport projects in Yueyang, Hunan province, and Bazhou, Sichuan province, were finished and opened for use.

Fourth, the organization of transportation is continually being optimized. The first 20,000-ton Yangtze River-sea bulk cargo ship, a 1,140-container river-sea ship and a 124-container river-sea ship were all put into service.

The ministry will continue to extend ecological preservation through intensive and economical utilization of shoreline resources, as well as standardization of ship type and promotion of clean energy, all under the concept of "joint protection, no excessive development." The ministry will actively deploy the Central Economic Work Conference and carry out its work plan regarding the construction of a comprehensive transportation system in the Yangtze River Economic Belt. According to the requirements of integrated design, works will highlight the respective advantages of railway, road and water transport, in order to form an efficient, intensive and green comprehensive transportation system.

The three key jobs now are as follows: First, we will continue to improve the Yangtze River golden waterway's functionality, and carry out a series of large-scale projects such as the 6-meter deep channel from Wuhan to Anqing, and advance work related to new channels of the Three Gorges hub. Second, we will advance the planning and construction of a high-speed railway along the Yangtze River, optimize and improve the regional road network, and advance the construction of a world-class airport cluster in the Yangtze River Delta. Finally, we will continuously optimize the management of transportation, strive to develop river-sea, main line-branch line and multimodal transportation, and carry out other related projects. Thank you.

Li Xiaopeng:

The Ministry of Transport has faithfully implemented the instructions given by General Secretary Xi on developing the Yangtze River Economic Belt and has carried out a series of projects in 2018, including golden watercourse construction, works on energy conservation, environmental protection, and ecological improvement, as well as adjustment of the transportation structure. And those works have seen some effective outcomes. In the next stage, we will, in line with the decisions and plans of the Party Central Committee and the State Council, focus on building an integrated, multidimensional transportation corridor, step up on advancing the golden watercourse, promote energy conservation and environmental protection, and boost efforts to adjust the transport structure, so as to make the Yangtze River an energy-saving and environmentally friendly golden watercourse. Thank you.

Hu Kaihong:

That's all for today's press conference. Thank you, Mr. Li and Mr. Liu. And thanks to everyone here today.

.

Read in Chinese

Speakers:

Han Changfu, deputy head of the Central Rural Work Leading Group, director of the Office of the Central Rural Work Leading Group, and minister of agriculture and rural affairs

Wu Hongyao, a member of the CPC Leading Group of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs and director of the Secretariat of the Office of the Central Rural Work Leading Group

Chairperson:

Hu Kaihong, spokesperson for the State Council Information Office of China

Date:

Feb. 20, 2019

Hu Kaihong:

Ladies and gentlemen, good afternoon. Welcome to this press conference. This year's "No. 1 Central Document" entitled "Several Opinions of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council on Prioritizing the Development of Agriculture and Rural Areas to Address the Issues Relating to Agriculture, Rural Areas and Rural People" was released yesterday. Today, we are delighted to welcome Mr. Han Changfu, deputy head of the Central Rural Work Leading Group, director of the Office of the Central Rural Work Leading Group, and minister of agriculture and rural affairs, to introduce this document and answer your questions. We also have with us Mr. Wu Hongyao, a member of the CPC Leading Group of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs and director of the Secretariat of the Office of the Central Rural Work Leading Group. Now, I'll give the floor to Mr. Han.

Han Changfu:

Ladies and Gentlemen, and friends from the press, good afternoon! Yesterday was the start of the "Rain Water" period, one of the 24 divisions of the solar year in the traditional Chinese calendar. 

This was also the day when Xinhua News Agency released the "No.1 Central Document" of 2019, entitled "Several Opinions of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council on Prioritizing the Development of Agriculture and Rural Areas to Address the Issues Relating to Agriculture, Rural Areas and Rural People." Now, I would like to give you a briefing about it.

The CPC Central Committee with President Xi Jinping at its core has always been highly committed to the work on agriculture, the rural areas and rural people (known in Chinese under the name of "San Nong" work), and given top priority to these aspects in the Party agenda. 

Last September, President Xi delivered an important instruction on advancing the "San Nong" work in 2019 and 2020 and on the drafting of the "No.1 Central Document" for this year. He stressed the importance to the master plan covering tasks essential to the building of a moderately prosperous society in all respects. 

Late last year, President Xi also issued an important written instruction to the Central Rural Work Conference. He acknowledged the achievements made in agricultural and rural development in 2018, highlighted the deep significance of the "San Nong" work, and identified the priorities forming the focus for 2019. His instruction set the tone and provided guidance for drafting the 2019 "No.1 Central Document" and the related work in 2019 and 2020. Premier Li Keqiang has also issued clear requirements for its successful performance.

In 2018, China recorded new achievements in agriculture and rural development, took firm steps to further advance poverty alleviation, and got off to a good start in implementing the Rural Revitalization Strategy.

Once again it was a bumper harvest year. Grain output reached 657.9 million tons, registering the seventh straight year above the 600 million ton-level. Sufficient supply of other important produce, including meat, eggs, milk, fruits, vegetables and fish, was also achieved

Farmers saw a steady income rise. The per capita annual disposable income of the rural population was 14,617 yuan, a gain of 6.6 percent in real terms after allowing for the price factor. This represented a higher growth rate than that achieved by the urban population.

Rural development took on a new look. The Three-Year Action Plan for Improving the Rural Living Environment is underway, and the first Chinese Farmers' Harvest Festival was successfully held.

All in all, there was steady progress in agriculture and rural development, delivering staunch support to the overall goal of sustainable and sound socioeconomic growth.

The year 2019 marks the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China. It is a critical year to achieve the First Centenary Goal of securing a decisive victory in building a moderately prosperous society in all respects, and a historic juncture in finally winning battle of poverty alleviation and rolling out the Rural Revitalization Strategy. So, it is of particular significance to do well in the work related to agriculture, rural areas and farmers.

Amid an increase in downward economic pressures, and faced with a rapidly changing external environment and growing risks and challenges, we must hold firm to the strategic status of agriculture, the rural areas in general, and farmers, and enable all three to play a strong stabilizing role for further growth.

However, agriculture and the countryside in general still pose a daunting and demanding challenge in the drive to make China a moderately prosperous society in all respects. Efforts and resources must be pooled to make breakthroughs that ensure the commitments on rural reform and development goals are met. We also need to take preemptive actions to address risks and challenges, so as to lay the foundation for sustained, healthy economic growth and social stability, and realize the First Centenary Goal as planned.

Guided by Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, the "No. 1 Central Document" follows through on decisions made by the 19th National Congress of the CPC, the second and third plenary sessions of the 19th CPC Central Committee, and the annual Central Economic Work Conference. It focuses on the rural revitalization strategy, identifies a must-do list in regard to the work on agriculture, the rural areas and rural people to achieve a moderately prosperous society in all respects, and also puts forward new requirements for rural reform and development reflecting the evolving situation at home and abroad. 

The "No. 1 Central Document" is designed as a master plan on how to do well in regard to the work on agriculture, the rural areas and rural people, addressing priorities, weakness and essential points. This overall arrangement can be summarized in six aspects. 

First, underlining the need for pursuing progress while ensuring stability. 

For ensuring a stable market and sufficient supply, it seeks to strengthen the various policies and measures for developing agriculture especially grain production, and clearly specifies ways to stabilize the grain acreage and overall output. For achieving stable employment and increased farmers' income, it stresses the need to support rural industry, tap the employment potential of rural areas, and create more opportunities for rural residents to continue to work locally. For ensuring continued social stability and harmony, it emphasizes the need to increase welfare provisions for rural people, and strive to foster a healthy atmosphere of integrity, harmony and stability in the countryside.

Second, prioritizing implementation of the rural revitalization strategy. 

Based on the timetable, roadmap and assignment book forming the backbone of the strategy, the document determines the annual and phased measures in implementing it in 2019, so as to promote fresh progress continuing in each succeeding year and increase the sense of happiness and gains for the rural population.

Third, emphasizing the accomplishment of critical tasks. 

It once again underlines and sets priorities for winning the battle against poverty, ensuring food security and improving the rural living environment. In this regard, it details the measures and enhances accountability guiding all the efforts, investment and policy implementation to focus on must-do tasks to ensure all are completed on schedule.

Fourth, it highlights agricultural supply-side structural reform. In light of the guideline of consolidation, enhancement, improvement and unblocking, it lays out a clear plan for adjusting and optimizing the overall agricultural structure, developing rural specialty industries and promoting integrated development of the primary, second and tertiary industries. There is a strong focus on promoting reform in regard to supply-side agricultural restructuring for further advancement and deeper penetration.

Fifth, it highlights the critical role of rural Party branches. The Document underlines the need for further development and enhancement of rural community organizations across the board, and sets out the overall requirements, key tasks and safeguard measures for building strong and reliable community-level Party organizations throughout the rural areas.

Sixth, it highlights the policy orientation of prioritizing agricultural and rural development. It specifies in detail the institutional arrangement of a five-level Party secretary accountability system for rural revitalization, and stresses that implementation of the "four priorities" is of paramount importance and closely related to government performance evaluation. Finally, it further reinforces policy support. 

To sum up, this year's No.1 Central Document is a master plan essential to the task of building a moderately prosperous society in all respects and to the completion of the poverty alleviation work and implementation of the Rural Revitalization Strategy, enabling us to get off to a good start with rural reform in a new era after 40 years of reform and opening up. The No.1 Central Document features policies that are forward-looking, targeted and provide better guidance and we should fully carry it out.

The initiative of strengthening and empowering agriculture and rural areas was launched in 2019. We will resolutely implement policies concerning work related to agriculture, rural areas and farmers decided by the CPC Central Committee, and roll up our sleeves to work harder. We will make every endeavor to do well in work related to agriculture, rural areas and farmers, and maintain an encouraging momentum as paying tribute to the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic China with outstanding achievements.

Thanks for listening to my briefing. Now, I would like to take questions from the press together with my colleague Mr. Wu Hongyao, Director of the Secretariat of the Office of the Central Rural Work Leading Group.

Hu Kaihong:

Thanks to Mr. Han for his introduction. Now, the floor is open to questions. Please identify your media organization before asking questions.

CCTV:

As just mentioned, this year's "No. 1 Central Document" focuses on the implementation of tough tasks. Can you introduce what tough tasks mean and to what they specifically refer? Thank you.

Han Changfu:

This is a good question going to the heart of the document. By 2020, we will achieve our first centenary goal and complete the building of a moderately prosperous society in all respects. These are solemn commitments made by our Party to the entire population, and are tough tasks that we must accomplish within that timeframe as well. Therefore, this year's "No. 1 Central Document" focuses on the arrangements for handling these tough tasks.

In detail, the first tough task is to win the battle against poverty, which is the most important and urgent task in building a moderately prosperous society in all respects. In this year's document, it occupies a very prominent position. We should focus on solving existing gaps in providing adequate food and clothing for poverty-stricken people and ensuring their access to compulsory education, basic medical services and housing. Secondly, we need to step up efforts to lift people out of poverty in areas suffering from this in a deep-rooted way, which is a very tough nut to crack. Thirdly, we are determined to prevent people from falling back into poverty, and connect our poverty alleviation work with the revitalization of rural areas. It is of the greatest importance to alleviate poverty through promoting industrial growth that can provide job opportunities and broaden the available channels for increased levels of income, and also directly and effectively link the poverty alleviation work with rural revitalization. Thus, promoting industrial growth in the countryside is an important measure in overall poverty alleviation.

Second, we will further promote grain production. This is always a top priority and the primary task in regard to agriculture and rural affairs. Sufficient food supply may serve as the ballast stone to cope with mounting economic downward pressure and increasing uncertainties and risks. This year's "No. 1 Central Document" specially emphasizes strengthening agriculture and promoting food production. The detailed requirements include maintaining the policies and measures that support grain production, ensuring a sown area of 1.65 billion mu (110 million hectares) for grain, and so maintaining stable grain output. We must ensure China's arable land area remains above the red line of 1.8 billion mu. We need to comprehensively implement the policies providing special protection for the designated permanent basic cropland, and continuously increase the grain production capacity. Moreover, the document stresses the goal of developing 800 million mu of high-standard farmland. This means that grain production continues to be regarded as a tough task.

Third, we will increase the income of farmers. By 2020, the annual per capita income of rural residents must be double that of 2010. That is one of the indexes signaling completion of the work for building a moderately prosperous society in all respects. In recent years, the income of rural residents has been growing rapidly, and actually at a faster rate than that of urban residents for nine consecutive years. We must keep the trend of increasing income for rural residents in the coming two years. The document lays out detailed arrangements to foster the development of rural industries and diversify channels to increase the income of farmers. 

Fourth, we will improve rural living environment. This is one of the key tasks during implementation of the rural vitalization strategy. We will do a good job in carrying out the Three-Year Action Plan for Improving Rural Living Environment so that the rural living environment can be markedly improved by the end of 2020. In this regard, we will thoroughly learn from Zhejiang that has done a good job in its village environment demonstration and improvement initiative. This focuses on waste and sewage treatment, a toilet revolution and a village facelift. Since villages across China differ in many ways, our efforts will proceed from reality and adapt to local conditions, and our guidance should be differentiated. We also have to carry out the task gradually and don't go beyond our abilities. We will ensure our efforts not only match the level of local economic development, but are also in line with local culture and customs. 

Fifth, it is necessary to shore up the weakness in rural infrastructure and public services. Backward infrastructure and public services constitute the most visible sign of the urban-rural gap, and also one of the livelihood issues about which rural people most strongly complain. Therefore, in order to improve lives in the countryside, we should address the weakness as soon as possible. To this end, the document includes a village infrastructure development project expected to improve infrastructure in areas like drinking water, roads, power supply, housing, logistics and a modern information network. We will provide better public services such as education, medical care, sanitation, social security, culture and sport. We will strengthen pollution treatment and ecological conservation and promote green agricultural and rural development with a view to making China's villages highly livable, with picturesque scenery, blue skies and green spaces.

We also have tough tasks in other aspects that require more awareness of deadlines, better planning and coordination, detailed measures, and a strictly-observed accountability system for people at different levels, to ensure fulfillment on time and with the desired results. 

I should say there are many tasks concerning agriculture, rural areas and rural people, but these are the critical ones. In light of China's goal to complete the building of a moderately prosperous society in all respects, poverty alleviation is the most important element. It must be fully accomplished on time and with the desired results. Food security is our primary task, and we will guard the bottom line of keeping grain production from falling. The rural vitalization strategy is the overarching scheme under which we will keep on going in an all-round way with unremitting efforts. I think these are all things we will do vigorously and fulfill comprehensively this year and next. Thank you.

China News Agency:

I have two questions. First, more than a year has passed since the Rural Revitalization Strategy was rolled out. Can you elaborate on what progress has been made, what problems have been encountered in the implementation process, and how will you complete the key tasks in the start-up period? Second, for 16 consecutive years in the new century, the CPC central committee has focused on the issue of the work related to agriculture, the rural areas and the farmers in its No. 1 Central Document. Why should the central government continue to focus on this issue? What is the significance? Thank you.

Han Changfu:

The Rural Revitalization Strategy was a major strategy proposed at the 19th CPC National Congress, and was approved for inclusion in the Party Constitution. Over the past year, all localities have conscientiously implemented the central government's decision-making and arrangements in this regard, and worked hard to promote implementation with carefully-organized plans. Local governments have studied and formulated policy opinions for such implementation, and introduced their own plans accordingly. As we all know, in the second half of last year, the National Rural Revitalization Strategic Plan was released. In September, there was also a press release issued in this very place, detailing how all localities basically had formulated their supporting plans. It should be said that the mainframe for the implementation of the Rural Revitalization Strategy is basically established, and the timetable and tasks for promoting the strategy made clear. At the same time, in regard to the key areas and the key links, both central and local governments have developed a number of implementation plans, and set up a number of major projects and actions. Fresh progress has been made in such tasks as the development of rural industries and the renovation of human settlements. It can be said that the implementation of the Rural Revitalization Strategy has made a good start.

However, in regard to what you have asked, there are a number of problems still to be addressed. The development of agriculture and rural areas is obviously insufficient and imbalanced, and we need to address certain difficulties and problems during implementation of the rural vitalization strategy .

For example, cities and counties need to attach greater importance to rural vitalization, while the shortage of people, land and money should be fundamentally resolved. At the same time, while improving local infrastructure and people's livelihood, rural areas are incurring increasing debt. More to the point, a certain number of farmers remain less motivated.

Our next step must focus on the key tasks of implementing the rural vitalization strategy, ensuring they are better supported with resources and institutions. A great many measures have been specified in this year's "No. 1 Central Document" and the country's plan on its rural vitalization strategy issued last year. So far as I am concerned, there are four key aspects. First, we should carefully study President Xi's important remarks regarding agriculture, rural areas and rural people, with the theories as a guideline for us to implement the rural vitalization strategy in a concerted way.

Second, we will enhance the institutional support to ensure the five-level Party secretaries have their duties closely aligned with rural vitalization. Taking clear cut responsibilities, all officials involved will be evaluated, and the results of the evaluation will have a big say in deciding the overall level of official performance.

Third, we should follow the policies prioritizing development of agriculture and rural areas. We need to improve our top-level design, creating preferential policies for rural development and prioritizing the demand for competent officials, resources, funds and public services to address the shortage of people, land and money. Rural vitalization requires both strenuous efforts and great financial support.

Fourth, we should create a sufficient pool of talents dedicated to rural vitalization. Priority should be given to human resource development in rural areas, making headway in bringing talented minds together with technical and administrative support, at the same time, establishing teams constituting those expert in agriculture and passionate about rural areas and rural people.

The aforementioned are highlighted as our assignments in the next stage.

As to the second question, the "No. 1 Central Document" has focused on the work related to agriculture, rural areas and farmers for the 16th consecutive year. I think this sends out two messages. First, the CPC Central Committee has been attaching great importance to the work and showing great care for rural people, prioritizing the work on its agenda. Second, this year and the next form a decisive period for completing the building of a moderately prosperous society in all respects, and quite a few tough tasks must be fulfilled on regard to our work, especially issues relating to the poor regions. So, this year's "No. 1 Central Document" is of particular significance for the building of a moderately prosperous society in all respects and the achievement of the First Centenary Goal. Thank you.

Reuters:

I have two questions. First, the market is concerned about the plan to boost soybean planting and output mentioned in the "No.1 Document". Would you please detail this plan, for example, the targets of increasing soybean planting area and output? My second question is about the Sino-U.S. trade war. Since its inception, China has approved grain imports from new exporters. Will this diversification of imports continue after the Sino-U.S. negotiations are completed?

Han Changfu:

In regard to this question about soybean production and trade, I'd like to give the floor to Director Wu Hongyao.

Wu Hongyao:

The plan to boost soybean planting and output is an important measure to readjust agricultural supply-side structural reform, in particular the planting industry. We will enhance our efforts in following areas: first, to shore up the soybean planting area, and encourage farmers mainly in Northeast China and the North China Plain to get involved. Second, to accelerate scientific research into the development and selection of high-quality and high-yield varieties to tackle the key issues of improving soybean adaptability, output and quality. Third, to cultivate some new soybean production companies and new cooperative organizations through collaboration with the further development of the processing industry, and to deepen specialization in the soybean production and trade. The plan will mainly provide support in regard to technologies, structure and policy.

As to your second question about the soybean trade, China is a major importer of American soybeans, with the latter occupying about one-third of its total imports. The volume fell last year as a result of the trade friction. As was mentioned, China consumes around 110 million tons of soybeans each year, while its annual production is only 16 million tons. This means about 90% of its soybean needs rely on imports. We will open wider to the world, including increasing the openness of the agricultural sector to make good use of both domestic and foreign markets and resources. China's soybean market will remain open. We will allow the market and businesses get involved to decide the source of imports, and follow the general rules of economics. Our market is also open to the U.S.

Han Changfu:

I would like to add three points. First, China is a soybean producer with its own features and strengths. So, we will appropriately develop our own soybean industry based on our resource advantages and consumer needs. Second, China's reliance on soybean imports will remain despite the development of its own soybean production. As Mr. Wu has mentioned, China produces about 16 million tons of soybeans each year, but annual consumption amounts to 110 million tons, creating an import demand of around 90 million tons. Third, we will continue our soybean trade with other countries and diversify the sources of soybean imports. I believe China and the U.S. will continue to be important soybean trading partners. Thank you.

Farmers' Daily:

The No.1 Document of 2019 is entitled "Prioritizing the Development of Agriculture and Rural areas to Address the Issues Relating to Agriculture, Rural Areas and Rural People". And one of the six characteristics mentioned in Mr. Han's introduction highlights the policy orientation of prioritizing agricultural and rural development. Are there any specific requirements with regard to this aspect? Thanks.

Han Changfu:

The proposition of prioritizing agricultural and rural development is raised to meet the needs of overall development of the Party and the country, as well as to address the development gap between urban and rural areas, where inadequate development is apparent. It is a major policy that needs to be upheld for long-term. Hence, the Document puts forward requirements to master the policy orientation. As you have noted, the document is entitled "Several Opinions on Prioritizing the Development of Agriculture and Rural areas to Address the Issues Relating to Agriculture, Rural Areas and Rural People". Specifically, it emphasizes the "four priorities" put forward by President Xi Jinping.

First, priority in building a team of outstanding cadres. The excellent officials should be put on the front of the work related to agriculture, rural development and farmers' wellbeing, also known as "San Nong" work. Talented ones should work in the front line, while cadres who are familiar with the "San Nong" work over a long period should be included in local leadership development. We need to improve the system of training and managing cadres, in a bid to build a core team with deep knowledge of agriculture, and love for the rural areas and rural people.

Second, priority must be given to optimizing factors allocation. We need to break down barriers harmful to the population flow between urban and rural areas, and an equal exchange system. We should reverse the one-way flow of resources allocation. All kinds of factors, including land, talents, funding, technology and science should be led to flow into agriculture and rural areas, enabling them to give full play to their potential and vitality.

Third, priority has to be given to ensuring investment. We need to make sure that agriculture and rural areas are two priority aspects in fiscal and financial support. Efforts should be made to facilitate access to publicly-funded support, and to ensure that more revenues from sales of land rights are invested in agriculture and rural areas. In the past, we often took money from the rural areas to be used in urban areas. In future, emphasis should be given to investment and efforts focused on agriculture and rural areas.

Fourth, priority must be given to public services. We need to unify the standards and systems of basic public services provided in urban and rural areas. This means we should ensure that there is true fairness in this regard, so that the rural population can have access to public services at the same level as those in the urban areas. 

Opinions on prioritizing the Development of Agriculture and Rural areas should be fully implemented in the "San Nong" work. We need to take the responsibilities of rural revitalization and "four priorities" on our shoulders and regard "San Nong" work as outstanding achievements in an official career. The implementation of the policies on modernization of agriculture and rural areas, as well as the "four priorities" should be made to ensure the "San Nong" work is fully guaranteed. Thanks.

China Daily:

This year marks the beginning of a new round of reform of rural affairs. And the land reform is a highlight of it. What are the key points and direction of the land reform in the future? 

Han Changfu:

This year does indeed mark the start of a new round of reform of rural affairs. The No. 1 Central Document has arranged for its implementation. Handling relations between farmers and land remains the mainline of deepening rural reform. The land institutional reform should be used as a pivot to advance the rural reform. Generally speaking, the most important aspects are as follows.

First, the land contract relations should be stable and long-lasting. We should properly complete the land contract confirmation and registrations, grant the land contract certificates, and appropriately handle and resolve historical problems to place the land contract certificates in farmers' hands. Farmers' minds will be put to rest once these undisputable certificates are awarded. This work has been ongoing for five years since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, and is nearly completed. We should accomplish the finishing touches this year. Meanwhile, research is underway to roll out supporting policies to extend the land contract rights for another 30 years after the second round of land contracts expires, which President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the CPC Central Committee, announced in his report to the Party's 19th National Congress. We must act according to the central authority's requirements, and formulate supporting policies so as to ensure the new policies align with the old ones, achieving a smooth transition.

Second, we will continue to deepen rural land reforms in three aspects: land acquisition, market entrance of collectively-owned commercial land, and homestead institutional reform. The reform has been piloted for four years. We will review the sum of the pilot experience, and consolidate and expand reform achievements. As for those that have been successfully piloted, for instance the rural land appropriation and the market entrance of collectively-owned commercial construction land, we will improve the supporting policies after relevant laws are amended and promote the reform nationwide, in order to expedite the formation of a unified urban and rural construction land market.

We will continue to advance the reforms prudently, expand pilot reforms and enrich some reforms that have proven immature, such as the homestead institutional reform. For instance, we must explore effective ways to loosen control over rights to homestead and farmers' houses, so as to make better use of the homesteads and farmers' houses that have been left unused, thus attempting to increase farmers' income. We need to find methods to make that happen, as it is said there are many "hollow villages" with large numbers of unused homesteads and empty houses. Before that, we need to do some groundwork, for instance, organize investigation of homesteads and farmers' houses in these village to assess the basic information nationwide. We strive to finish this important work — the confirmation, registration and certification of usage rights for homesteads in village — by 2020.

Third, we must create new modes of business operations. We need to improve the legal, regulatory and policy systems to ensure the separation of the "three rights" regarding contracted land, and to cultivate two types of new agricultural business entities — the family farm and farmers' cooperative. We need to put policies in place to help the development of small farming households, to foster various kinds of social service organizations and to enhance the efficiency and improve the level of agricultural operations. 

Of course, there are other tasks to be completed in the institutional reform of rural land. This reform is a sizeable process, so it must be advanced steadily and prudently. The No. 1 Central Document also stresses that the reform must defend the baseline, which means the rural land, which is collectively owned, should not be privatized; rural land should always be used for agriculture and farmers' interests, rather than for non-agricultural purposes; farmers' rights and interests over their land must be guaranteed, and giving up their contracted land and homesteads should not be made conditions for their becoming urban citizens. These baselines must be held. In brief, the new round of rural reform should be advanced with the deepening of land institutional reform, which can further release village's vitality. Thank you.

Phoenix:

We note that the document proposes to promote standardized operation of the transfer of various rural property rights. What specific measures will the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs take in 2019? Thank you.

Han Changfu:

Reform of the rural property rights system is an important part of overall rural reform, which requires us to fulfill two tasks. First, that means making an inventory of assets, or, in other words, figuring out how many collective assets there are, including operational assets and non-operational ones. This work should be basically finished by the end of this year. The second aspect is pushing forward the pilot reform of the joint-stock cooperative system and establishing joint-stock cooperative organizations in rural areas. We need to figure out who owns these assets and how to manage and operate them, and establish a set of effective mechanisms featuring clear property rights and ownership. Th pilot reform program is expanding currently with a growing number of counties and cities across the country engaged. The reform also involves many policy-related factors. Now, urbanization and industrialization are accelerating, and a large number of farmers, namely members of collective economic organizations, are leaving the rural areas to work and carry on business, and even settle down in the cities. Great changes have taken place in rural areas, as well as among members of collective economic organizations. Therefore, the amount and ownership of collective assets has to be figured out. Moreover, the rural revitalization strategy is currently underway to increase farmers' income from property, and the reforms should also be promoted to revitalize rural resources. With the documents on the reform issued by the Central Committee, progress is being made in an orderly manner in fulfilling these two key tasks. We believe that, with gradual progress of reform, the vitality of rural areas will be further unleashed. Thank you.

Guangming Daily:

Rural governance is essential to the implementation of the rural revitalization strategy. Two parts of the five-point general requirement, namely social etiquette and civility and effective governance, are related to rural governance. My question is for Mr. Han. What policies does this year's "No.1 Central Document" offer to strengthen and improve rural governance? Thank you.

Han Changfu:

Thank you for your question. You are a very good learner. Effective governance is an important part of the five-point general requirement for rural revitalization. This is not only about boosting economic growth, but also promoting the all-round development of rural areas. Rural governance is critical to rural revitalization, as it concerns farmers' sense of happiness and security, law and order, as well as the foundation of Party's governance in rural areas. At present, there are still many problems in rural governance, especially at community-level. For example, in terms of social etiquette and civility, there has been a resurgence of bad marriage and funeral traditions, and a refusal to fulfill the requirements of filial piety; in some places, rural gangs are undermining farmers' sense of security and happiness; some community-level Party organizations in rural areas are weak, with lax discipline and being unqualified to serve and mobilize farmers; some farmers' self-governance organizations are also failing to play their due roles. Therefore, major policies have been formulated in this year's "No.1 Central Document" to improve the overall level of rural governance.

The first is to improve governance mechanisms in rural areas. We need to optimize the Party organization-led leadership institutions and working mechanisms that integrate self-governance, rule of law and rule of virtue, improve village-level consultation systems, and ensure that the people play the principal role in governance, so that rural areas can enjoy great vitality, harmony and good governance. Following the requirements made by the CPC Central Committee, we drafted policies to strengthen and improve rural governance to reinforce guidance in this key task.

The second is to strengthen the rural spiritual civilization construction. It is absolutely necessary to guard the rural ideological and cultural fronts, guide farmers to practice socialist core values, tap the excellent traditional culture of the countryside, refine rural concepts and customs through village rules and regulations, and replace old stereotypes with civilized rural customs.

The third is to build a peaceful village. It is necessary to further advance the special campaign against evils, resolutely investigating and dealing with harmful practices and corruption in rural areas, improve the mechanism for mediating and resolving disputes, and investigating and controlling hidden dangers to rural public security, so as to foster a healthy atmosphere of integrity, harmony and stability.

The fourth is to do a good job in building community-level Party organizations in rural areas. A solid foundation is the premise for future work. It is necessary to rectify resolutely any weakness and laxity in community-level Party organizations, select right leaders for them, strengthen and improve the leadership of the community-level Party organization for various organizations at village level, and strengthen the service functions. At the same time, it is very important to improve the funding mechanism for operation of village-level organizations, which is a key policy highlighted in the document. It is necessary to develop and strengthen the collective economy according to local conditions. Through these measures, we can give play to the critical role of rural Party branches, and improve rural governance capabilities and the supporting systems. It should be said that such tasks are still very arduous. Implementing the document can ensure that rural governance plays a key role in rural revitalization. Thank you.

CRI:

At the end of last year, the central economic work conference put forward the principles for supply-side structural reform. Are there any important measures in the No. 1 Central Document concerning supply-side structural reform in the agricultural sector? Thank you.

Han Changfu:

In order to deepen supply-side structural reform in general and also in the agricultural sector, the central economic work conference set the following principles: Previous structural adjustments for cutting overcapacity, reducing excess inventory, deleveraging, lowering costs, and strengthening areas of weakness, should all be reinforced; micro market entities will be further motivated and energized; the levels of industrial chains will be improved; and the national economic cycle should be further facilitated. In the past two years, there was remarkable progress in supply-side structural reform in the agricultural sector. The mismatch between the supply and demand of agricultural products has improved substantially. For example, major progress can be seen in the reduction of the corn inventory, there has been a significant increase in green development and product quality. However, the main problem in agriculture still remains on the supply side, requiring further reform efforts. The No. 1 Central Document stresses the abovementioned principles. We must stick to the supply-side structural reform in line with the principles of promoting greener agriculture with better quality, and improve the branding of agricultural products as well as their uniqueness and specialty. We intend to deepen supply-side structural reform in greater detail so as to further promote high-quality agricultural development.

First, we will continue to improve various aspects of the agricultural structure. We will reinforce the corn structural adjustment by reducing excess inventory, lowering costs and strengthening areas of weakness. We will maintain a well-balanced pace of work to reduce the corn inventory, step up our efforts in reducing the rice stockpile, implement the plan to boost soybean planting and output, increase the supply of rare, green and quality agricultural products, adjust the product mix of basic food, cash, and fodder crops, raise the quality and performance of the livestock industry and promote the transformation and upgrading of the fisheries sector. 

Second, we will make efforts to advance green development by promoting green and recycling production modes and launching campaigns to reduce use of fertilizers and pesticides. Last year, China achieved negative growth in use of both fertilizers and pesticides. We will continue to seek advances in this regard. Moreover, we will promote the recycling of agricultural waste. And we will also expand trials in using systems of crop rotation and fallow land. 

Third, we will take strong measures to facilitate standardized production, brand building, and closer supervision of food safety. We will work to ensure the quality and safety of agricultural products and improve the supervisory mechanism, monitoring and traceability systems. In this way, we can promote an agricultural development pattern where the superior will be selected and the inferior eliminated, and the quality and branding will propel and bolster agricultural growth.

These are the major measures we will undertake to adjust the agricultural structure. We believe that, with stable total output and improving structure, the agricultural sector can achieve better quality, performance and greater competitiveness. Thank you.

China Co-operation Times:

The No.1 Central Document stresses the regulation of farmers' cooperatives and puts forward the establishment of a system to improve and support the development of farmers' cooperatives. Progress on developing cooperation among production, supply and marketing and credit cooperatives has been achieved in Zhejiang province. So, what's the next step in promoting such cooperation? And what kind of policies will be taken to support the development and regulation of farmers' cooperatives? Thanks.

Wu Hongyao:

To foster new types of agribusiness, we place importance on two aspects: farmers' cooperatives and family farms. The No.1 Central Document covers both, with stepped-up efforts to develop family farms, while regulating the development of farmers' cooperatives.

Farmers' cooperatives have achieved great progress and played a vital role in the economy. However, problems are emerging at the same time. According to the No.1 Central Document, farmers' cooperatives will pursue further development, while seeking to improve their regulation, so as to address such issues as "zombie cooperatives."

The supply and marketing cooperatives in Zhejiang province you mentioned form an important part in the farmers' cooperative movement, and development of the cooperative economy, which is highly valued by the CPC Central Committee and the State Council. The central leadership has released opinions on deepening reform on supply and marketing cooperatives, now being implemented across the country. The complex cooperatives (including production cooperatives, supply and marketing cooperatives, as well as credit cooperatives) in Zhejiang province started quite early and have made positive progress. The complex cooperatives can be seen as a new direction nationwide. Exploration on how to develop them further is underway in different places. Besides the cooperatives in Zhejiang province, Shandong province is placing farmland under trusteeship, which is also an effective way forward.

To develop supply and marketing cooperatives, first, we need to focus on strengthening primary branches and guide them to focus on their original functions, inviting more individual farmers to participate. Second, we need to expand the business scope. The credit cooperatives can also be developed to promote cooperation on distribution and processing of agricultural products.

In a word, the development of cooperatives needs both support and regulation in order to give full play to their role in future. Thanks.

Han Changfu:

I agree with what Mr. Wu Hongyao has said in regard to your question. However, there is still one further point I would like to share with you. We have an important policy orientation to support and direct the development of farmers' cooperatives during the reform and revitalization of our countryside. We are a country where smallholder farming is in the majority, and if we want to have a market-based agriculture, we need to group smallholders together for them to venture in the market. Besides, modern agriculture needs to achieve economies of scale and this also makes it necessary for farmers to stick together and be well organized to achieve common prosperity. Therefore, our work in 2019 will also focus on the farmers' cooperatives in various forms, ensuring their sustainable development. Thank you.

Hu Kaihong:

That's all for today's press conference. Thank you, Mr. Han and Mr. Wu and thanks to everyone here today.

.

Read in Chinese

Speaker:
Ning Jizhe, head of the National Bureau of Statistics

Chairperson:
Hu Kaihong, spokesperson for the State Council Information Office of China

Date:
Jan. 21, 2019

   

Hu Kaihong:

Ladies and gentlemen, good morning. Welcome to this press conference. Today, we are delighted to invite Mr. Ning Jizhe, head of the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), to introduce China's economic performance in 2018, and answer your questions. Now, I'll give the floor to Mr. Ning.

Ning Jizhe:

Good morning, chairperson, friends from the press. In 2018, China's economy operated within a reasonable range and our main social and economic development targets were realized. This is because all localities and departments stuck to the overall tone of making progress while maintaining stability in their work. They embraced new development philosophies, sought high-quality development, and pressed ahead with supply-side structural reform. As a result, the supply-side structural reform has gone deeper, reform and opening-up efforts have been intensified, living standards have been improved, the economy has remained in a reasonable range and the trend of achieving progress while maintaining stability has continued. We are continuing to make progress toward building a moderately prosperous society.

According to preliminary calculations, China's GDP in 2018 hit 90.03 trillion yuan, up 6.6 percent from the previous year, realizing the goal of 6.5 percent growth. The four quarters saw growth rates of 6.8 percent, 6.7 percent, 6.5 percent, and 6.4 percent, respectively. The value added of industries were 6.47 trillion yuan, 36.60 trillion yuan, and 46.96 trillion for the primary, secondary and tertiary industries, respectively, with growth rates of 3.5 percent, 5.8 percent, and 7.6 percent.

1. Grain production enjoyed a high yield, and production of animal husbandry was generally stable.

Last year's total grain output was 657.89 million tons, down by 0.6 percent from the previous year. Regardless, this was still a year of bumper harvest and we've maintained an output of over 650 million tons for four consecutive years. The output of summer grain, early rice and autumn grain was 138.78 million tons, 28.59 million tons and 490.52 million tons respectively. The total output of cotton was 6.10 million tons, up by 7.8 percent from the previous year. The planting structure continues to improve as the land used to grow high-quality rice, soybeans, cotton, sugar crops and Chinese medicinal herbs increased, while the land allocated to maize growth decreased.

The total output of pork, beef, mutton and poultry was 85.17 million tons, down by 0.3 percent over last year. The total output of pork was 54.04 million tons, down by 0.9 percent; output of beef was 6.44 million tons, up by 1.5 percent; the output of mutton was 4.75 million tons, up by 0.8 percent; the output of poultry was 19.94 million tons, up by 0.6 percent. The number of live pigs was 428.17 million, down by 3 percent from the previous year; the amount of pigs slaughtered was 693.82 million, down by 1.2 percent.

2. Industrial production increased steadily, and new industries grew rapidly.

The value added of industrial enterprises with an annual revenue at or above 20 million yuan from their main operations increased by 6.2 percent in 2018 over the previous year, with a moderate and stable growth rate. In terms of different types of organizations, the value added of state-holding enterprises increased by 6.2 percent, that of collective enterprises decreased by 1.2 percent, that of joint-stock enterprises went up 6.6 percent, and that of enterprises with foreign, Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan investors grew by 4.8 percent. In terms of different industries, the value added of mining increased 2.3 percent, that of manufacturing was up 6.5 percent, and that of producing and supplying electricity, heat, gas and water grew by 9.9 percent. The value added of high-tech manufacturing rose by 11.7 percent, strategic emerging industries by 8.9 percent and equipment manufacturing by 8.1 percent over the previous year, a growth 5.5, 2.7 and 1.9 percent faster, respectively, than of industrial enterprises over the designated revenue of 20 million yuan. The output of emerging industrial products increased rapidly, with passenger trains rising 183.0 percent, microwave terminals 104.5 percent, new energy vehicles 40.1 percent, bio-based chemical fibers 23.5 percent, smart televisions 18.7 percent, lithium-ion batteries 12.9 percent and integrated circuits by 9.7 percent. In December, the value added of industrial enterprises with an annual revenue of 20 million yuan or more from their main business operations increased by 5.7 percent year over year, 0.3 percentage point higher than the growth rate in November.

From January to November, the total profit of industrial enterprises with an annual revenue of 20 million yuan or more from their main business operations reached 6.1169 trillion yuan, up 11.8 percent year on year. The profit margin of this same subset of industrial enterprises was 6.48 percent, 0.16 percentage point higher than the same period last year.

3. The service sector maintained fast growth, and the business activity indexes remained within the range of expansion.

In 2018, the Index for Service Industry Production maintained rapid growth, increasing by 7.7 percent over the previous year. Among sectors, information transmission, software and information technology services, leasing and business services grew by 37.0 percent and 10.1 percent respectively. In December, the Index for Service Industry Production increased by 7.3 percent year over year, 0.1 percentage points higher than the previous month. From January to November, the business revenue of service enterprises above designated size increased by 11.5 percent year over year. In particular, the business revenue of strategic emerging services, science and technology and high-tech services increased by 14.9, 15.0 and 13.4 percent year over year, respectively. The operating profit of service enterprises above designated size increased by 5.7 percent.

In December, the Index for Service Industry Business Activity stood at 52.3 percent, which was within the expansion range. Specifically, the figures for railways, telecommunications, radio and satellite transmission services, monetary and financial services, insurance and other financial industries were all in a higher expansion range above 60.0 percent. In terms of market expectations, the Index for Service Industry Business Activity Expectation reached 60.2 percent, an increase of 0.6 percentage points over the previous month.

4. Market sales grew steadily and rapidly, and the proportion of online retail sales increased significantly.

The total annual retail sales of consumer goods reached 38.10 trillion yuan, an increase of 9 percent over the previous year, which reflects relatively rapid growth. Specifically, the retail sales of consumer goods by enterprises above the designated size stood at 14.53 trillion yuan, an increase of 5.7 percent. If we categorize them according to the business location, the retail sales in urban areas reached 32.56 trillion yuan, up 8.8 percent, while the retail sales in rural areas reached 5.54 trillion yuan, up 10.1 percent.

According to the type of consumption, catering income was 4.27 trillion yuan, an increase of 9.5 percent and the retail sales of goods were 33.83 trillion yuan, an increase of 8.9 percent. The upgraded consumption goods have seen relatively rapid growth. The growth rates of retail sales in three categories, namely of cosmetics, of household appliances and audio-visual equipment, and of communication equipment, were 3.9, 3.2 and 1.4 percentage points higher than the overall growth rate of retail sales of consumer goods by enterprises above the designated size. In December, total retail sales of consumer goods increased by 8.2 percent year over year, or 0.55 percent month-on-month.

The annual online retail sales nationwide reached 9.01 trillion yuan, an increase of 23.9 percent over the previous year. Specifically, the online retail sales of physical goods reached 7.02 trillion yuan, up 25.4 percent, accounting for 18.4 percent of the total retail sales of consumer goods, or 3.4 percentage points higher than the previous year; the online retail sales of non-physical goods were 1.99 trillion yuan, up 18.7 percent.

5. Investment growth overall slowed down and stabilized; however, investments in the manufacturing industry and private investment increased at a faster rate.

National fixed-asset investment (excluding rural households) totaled 63.5636 trillion yuan, up 5.9 percent year over year, or 0.5 percentage point higher than the growth rate achieved in the first three quarters. Private investment reached 39.4051 trillion yuan, an increase of 8.7 percent year over year and 2.7 percentage points higher than the same period of the previous year. In regard to specific industries, primary sector investment increased 12.9 percent, up 1.1 percentage points from the same period of previous year. Secondary industry investment rose 6.2 percent, or 3.0 percentage points higher, of which that by the manufacturing industry increased 9.5 percent, which was a gain of 4.7 percentage points. Tertiary industry investment rose 5.5 percent, including a 3.8 percent increase in infrastructure. Investment in high-tech manufacturing and equipment manufacturing increased 16.1 percent and 11.1 percent respectively on an annual basis, or 6.6 and 1.6 percentage points higher than the growth of overall manufacturing investment. In December, fixed asset investment increased by 0.42 percent from the previous month. Last year, total investment in real estate development was 12.0264 trillion yuan, up 9.5 percent year over year. The total floor space of commercial buildings sold was 1.71654 billion square meters, up 1.3 percent year over year, of that of residential buildings sold grew by 2.2 percent. The total sales of commercial buildings reached 14.9973 trillion yuan, up 12.2 percent year over year, including a 14.7-percent growth in sales of residential buildings.

6. Imports and exports reached a record high, with the structure of trade continuing to improve.

China's imports and exports last year reached 30.51 trillion yuan, up 9.7 percent year-on-year. This was the first time the figure exceeded 30 trillion yuan. Foreign trade maintained growth with structural optimization, ensuring a steady and sound momentum for both imports and exports to exceed expectations. Exports rose 7.1 percent year on year to 16.42 trillion yuan, while imports grew 12.9 percent to 14.09 trillion yuan. This produced a trade surplus of 2.33 trillion yuan, a drop of 18.3 percent from the previous year. General trade accounted for 57.8 percent of all activity, up 1.4 percentage points from the previous year. Electromechanical exports, constituting 58.8 percent of total exports, grew by 7.9 percent, or 0.4 percentage points higher than the previous year. Imports and exports with major trading partners, – including the European Union, the United States and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries, achieved overall growth, the figures being 7.9 percent, 5.7 percent and 11.2 percent respectively. Trade with countries along the Belt and Road Initiative continued their upswing, growth reaching an aggregated 13.3 percent year-on-year, which was 3.6 percentage points higher than the improvement achieved in overall imports and exports. The export delivery value of industrial enterprises above designated scale reached 12.39 trillion yuan, up 8.5 percent year-on-year.

7. Consumer price saw a mild surge and the growth of industrial producer's price fell.

Annual consumer prices grew by 2.1 percent year over year, which reflects a mild increase, lower than the projected target of 3 percent. Within this category, urban consumer price increased 2.1 percent, and rural 2.1 percent. The price of food, tobacco and wine increased 1.9 percent, clothing 1.2 percent, residence 2.4 percent, articles of daily use and services 1.6 percent, traffic and communication 1.7 percent, education, culture and entertainment 2.2 percent, medical care 4.3 percent, and other articles for use and services 1.2 percent. Within the price of food, tobacco and wine, the price of grain rose 0.8 percent, pork fell 8.1 percent, and fresh vegetables went up 7.1 percent. The core CPI, with food and energy prices deducted, increased 1.9 percent, 0.3 percentage point lower than the previous year. In December, consumer prices increased by 1.9 percent year over year, the same as November's rate. The annual factory prices from industrial producers went up 3.5 percent year over year, down 2.8 percentage points from the previous year. The industrial producer factory price increased 0.9 percent year over year in December, 1.0 percent lower than that of November. The annual industrial producer purchase price increased 4.1 percent year over year; within that, in December the industrial producer purchase price rose by 1.6 percent year over year, or 0.9 percent lower than November's figure.

8. Employment remained stable and urban surveyed unemployment declined.

The number of new jobs was 13.61 million last year, 100,000 more than the previous year and 123.7 percent of the annual target. The number of annually increased jobs has remained above 13 million for six years consecutively. In December, the national urban surveyed unemployment rate was 4.9 percent, 0.1 percentage point lower than the same month of the previous year. Last year, the urban surveyed unemployment rate remained between 4.8 percent and 5.1 percent, realizing the target of keeping it below 5.5 percent. In December, the surveyed unemployment rate in 31 major cities was 4.7 percent, 0.2 percentage point lower than the same month of the previous year. The surveyed unemployment rate of the main employment population between 25 years old and 59 years old was 4.4 percent, remaining the same as the previous month. By the end of the year, the number of employed persons nationwide was 775.86 million, of which the urban employed population was 434.19 million. The number of migrant workers hit 288.36 million last year, 1.84 million more than the previous year, up 0.6 percent year over year. Of these, the number of migrant workers working at or near their hometowns was 115.7 million, up 0.9 percent, and the number of migrant workers working far from their hometowns was 172.66 million, up 0.5 percent. The average monthly income for migrant workers was 3,721 yuan, up 6.8 percent year over year.

9. The income and consumption expenditure of residents increased steadily, and growth in rural areas was faster than in urban ones.

In 2018, the nationwide per capita disposable income of residents was 28,228 yuan, a nominal growth of 8.7 percent over the previous year, or a real increase of 6.5 percent after deducting price factors, exceeding the growth of per capita GDP and essentially keeping up with economic growth. In terms of permanent residence, the per capita disposable income of urban households was 39,251 yuan, a nominal growth of 7.8 percent over the previous year, or a real growth of 5.6 percent after deducting price factors. The per capita disposable income of rural households was 14,617 yuan, a nominal growth of 8.8 percent over the previous year, or 6.6 percent in real terms after deducting price factors. The per capita income of urban households was 2.69 times that of rural households, 0.02 less than the previous year. The median of the nationwide per capita disposable income was 24,336 yuan, a nominal increase of 8.6 percent. Taking the per capita disposable income of nationwide households by income quintiles, that of the low-income group reached 6,440 yuan, the lower-middle-income group 14,361 yuan, the middle-income group 23,189 yuan, the upper-middle-income group 36,471 yuan, and the high-income group 70,640 yuan.

In 2018, the nationwide per capita consumption expenditure was 19,853 yuan, a nominal increase of 8.4 percent, 1.3 percentage points higher than the previous year, or a real increase of 6.2 percent after deducting price factors, 0.8 percentage point higher than the previous year. The per capita consumption expenditure of urban households was 26,112 yuan, a nominal growth of 6.8 percent, 0.9 percentage point more than the previous year. The per capita consumption expenditure of rural households was 12,124 yuan, a nominal increase of 10.7 percent, 2.6 percentage points more than the previous year.

10. Supply-side structural reform has gone deeper; and the trend of economic transformation and upgrading has continued.

2018 has seen substantive progress in fulfilling the five priority tasks of cutting overcapacity, reducing excess inventory, deleveraging, lowering costs, and strengthening points of weakness. In terms of cutting overcapacity, the tasks for iron, steel and coal were completed ahead of schedule. Nationally, the rate of industrial capacity utilization was 76.5 percent. The rate for ferrous metal melting and rolling was 78 percent and that for coal mining and washing was 70.6 percent, up 2.2 and 2.4 percentage points, respectively, from a year ago. In terms of deleveraging, the corporate asset-liability ratio went down. At the end of November, the ratio for industrial enterprises above the designated size was 56.8 percent, down 0.4 percentage point year over year. Among these enterprises, state-holding ones had a ratio of 59.1 percent, down by 1.6 percentage points. In terms of reducing excess inventory, China's housing for sale totaled 524.14 million square meters at the end of 2018, representing a fall of 11 percent. In terms of lowering cost, corporate costs continued to decline. From January to November, industrial enterprises above the designated size saw their costs fall by 0.21 yuan to 84.19 yuan for each one hundred yuan they made from their core businesses. In terms of strengthening points of weakness, investment in points of weakness saw fast expansion. Namely, investment in ecological protection and environmental improvement expanded by 43 percent and agricultural investment by 15.4 percent, up 37.1 and 9.5 percentage points respectively.

Economic structure continued to improve. The value added from the tertiary industry accounted for 52.2 percent of the GDP, up 0.3 percentage point year over year. This was 11.5 percentage points higher than contributions from the secondary industry, which increased by 0.1 percentage point to 59.7 percent. Consumption's role as a main driver for economic growth became stronger, with final consumption expenditure contributing 76.2 percent to GDP growth, up 18.6 percentage points year over year and 43.8 percent higher than the contribution of gross capital formation. Household consumption saw an advancement toward higher quality. The national Engel coefficient was 28.4 percent, down by 0.9 percentage point from last year. Of the total household consumption per capita, 44.2 percent was on services, up 1.6 percentage points year over year. Green development also made solid progress. Energy consumption per 10,000 yuan of GDP dropped by 3.1 percent, meeting the goal of falling by at least 3 percent. The proportions of energy consumption continued to improve. Clean energy, such as natural gas, hydropower, nuclear power and wind power, saw a higher ratio of total energy consumption, up by about 1.3 percentage points from the previous year.

11. China's population grew steadily, and the urbanization rate continued to rise.

By the end of 2018, the mainland population (including populations of 31 provinces, autonomous regions, municipalities directly under the central government, and PLA personnel, excluding populations of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, Macao Special Administrative Region, Taiwan Province and overseas Chinese) stood at 1.39538 billion, an increase of 5.3 million from the year before. There were a total of 15.23 million births and 9.93 million deaths reported in 2018, and the birth and death rates reached 10.94 and 7.13 per 1,000, respectively. In terms of gender structure, there were 713.51 million males and 681.87 million females, putting a gender ratio at 104.64. The working-age population (people aged from 16 to 59) stood at 897.29 million, representing 64.3 percent of the total population. About 249.49 million people were registered as being 60 or older, accounting for 17.9 percent of the population; 166.58 million were 65 or older, or 11.9 percent of the population. There were 831.37 million urban residents, a 17.9 million increase from the previous year. The rural population fell 12.6 million to a total of 564.01 million. The urbanization rate was 59.58 percent, 1.06 percentage points higher than the previous year. About 286 million people resided places for over six months away from their places of residential registration, 4.5 million less than the previous year. Specifically, the floating population was 241 million, 3.78 million less than the previous year.

Generally speaking, the national economy in 2018 performed within a reasonable range. It maintained sound and steady growth. At the same time, we have noticed that there are still some changes in the economic operation that are a cause of some concern. We are also facing a complex and serious external environment, accompanied by downward pressure on overall economic growth. All such problems need to be resolved in a targeted manner. In 2019, we will continue to take advantage of the important period of strategic opportunities for development, adhere to the policy of making progress while pursuing stability, commit ourselves to the new development philosophy, seek high-quality development, and pursue supply-side structural reform as the main task. We will stimulate market vitality, demand potential and the driving force of growth, and take comprehensive steps to stabilize growth, facilitate reform, adjust various structures, improve people's livelihood and prevent risks. At the same time, we should also improve the counter-cyclical adjustment of macro policies, enhance structural policies in regard to institutional development, ensure we can continue to provide the basic needs in regard to social policies, and maintain continuous and healthy economic development and social stability, so as to lay a key foundation for building a moderately prosperous society in all aspects. Thank you.

Hu Kaigong:

Now let's move on to questions. Please identify your media organization before asking questions.

.

CCTV:

Mr. Ning has presented in his speech just now that the economy maintained a steady growth in 2018, while we previously heard the central government used expressions like "worrisome developments amid generally steady economic operation" when analyzing the economic situation. Mr. Ning, can you please share with us your views on this expression? What do the "developments" refer to? Where do such worries come from? Which direction is the economy heading? Thank you.

Ning Jizhe:

In 2018, against the backdrop of a complicated international and domestic environment, China's national economy maintained stable and sound development momentum. The main expected goals of economic and social development were achieved, summed up in the following six aspects:

First, the economic operation was kept within a reasonable range, with the macro-control objectives all achieved. The economy maintained medium-to-high-speed growth, with total economic output reaching a new level. GDP grew by 6.6 percent over the previous year, achieving the growth target of around 6.5 percent. The growth rate ranked first among the world's top five economies. China is the largest contributor to world economic growth at nearly 30 percent. In 2018, GDP exceeded 90 trillion yuan, an increase of nearly 8 trillion yuan over the previous year. Converted using an average exchange rate, total economic output reached US$13.6 trillion, second in the world.

Price increases proved to be lower than expected, with a moderate rise in consumer prices. The CPI rose by 2.1 percent from the previous year, lower than the approximate 3 percent that had been expected.

Urban employment continued to expand, and new employment increased substantially. In 2018, the number of new urban jobs stood at 13.61 million; the urban surveyed unemployment rate remained at around 5 percent for the whole year and, in fact, was less than 5 percent in the later months of the year, achieving the target of keeping the figure below 5.5 percent that had been proposed in early 2018. Imports and exports maintained stable growth momentum, with a basic balance being achieved in international payments. For the first time, the total volume of imports and exports exceeded 30 trillion yuan, and the scale of trade in goods reached a new high, ranking first in the world. The trade structure continued to be optimized, the proportion of general trade imports and exports increased, the proportion of exports of mechanical and electrical products increased, and the foreign exchange reserves remained above US$3 trillion. The RMB exchange rate was basically stable.

Second, the three tough battles got off to a good start, and identified weak links significantly strengthened. The macro leverage ratio began to stabilize. In 2018, M2 growth was lower than nominal GDP growth. The ratio of M2 to GDP was 202.9 percent, down 3 percentage points from the previous year. At the end of November 2018, the local government debt balance was 18.29 trillion yuan, falling within designated limits approved by the National People's Congress.

We made notable progress in poverty alleviation. In 2018, the number of rural poor population in the country was reduced by more than 10 million, and 2.8 million people were relocated due to poor local conditions. We estimate about 280 poverty-stricken counties overall will have escaped from poverty.

We also made positive progress in energy conservation, emission reduction and pollution prevention and control. The energy consumption intensity continued to decline. The energy consumption for every 10,000 yuan of GDP fell by 3.1 percent year-over-year, and the proportion of clean energy consumption increased. 338 major Chinese cities saw 79.3 percent of days with fairly good air quality in 2018, 1.3 percentage points higher than 2017. The density of PM2.5 particulate matter was 39 micrograms per cubic meter last year, a decrease of 9.3 percent.

Third, supply-side structural reform further advanced. The task of reducing excessive capacity was completed ahead of schedule. We have been adhering to the market-oriented and law-based approach to reduce excessive capacity, leading to over fulfillment in the targeted reduction of steel production capacity by more than 30 million metric tons, and the removal of the coal production capacity by more than 150 million metric tons.

Deleveraging was steadily promoted, and the macro leverage ratio remained stable. The micro leverage ratio, measured by the asset-liability ratio of industrial enterprises above designated size, was down 0.4 percentage point year-over-year at the end of November 2018.

The drive for destocking proved effective. At the end of 2018, the areas of commercial housing for sale fell by 65.1 million square meters from the end of the previous year. In the past two years, a total of 180 million square meters of commercial housing stock has been cut.

Cost reduction continued to be effective. Costs in every 100 yuan of income earned from the main business of industrial enterprises above designated size continued to decline. The total scale of national enterprises and individuals' burden reduction exceeded the estimated 1.1 trillion yuan at the beginning of the year, and now it has reached more than 1.3 trillion yuan.

Much work was also undertaken to bolster weak spots. Investments in eco-environment protection, agriculture and social sectors saw accelerated growth.

The overall profitability of enterprises was on the rise. From January to November, the total profit of industrial enterprises above designated size increased by 11.8 percent year-over-year.

Fourth, the economic structure is being adjusted and optimized as the new driving force for development becomes stronger. First, the structure of demand was adjusted and optimized, and the proportion between investment and consumption witnessed rational changes. People care about consumption's contribution rate to economic growth, which was 76.2 percent last year, 18.6 percentage points higher than the previous year and 43.8 percentage points higher than the gross capital formation. The internal structure of investment is also being optimized. Private investment and investment in manufacturing both increased rapidly. Second, the industrial structure was continually upgraded, and the service industries assumed the role of "stabilizer." In terms of gross volume, the tertiary industry accounts for 52.2 percent of GDP. In terms of increment, the tertiary industry's growth is 1.8 percentage points higher than that of the secondary industry. In terms of internal structure, the industries' evolution to medium- and higher-end took speed. The value added of the high-tech industries last year increased 11.7 percent year over year, accounting for 13.9 percent of that of the industrial enterprises above a designated scale. And the share is even higher in some coastal regions. The value added of equipment manufacturing industries was faster than the growth of industries of the enterprises above a designated scale. As for agriculture, the plantation structure was optimized and adjusted, and the output of grains remained generally stable. Third, emerging industries, new products, new commercial activities and new modes continuously grew up. The emerging manufacturing industries of strategic importance and the merging service industries of strategic importance have kept comparatively fast growth. The outputs of new energy vehicles, optical fiber and smart television have increased by a large margin. The online retail sales volume has increased by more than 20 percent. Fourth, important science and technology achievements are available. The Beidou 3 satellite was successfully deployed and came into operation; the first earthquake monitoring satellite was launched; the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge opened to traffic last year. Science and technology are increasingly fueling development. Earlier this year, the Chang'e 4 probe landed successfully on the far side of the moon.

Fifth, reform was deepened and opening-up was expanded, injecting new vitality into development. First, in some key fields, reforms were carried out at a deeper level. The reforms -- featuring streamlining governance and delegating power, integrating power delegation and strengthening management, and optimizing services — have yielded obvious effects. According to the World Bank's Doing Business Report 2018, China's ranking has soared 32 places from last year among 190 economies. Second, the number of market subjects increased by a large margin. Last year, the number of newly registered enterprises nationwide was up 10.3 percent year over year, and about 18,400 enterprises were registered each day on average. The National Bureau of Statistics has finished the fourth national economic census, and is now engaged in a household survey. The results of the survey indicate that the number and vitality of legal entities and industrial unity are higher than expected. Third, the finance and taxation system reform unfolded nationwide. The reforms of state-owned enterprises and state-owned assets, price reform, and reform of investment administrative mechanisms were carried forward steadily. The property ownership protection system was constantly improved. The opening-up level was continuously enhanced. The momentum of attracting foreign investment was good. Against the backdrop of the notable decline of global cross-border investment, China used $135 billion last year, up 3 percent year over year. The investment used by manufacturing industries increased by 20 percent, accounting for 30 percent of overall growth. China's foreign investment grew continuously; its economic and trade exchanges with countries along the routes of the Belt and Road were expanded. Its import and export volume with these countries, and its nonfinancial investment in these countries, both grew faster than the overall growth of imports and exports and overall foreign-bound investment.

Sixth, residents' income and spending increased rapidly, and people's livelihood steadily improved. First, residents' income grew on pace with the economy. Last year, national per capita disposable income grew 6.5 percent, higher than the 6.1 percent growth of GDP. Rural residents' income grew faster than that of their urban counterparts. According to the National Bureau of Statistics, the middle-income population in China has exceeded 400 million. Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China in 2012, the scale of the middle-income group has continuously expanded. Second, residents' spending grew quickly. Last year, the personal expenditure grew 6.2 percent, 0.8 percentage points higher than the previous year. The actual growth of the rural residents' personal consumption was 8.4 percent, faster than that of urban residents. Third, the structure of consumption was constantly upgraded. Last year, the Engel Coefficient of the national residents was 28.4 percent, down 0.9 percentage points from the previous year. The standard of the OECD countries, or developed economies, was below 30 percent. We reached the level in terms of the Engel Coefficient. Service consumption continuously improved as well. Last year, the number of domestic tourists and the revenue from domestic tourism both grew by more than 10 percent, and total box office revenue of the film industry reached 60 billion yuan, up nearly 10 percent.

At the same time, the economic performance, amid overall stability, presents aspects that arouse people's concern. The major reason firstly stems from the external environment. We are all very concerned about the way the international situation is trending, full of variable and uncertain factors. The past year witnessed ups and downs in the world economy, such as the financial market and prices of large quantities of commodities fluctuating sharply, along with a drastic fall in global investment and the prevalence of global trade protectionism and unilateralism. All these developments in the international situation impacted on China – the second largest economy in the world with its import and export volumes accounting for one-third of total GDP.

Other factors came from internal environment. Structural issues piling up over a long period are still the main aspect of all contradictions in China's development. Currently the economy is in a transition stage, during which the throes of the reform process are unavoidable, with a constantly changing situation. There are inevitably various contradictions, challenges and difficulties in such a transition period. In particular, the economy faces significant downward pressures. It should be noted that the economic growth rate dropped slightly, as was expected, of course.

Overall, in such a complex internal and external environment, it is not easy for the economy to perform within a reasonable range. Achievements have not come easily; hence, we will attach greater importance to the various problems.

Bloomberg:

I have two questions. First, in terms of the "worrisome developments" mentioned just now, what were the sources of these worries? How much came from the trade war with the U.S.? Second, it was just mentioned that the unemployment rate was 4.9 percent at the end of last year. We have read many media reports on large-scale dismissals before the New Year like those of Foxconn. The National Development and Reform Commission attributed it to migrant workers' earlier return home for the Spring Festival. Can the unemployment rate of 4.9 percent accurately describe China's situation? Thank you.

Ning Jizhe:

On your first question, how much of the worry stems from China-U.S. trade friction? This began to emerge from the second quarter of last year. In these circumstances, the Chinese government promptly adopted a policy of stabilizing employment, finance, foreign trade, foreign capital, investment and expectations. The trade friction does affect China's economic operation, but the effect is controllable overall. The data on imports and exports released some days ago also demonstrated this point, and judging from the data on China's economic performance, it is generally believed the international situation had a greater impact on China's economy in the fourth quarter. Here, I would like to share the data in December with you again.

In the past two months, some major economic indicators have risen while others have fallen, but the economy still registered a slower, but stable performance. For example, in December, major indicators on investment, consumption, performance of the industrial and service sectors were either flat or slightly up, but generally stable. Fixed asset investment from January to December rose 5.9 percent year over year. In December, retail sales of consumer goods rose 8.2 percent year over year, 0.1 percentage point higher than the growth rate in November. The added value of industrial enterprises with an annual revenue of 20 million yuan or more derived from their main business operations increased 5.7 percent year over year, 0.3 percentage point higher than that in November. The Index for Service Industry Production rose 7.3 percent year over year, 0.1 percentage point faster than November. Despite the decline of the Purchase Management Index of the manufacturing industry, the Index for Non-manufacturing Industry Business Activity increased, the service sector maintained its boom, and the Index for the Construction Industry rose sharply.

Trade friction affects not only the economies of China and the U.S., but also the global economy. In general, we are overcoming it and moving forward. Cooperation brings benefits for both countries, while confrontation brings mutual suffering. Cooperation brings gains to all countries, while confrontation brings losses to many. Working groups of the two countries maintained close communication and conducted many talks to implement the outcome of the meeting in Argentina on Dec.1 of their leaders, and achieved positive progress. It was important news for both countries and the global economy in general. I have personally noticed that the stock market or the tweets from the other side of the ocean had some positive effects on the talks. Economic globalization remains a long-term trend, and the Chinese economy is now deeply integrated into the world economy. The trade in goods between China and the U.S. exceeds US$ 630 billion. Mutually-beneficial win-win cooperation remains unchanged, and there is huge demand and potential for cooperation. Meanwhile, it should be noted that, in general, China's economic growth is led by domestic demand. In 2018, the contribution rate of consumption growth and investment growth combined surpassed 100 percent, while that of net exports was negative. Moreover, there is plenty of room for expansion in China's domestic market. Trade friction has not changed, and will not change the fundamentals of China's economic development. The country's resilience in withstanding pressure and coping with shocks, and China's overall economic growth amid stability, will remain unchanged.

Your second question is about the unemployment rate. We used the registered urban unemployment rate based on registrations with the labor authority; however, the National Bureau of Statistics began to release the surveyed urban unemployment rate last year. The latter had already been trialed internally for five years, and is considered more representative, as its system, approach and sample distribution all conform to the standards of International Labor Organization (ILO). As the ILO was most influenced by Europe, we adopted the same system and approach of surveyed unemployment rate as the European countries. In comparison, the statistical scope of the U.S. might be narrower. China's surveyed urban unemployment rate was 4.9 percent in December, while that of the U.S. was 3.9 percent. The annualized growth rate of the U.S. economy in the third quarter was 3.4 percent, while China's economy grew 6.6 percent in 2018. The surveyed unemployment rate in European countries was around 8 percent on average, but in some of the countries the figure was above 10 percent; the economic growth rate was around 2 percent. Japan's economy grew about 1 percent. Due to a labor shortage, Japan's surveyed unemployment rate was the lowest among major developed economies. The whole picture becomes clear by making a comparison of the surveyed unemployment rates of countries around the world.

There are individual cases like the one that just mentioned; in the meantime, new companies, including those worth tens of billions of yuan, are entering China, in both the service and manufacturing sectors. It is normal for foreign investment to come and go. Multinational enterprises are making readjustments globally, creating transfer employment and re-employment of some workers. Meanwhile, there is a shortage of technicians, skilled workers, and new-type talents in some companies in the coastal areas and in central and western China. Therefore, there is still a significant structural contradiction in employment. We will pay attention to the phenomena you just mentioned, promote implementation of policies giving priority to employment, so that people have jobs and lead an increasingly better-off life. Thank you for your questions.

China News Service:

According to the general market forecast, the external environment will possibly be more challenging in 2019, and several international institutions have downgraded their expectations on China's economic growth. Therefore, Mr. Ning, what will be the economic trajectory in 2019, and is it possible there will be a crescendo by the end of the year following moderating or even slow growth at the beginning?

Ning Jizhe:

The economic future of China and, indeed, the world, has drawn immense concern since 2019 arrived. Certainly, we have noted the fact of international institutions lowering their expectations for the global economy, including China as well as developed countries.

Regarding China's economy, the external environment is becoming more complex and challenging, filled with instabilities and uncertainties. Trade protectionism is still prevailing, along with unilateral protectionism and populism. More to the point, the structural problems are still prominent. However, despite various disputes, troubles, problems, challenges and even outright crises, there remain hope, opportunities and the conviction of a bright future. In 2019, we have got to be aware that opportunities form a symbiosis with challenges, especially as the economy is still forging ahead with moderate growth. Therefore, given its fundamental nature and conditions, we are convinced the economy can still perform within a reasonable range to secure constant and sound development. Amid a flagging global economy, China remains the biggest contributor to economic growth. Therefore, the fluctuations, either monthly or quarterly, are nothing abnormal and we should not be overly concerned. Our attention should be focused on key factors, such as yearly performance, the movement and tendencies in the global tide. On the whole, the world is still dominated by economic globalization, digitalized social networks, multilateral politics and cultural diversity. We have reached consensus that multilateralism, peace, development and cooperation remain mainstream conceptions globally.

As for China, the country is still and will continue to be in an important period of strategic opportunity for development. The economic fundamentals sustaining sound development remain unchanged, and will never change. The fact that China remains in the primary stage of socialism has not changed, and its international status as the largest developing country in the world is also, by no means, going to change. This means we still have an advantage of backwardness and substantial potential. In particular, the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China made a major decision to resolve the issue of imbalanced and inadequate development. The decision will certainly promote the country's high-quality development and ensure the economy maintains a medium-high growth rate.

There are many favorable conditions. First, tremendous changes in the world and a new development pattern emerging in China have brought about significant opportunities. There is enormous space for China to enhance openness towards and cooperation with other countries, and to participate in the reform of the global economic governance system. Meanwhile, we are speeding up economic structural upgrading, improving technological and innovation capacities, furthering reforms and opening wider to the outside world, as well as accelerating green development. All those efforts mean fresh development opportunities.

Second, China is among the most promising markets in the world. As was mentioned just now, our population is approaching 1.4 billion. China has the world's largest and fastest-growing middle-income population. According to internal measurement by the NBS, China had more than 400 million middle-income earners in 2017, and the measurement for 2018 is expected to see a higher number. There is a standard for the middle-income group. China has about 140 million households with an annual income of 100,000 to 500,000 yuan. Those 400 million people can afford cars, housing, tourism and entertainment. Therefore, consumption offers strong support for China's sustained and steady economic growth. Apart from the 400 million middle-income group, we have a large number of people in other income groups, including the high-income and the lower-middle-income. By increasing residents' income, improving the consumption environment and product quality, China is going to create a stronger domestic market and further unlock the huge consumption potential.

Third, China boasts substantial material and talent bases. After more than four decades of reform and opening up, China has established a relatively complete and comprehensive industrial system, and has been constantly improving its infrastructure, thus laying a sound material and technological foundation for economic growth. A great deal of attention is now being paid to labor, an active factor of production. China has a labor force of nearly 900 million, of which 700 million are employed people and 170 million are high-quality talents who have received higher or vocational education. More than 8 million students graduate from universities each year. With a huge population and labor force, China will continue to benefit from the demographic dividend, a rising labor participation rate and the emerging talent dividend. All those factors provide intellectual support for promoting high-quality development and opening up new growth horizons.

Fourth, the release of the reform dividend accelerated. Last year marked the 40th anniversary of reform and opening up policy; this year sees the 70th anniversary of the founding of New China. Thus, the reform was, is and will continue to be a strong driving force for China's economic development.

Fifth, macro policy has large room for maneuver and gained sufficient experience. At present, the inflation level and fiscal deficit rate are relatively low even by international standards, the foreign exchange reserves are sufficient, and macroeconomic policy has great room for a continued good operation. In this regard, we should strengthen countercyclical adjustment and implement active fiscal policies and prudent monetary policies. Active fiscal policies should be strengthened to achieve greater effect, and sound monetary policies should be maintained at a certain moderate level, coordinated with the implementation of other policies. We have enough adjustment tools and available approaches, and we have a wealth of experience. You can look back at how we responded to the Asian financial crisis 20 years ago. You can also look back at how we responded to the international financial crisis 10 years ago. Despite the challenges and changes taking place in the world, we have hard-working and intelligent people, we have strong leaders, and we have rich and diverse experience, so we will be able to turn crises into opportunities, seize opportunities, overcome challenges, reverse downward pressure to lifting force, promote economic to advance in stability, and strive for high-quality development.

CGTN:

We noticed a steady increase of consumption in 2018. However, there are concerns about consumption downgrade. What are your thought on this matter? We also noticed the newly released data showing that consumption fell from 78 percent of GDP growth in the first three quarters to 76.2 percent. What's your understanding of this fluctuation?

Ning Jizhe:

The contribution rate of consumption to economic growth in 2018 is higher than the previous year. The slight decrease you mentioned does not reveal anything serious. Generally speaking, the consumption structure is upgrading as people's income raises. Our Engel's Coefficient has been decreasing in recent years, which means people's non-material expenditure has been rising. And we all know that the data on people's income and expenditure are acquired through household surveys, in which electronic accounting is promoted. About 60 percent of those surveyed now use electronic accounting which is internationally comparable.

Another important point is that high-quality consumption is trending. Cheap and fine goods have a market, but the ones of higher quality and higher price are being embraced by the middle- and upper-income families. I think we all have an impression that the rate of service consumption is rising. Domestic tourists are increasing at double-digit growth, and a huge number of tourists are making overseas trips. Globalization comes with a spillover effect in consumption, which will be good for other countries. We also see rapid growth in consumption of culture, information, education and training, and health.

So far there is no effective method of measurement in this regard, and following the instruction of the State Council, the National Bureau of Statistics is trying to expand the total retail sales of consumer goods to cover service consumption. Service consumption in the fields of tourism, culture and health haven't been included in the total retail sales of consumer goods. But we still see a 9 percent increase, which is worth noting. Shifting from high-speed growth to medium-to-high-speed growth, we need to upgrade our thought patterns to realize a reasonable economic performance and achieve high-quality growth. To embrace the upgrading of consumption, we will improve our production structure, adjust our industrial and investment structures, and boost our consumption infrastructure. We will work hard to facilitate consumption's fundamental role in economic development.

Thank you.

Market News International:

Last year's market price was lower than expected and the CPI (consumer price index) as well as the PPI (producer price index) were also weakening in December. How do you expect the CPI and PPI will go this year? What are the risks of deflation? You said the country should enhance through counter-cyclical adjustments to its macro policies, could you discuss some of the factors in macro policies that are worthy of attention?

Ning Jizhe:

The CPI growth last December was below 2 percent and the PPI growth also fell month over month. Last year, the CPI and PPI grew moderately at 2.1 percent and 3.5 percent respectively, which was as expected by the Chinese people. There are many factors affecting CPI growth, the most important of which is the relationship between supply and demand, including that of manufactured consumer goods and agricultural products. We have sufficient and diversified supply of agricultural products, stable grain output, and a portfolio of business models. The supply and demand of manufactured consumer goods is generally stable, with the supply of most of the goods being higher than demand. Now manufacturing needs to improve standards and quality for higher consumption demand. The relationship between supply and demand influences pricing. We can analyze these two in relationship with each other to grasp the trend of price changes. Of course, PPI is not only affected by domestic supply and demand but also by the changes in the price of global commodities. Domestically, supply-side structural reform helped to solve the troubles of traditional industries like excess production and subsequently low prices. Internationally, the drop in global commodity prices, especially of energy products, in Q4 also affected PPI growth, as China is already a key importer and exporter of capital goods. There are still some uncertainties ahead in 2019. Macro-economic research as well as research on market prices, should take domestic and international factors into account.

As for the potential "deflation" risk of some media concern, China has not seen overall deflation in the past 10 years, but there were some kinds of structural deflation factors in certain years. It is inappropriate to say that China faces the risk of deflation this year. Given the economic climate and other background factors, we expect that prices will see a moderate rise this year. Pricing changes are affected by the relationship between market supply and demand, and this leads to your second question on counter-cyclical adjustments to macro policies. Macro policies should not only deal with structural problems, key problems and key elements, but also take the balance of supply and demand into consideration. Counter-cyclical adjustments help reduce downward pressure of economic growth, while supply-side structural reform helps improve the relationship between supply and demand, as well as promote overcapacity reduction and structural deleveraging. At the same time, we should take stable overall demand into consideration. The government policy is very clear now that it will implement a proactive fiscal policy and prudent monetary policy. The proactive fiscal policy is to increase efficiency through bolder and more effective measures while the prudent monetary policy is to be "neither too tight nor too loose." The former involves cutting taxes and fees on a larger scale, substantially increasing the issuance of special-purpose local government bonds, and raising investment within the central government budget to channel more energy into weaker areas. Moreover, the finance department has made arrangements to improve efficiency in asset allocation and to enhance performance. The monetary policy should be "prudent," which implies that it should be "neither too tight nor too loose," and should maintain market liquidity at a reasonably ample level; keep proper increases for the scale of currency, credit and social financing; improve financing and credit structures by following the requirements of deepening supply-side structural reform; increase financial support for private enterprises; and smooth out the monetary policy transmission mechanism to increase direct financing to the brick-and-mortar businesses and small- and medium-sized enterprises, for the purpose of better serving the real economy. Therefore, the policy orientation is very clear.

Thank you.

Phoenix TV:

Our question concerns the total population. The number of births has been shrinking for the second consecutive year, with the birth rate and the natural population growth rate reaching new lows. What do you think of this situation? Does the gradual decline in population growth rate mean the demographic dividend of China's economic growth is disappearing ahead of schedule?

Ning Jizhe:

Recently, people are very concerned about the population data. Some research articles suggest the population will see so-called negative growth. The data released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has clearly shown that, in 2018, China's population is not only growing, but also the number of births, 15.23 million, is relatively large. This figure is still very impressive. As for the decline in the population growth rate and birth rate, you mustn't concentrate on the one-year data. We need to undertake long-term observation on this point. We have had population peaks in our history, and, now, the structural changes in population occur naturally; so, we shouldn't over-interpret it.

The demographic structure changes with economic and social development. As mentioned earlier, the demographic dividend still exists. China has labor resources of nearly 900 million people. This scale is huge, despite some fluctuations. The labor participation rate is not low in global terms. More than 700 million out of 900 million people are employed, and there is still room for growth. The quantity of labor itself presents a great potential. Everyone notices that there are still 288 million migrant workers, which is a very large pool of available labor. Although the population who reside in areas other than that of their household registration has declined, the number is still very large. The reason for the decline is that 100 million workers have been employed in cities, being transformed from farmers into urban residents. Now, with the development of the central and western regions, foreign companies and domestic companies in coastal areas have invested more there. With the improvement of transportation and infrastructure in these areas, and the implementation of various regional development strategies, migrant workers have returned to their hometowns, many finding jobs in secondary and tertiary industries nearby, creating a new trend. The quality of the labor force is improving constantly; coupled with the fact appearance of eight million college graduates each year, their contribution to industrial upgrading and talent bonuses will become even more prominent. We attach more importance to the talent bonus, and, along with the fact that China still has a demographic dividend, it can be said that the factors supporting the medium and long-term positive trend of the national economy have not changed.

Yicai TV:

Statistics for the full year of 2018 indicated a further pickup in the investment expansion rate from the first three quarters. My question is, will infrastructure investment have a bigger impact on, or a bigger contribution to economic growth in 2019? What will be the points of weakness to be strengthened this year?

Ning Jizhe:

Investment indicators have underperformed compared to consumption indicators these past few years. We have quite a few points of weakness that need to be strengthened. Although we are already an upper-middle income country overall, and the world's second largest economy, we still have the problem of very unbalanced development. Levels of infrastructure facilities vary greatly between localities, so infrastructure development remains a major area of weakness to be strengthened. Since October, as our efforts to address points of weakness intensified, the expansion rate of fixed asset investment rebounded. Investment primarily covers three types: manufacturing, infrastructure and real estate. Infrastructure investment growth was weaker than that of manufacturing. In short, infrastructure development, especially for improving the consumption environment and for implementing the rural revitalization and regional development strategies, remains a weak point. Compared with developed countries, we have a relatively new expressway network and the world's longest total length of high-speed railways. However, when measured on a per capita basis, our operational infrastructure amount is remarkably lower. For example, we are low on airport coverage, compared with Europe and America. The task to accelerate infrastructure development for the direct benefit of people's livelihood in both urban and rural areas is still heavy.

Besides, houses built for people relocated from inhospitable areas need to be complete with supporting infrastructure facilities. In terms of government-subsidized housing, we will intensify efforts to rebuild shantytowns and supply public rental housing. Of course, agriculture and water conservancy are also areas with big room for improvement. We need to implement the rural revitalization strategy. There are also major water conservancy projects and major 13th Five-Year Plan projects still under construction. In terms of transportation, urban public transportation and transportation between city clusters need improvement, renovation and upgrading. I said a moment ago that we have an urbanization rate of nearly 60 percent. However, even with the fast railway construction, we still cannot fully satisfy people's needs. These are all weak points that are closely related to people's livelihood that need strengthening. It can be expected that, policies will continue to be put in place and take effect this year, resulting in stronger data than last year. Thanks.

Hu Kaihong:

That's all for today's press conference. Thank you, Mr. Ning. Thank you, everyone.

.

Read in Chinese

Speaker:
Li Kuiwen, spokesperson of the General Administration of Customs and director general of the Department of Statistics & Analysis of the General Administration of Customs

Chairperson:
Hu Kaihong, spokesperson for the State Council Information Office of China

Date:
Jan. 14, 2019

Hu Kaihong:

Ladies and gentlemen, good morning. Welcome to this SCIO briefing. Starting today, we will hold a series of briefings to introduce the statistical data of China's economic performance for the full year of 2018. Today, we are delighted to invite Mr. Li Kuiwen, spokesperson of the General Administration of Customs and director general of its Department of Statistics & Analysis, to talk about the state of China's imports and exports in 2018. He will also answer questions of interest to you. 

Now, I will give the floor to Mr. Li.

Li Kuiwen:

Before taking your questions, I would like to give you a brief introduction of the general situation with China's foreign trade imports and exports in 2018.

In 2018, under the leadership of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council, all localities and departments actively implemented a series of policies and measures to promote the stable growth of foreign trade, effectively responding to the profound changes in the external environment. During the year, foreign trade remained stable overall and saw steady growth, with the import and export scale reaching a record high. Therefore, China is expected to maintain its position as the world's largest trader in goods. According to customs statistics, the total value of China's foreign trade, imports and exports together, was 30.51 trillion yuan in 2018, an increase of 9.7 percent from 2017. Of that, exports grew 7.1 percent to 16.42 trillion yuan, while imports went up 12.9 percent to 14.09 trillion yuan, and the foreign trade surplus shrank 18.3 percent to 2.33 trillion yuan. Priced in terms of U.S. dollars, China's total foreign trade value was US$4.62 trillion in 2018, up 12.6 percent. Exports amounted to US$2.48 trillion of that, up 9.9 percent, and imports were US$2.14 trillion, up 15.8 percent from the previous year. The foreign trade surplus stood at US$351.76 billion, shrinking 16.2 percent. Specifically, the foreign trade situation presents the following characteristics.

First, imports and exports have seen a steady upswing, reaching a combined value of 10 trillion yuan for the first time in 2005, then 20 trillion yuan in 2010. In 2018, the volume hit a new height by exceeding 30 trillion yuan, 2.7 trillion yuan more than the previous year.

Second, imports and exports of general trade grew rapidly as well, representing an increased proportion. The volume reached 17.64 trillion yuan last year, a growth of 12.5 percent year over year. This constituted 57.8 percent of the country's entire imports and exports, 1.4 percentage points higher than the ratio in 2017, indicating an improvement of trade structures.

Third, China's imports and exports with major trade partners secured overall growth. China maintains good cooperative momentum with countries along the Belt and Road. Trade with China's top three partners, namely the European Union, the United States and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), increased by 7.9 percent, 5.7 percent and 11.2 percent respectively in 2018. In combination, these accounted for 41.2 percent of China's total imports and exports. At the same time, trade with the countries along the Belt and Road reached 8.37 trillion yuan in aggregation, up 13.3 percent year over year and 3.6 percentage points higher than the country's holistic trade growth. The potential of trade partnerships between China and countries along the Belt and Road has continued to evolve, forming a new driving force behind the country's foreign trade as a whole. Specifically, imports and exports to Russia, Saudi Arabia and Greece increased by 24 percent, 23.2 percent and 33 percent, respectively. 

Fourth, the import and export of private enterprises have increased, and their proportion of China's total imports and exports has also grown. In 2018, the import and export of private enterprises in China was 12.1 trillion yuan, an increase of 12.9 percent compared to 2017. Private enterprises accounted for 39.7 percent of China's total imports and export value, an increase of 1.1 percentage points over 2017. Exports were valued 7.87 trillion yuan, an increase of 10.4 percent. Private sector exports continued to dominate the Chinese export market, accounting for 48 percent of the total export market, an increase of 1.4 percentage points over 2017. Meanwhile, imports reached 4.23 trillion yuan, an increase of 18.1 percent. In 2018, the contribution of private enterprises in China to the growth of foreign trade imports and exports exceeded 50 percent, which became a highlight of China's foreign trade development. During the same period, the import and export of foreign-invested enterprises were 12.99 trillion yuan, an increase of 4.3 percent, accounting for 42.6 percent of China's total imports and exports. The import and export of state-owned enterprises were 5.3 trillion yuan, an increase of 16.8 percent, accounting for 17.4 percent of China's total imports and exports.

Fifth, the growth rate of imports and exports in the central, western, and the northeastern regions was higher than the overall national growth rate, and regional development was more coordinated. In 2018, the growth rate of foreign trade in the 12 provinces and cities in the west registered at 16.1 percent, exceeding the national growth rate by 6.4 percentage points. The growth rate of foreign trade in the six provinces and cities in the central region was 11.4 percent, exceeding the national growth rate by 1.7 percentage points. The growth rate of foreign trade in the three northeastern provinces was 14.8 percent, exceeding the national growth rate by 5.1 percentage points. Finally, the growth rate of foreign trade in the 10 eastern provinces and cities stood at 8.8 percent.

Sixth, mechanical and electrical products took a larger share of China's exports, and the export commodity structure has been further optimized. In 2018, exports of mechanical and electrical products amounted to 9.65 trillion yuan, an increase of 7.9 percent, accounting for 58.8 percent of China's total exports. And this percentage grew by 0.4 percentage points from 2017. China's automotive exports grew by 8.3 percent and cellular phone exports by 9.8 percent. Toys, garments and five additional labor-intensive products exported by China in 2018 reached a combined total of 3.12 trillion yuan, which is 1.2 percent more than last year, accounting for19 percent of the total.

Seventh, both the import price and volume of oil, gas, copper and other commodities are on the rise, while the import volume of iron ore and soybean have fallen. China's import of crude oil amounted to 462 million tons, gas 90.39 million tons, refined oil products33.48 million tons and copper 5.3 million tons, up 10.1, 31.9, 13 and 12.9 percent from last year, respectively. On the other hand, the import of iron ore fell by 1 percent to 1.064 billion tons and soybeans fell by 7.9 percent to 88.03 million tons. Preliminary estimates indicate that the China's import prices on the whole increased by 6.1 percent in 2018, and that the import price of oil grew by 30 percent, refined oil products by 20 percent, gas by 22.9 percent and copper by 3.2 percent.

In 2019, the General Administration of Customs will be guided by Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, fully implement the spirit of the 19th CPC National Congress and the second and third plenary sessions of the 19th CPC Central Committee and commit to the arrangements of the Central Economic Work Conference. Sticking to an overall tone of making progress while maintaining stability, we will work to stabilize employment, the financial sector, foreign trade, foreign and domestic investments, and expectations, and promote various customs reforms with a focus on optimizing the business environment at ports and promoting higher quality while maintaining stability in foreign trade to better serve the socioeconomic development of the nation.

Now, I'm ready to take your questions.

Hu Kaihong:

Thank you, Mr. Li. Now, the floor is open. Please identify the media outlet you represent before raising questions.

CCTV:

Director Li, can you summarize China's foreign trade performance in 2018? What do you think are the new features and highlights of China's foreign trade development during the past year? Thank you.

Li Kuiwen:

Thank you for your question. China's foreign trade achieved steady growth in 2018; the scale of imports and exports reached a new historical high; and quality and efficiency were further improved.

The achievements were hard-won and based on the following five aspects:

First, the business environment is friendly. Last year, China introduced a series of policies and measures to reduce taxes and optimize the business environment at ports; therefore the level of foreign trade facilitation has significantly improved. According to the "Doing Business 2019" report released by the World Bank, China has advanced 32 ranks in business environment, and the cross-border trade made a progress from the 97th position to the 65th position, also 32 advancing ranks. In addition, China increased its export tax rebate rate of some commodities two times last year, and lowered import tariffs on medicines, automobiles and accessories, daily consumer goods; thus promoting the increase of exports and imports.

Second, there has been an increase in foreign trade enterprises. The Chinese economy maintained a steady growth in 2018 and operated within its proper range; this provided a good environment for foreign trade development. According to our statistics, the number of enterprises with actual import and export performances has increased from 436,000 in 2017 to 470,000 now.

Third, the wide range of trade partners. In 2018, China's foreign trade market became more diversified. In the process of maintaining growth with traditional trade partners, China also proactively encouraged exchanges with other countries and regions. In 2018, the import and export growth rate with countries along the Belt and Road routes, Africa and Latin America, was respectively 3.6, 6.7 and 6 percentage points higher than the total imports and exports growth rate. 

Four, the growth momentum has been strong. In terms of quantity and price factors, import and export growth was strong in 2018. According to estimates by the General Administration of Customs, China's import quantity index was 106.4 and the export quantity index was 103.6. The contribution rate of import and export both exceeded 50 percent, and the growth momentum became more solid.

Five, high quality and efficiency. China's import and export proceeded in a more balanced way with more coordinated regional development and improved product structure. From the perspective of products, the export of some mechanical and electrical products and equipment manufacturing products maintained great growth momentum. For example, the export of metal processing machines grew by 19.2 percent; mobile phones grew by 9.8 percent and automobiles increased by 8.3 percent. The import of equipment, key parts and components of high-quality consumer goods also grew rapidly. For example, integrated circuits increased by 16.9 percent; consumer goods increased by 10.9 percent, and aquatic and marine products increased by 39.9 percent respectively. The quality and efficiency of both imports and exports improved to a great extent.

That's all of my opinions regarding China's foreign trade situation in 2018.

Economic Daily:

We have noticed import growth slowed down slightly in the fourth quarter; so, what was the main reason for that? Besides, the annual central economic work conference pointed out that there are new and worrisome developments amid the generally steady economic operation. How do these new development features reflect foreign trade in general? And what is your expectation for general foreign trade in 2019? Thank you. 

Li Kuiwen:

Thank you. Let me start by answering your first question about imports and exports in the fourth quarter.

In the fourth quarter of 2018, imports and exports registered year-on-year growth of 8.8 percent. The growth rate was slower than that of the third quarter. I think that was due to the following reasons:

First, the volume of imports and exports increased quarter by quarter. [These] reached 6.76 trillion yuan, 7.36 trillion yuan, 8.18 trillion yuan and 8.21 trillion yuan during the four quarters of last year respectively, with figures exceeding 8 trillion yuan in both the third and fourth quarters, a high level. 

Second, the growth rate of imports and exports still remains within its proper range. The main reason for the subdued growth rate in the fourth quarter are attributed to last year's large base figure. The base figure of the fourth quarter was five percent larger than that of the third quarter. However, compared to the third quarter, imports and exports increased by 0.3 percent in the fourth quarter. 

In regard to the situation you just mentioned, that the growth rate of imports and exports slightly slowed down in the fourth quarter, we consider such fluctuations as normal, and related to many factors including the domestic and international economic situation, commodity prices and the plans of foreign trade enterprises. In our opinion, such fluctuations will weaken over a longer period. 

Regarding the second question you raised about hidden concerns in China's foreign trade, we believe that the biggest worry about the development of China's foreign trade in 2019 is that the external environment is complex and harsh, and there are many uncertainties. In some countries, protectionism and unilateralism are on the rise, and world economic growth may slow down, affecting cross-border trade and investment. At present, major international organizations have already lowered their expectations for growth of the global economy and trade. For example, the World Bank recently lowered its forecast of global economic growth in 2019 from 3 percent to 2.9 percent, reflecting concerns about the current trends in international trade.

Your third question is about the general trends of China's imports and exports in 2019. In general, China will keep its economic development on a stable and healthy track. The central government has successively issued a series of policy measures to stabilize foreign investment. And the effect is showing, laying a solid foundation through policy for the advancement of foreign trade this year. At the same time, the external environment is still complicated and severe. There are still many uncertain and unstable factors, and objective factors such as last year's large base figure, all of which may slow the growth rate of foreign trade. 

We believe that with further opening up and the further advancement of supply-side structural reforms, China's foreign trade development this year is expected to stabilize and improve in terms of both quality and efficiency. Thank you.

TASS:

According to the statistics of the Ministry of Commerce, as of December 2018, the trade volume between China and Russia has exceeded US$100 billion. What kind of expectations does the General Administration of Customs have on the economic and trade cooperation between the two sides in 2019?

Li Kuiwen:

Thank you for the question. In 2018, against the background of frequent high-level visits and all-round cooperation between China and Russia, the two countries' economic and trade relationship continued to increase, and Sino-Russian economic and trade cooperation has maintained a good momentum of development. According to customs statistics, China's imports and exports to Russia in 2018 were 707.55 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 24 percent, accounting for 2.3 percent of China's total import and export value during the same period. Among them, exports to Russia reached 316.65 billion yuan, an increase of 9.1 percent, and imports from Russia reached 390.9 billion yuan, an increase of 39.4 percent. If denominated in U.S. dollars, the bilateral trade volume between China and Russia reached US$107.06 billion in 2018, surpassing US$100 billion for the first time, a record high, with an increase of 27 percent. The growth rate ranked first among China's top ten trading partners. In terms of main import and export commodities, exports to Russia were mainly mechanical and electrical products, while imports from Russia were mainly energy resource products such as crude oil, coal and sawn timber.

This year marks the 70th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Russia. Both countries will work together to further strengthen strategic cooperation, promote cooperation in all fields, and promote China-Russia's comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination to achieve more fruitful results and better benefit the two peoples. It is expected that there will be new developments in Sino-Russian economic and trade relations this year. Thank you.

Reuters: 

I'd like to ask how the import and export figures with the U.S. in 2018 compared with 2017? And what's your projection for the year to come? Thank you.

Li Kuiwen: 

Thanks for your questions. Now I'd like to inform you of some figures regarding the Sino-U.S. trade due to the wide concerns in this regard. Data from the General Administration of Customs show that, in 2018, the volume of our trade with the U.S. was 4.18 trillion yuan, 5.7 percent up year-on-year. Our exports to the U.S. hit 3.16 trillion yuan, a gain of 8.6 percent. Our imports from the U.S. fell 2.3 percent to 1.02 trillion yuan. This means our trade surplus in 2018 was 2.14 trillion yuan, up 14.7 percent year-on-year. Priced in dollars, the total value of the imports and exports between China and the U.S. reached US$633.52 billion, 8.5 percent up year-on-year. The total value of bilateral exports hit US$478.42 billion, 11.3 percent up year-on-year, and the total value of bilateral imports was US$155.1 billion, a 0.7 percent gain. We see China's trade surplus with the U.S. rising to US$323.32 billion, 17.2 percent up year-on-year. China's 2018 trade surplus with the U.S. somewhat widened compared with 2017, which we think demonstrates the complementarities between the two economies in different stages of development.

Phoenix TV:

China's foreign trade performed well in 2018. However, both the General Administration of Customs and the National Bureau of Statistics said that the performance was partly attributable to declarations in advance of the tariffs. Do you think the export demand for 2019 has been overdrawn? Does it mean weaker external demand in 2019? Thank you.

Li Kuiwen:

I have introduced the overall trend in China's foreign trade. We believe that this year's overall trend in foreign trade, on the basis of last year will see an improved quality at a steady pace. Despite concerns over the trade development caused by external uncertainties, we believe that China's foreign trade will see improved quality and performance while maintaining steady growth this year. A reporter from CCTV asked a similar question just now, and I have given my answers. Thank you.

China News Service:

We notice the imports and exports of Chinese private companies provide an increased proportion of the overall trade last year. Could you introduce some of the key features in their growth? How does the General Administration of Customs support their trade growth? Thank you.

Li Kuiwen:

I just introduced some general information about the imports and exports of Chinese private companies, which has grown rapidly and assumed a rising proportion in the overall trade. Now, I would like to share some of the other salient features.

First, imports and exports of private companies have achieved greater dynamism. In 2018, around 372,000 private companies participated in foreign trade, an increase of 10.7 percent year-on-year. They contributed more than half of the foreign trade growth in 2018, thus playing a more important role in overall trade development.

Second, different regions were at different echelons of growth in terms of import and export volume by private enterprises. The central, western, and northwestern regions recorded a growth rate of 20.3 percent, 18.9 percent and 16.7 percent respectively, all higher than the eastern region, which achieved a 12.1 percent gain last year.

Third, the trade structure of private companies continued to upgrade. Mechanical and electrical products accounted for over 40 percent of both their import and export value. The export of integrated circuit, mobile phones and LCD panels increased by 51 percent, 16.8 percent and 34.1 percent respectively, while the import of integrated circuit, agricultural products and plastics in primary forms grew by 35.3 percent, 11 percent and 27.5 percent.

In support of private enterprises, GAC is putting into practice the principles drawn from General Secretary Xi Jinping's addresses at a symposium on private enterprises held on Nov. 1, and has also introduced a series of measures to support private enterprises to reduce their financial burdens and increase efficiency. I'll introduce the situation in three aspects:

First, we have launched pilot programs for tariff guarantee insurance. We expanded the existing guarantee method by introducing insurance companies into customs tax guarantee system to ease the enterprise burden, especially for small and medium-sized enterprises. We also encouraged SME innovation by exempting the tax on imported products related to scientific research and technological development for qualified SME public service demonstration platforms.

Second, we have promoted integration reforms, so that import and export-oriented enterprises can directly use the national enterprise credit information publicity system to deliver their annual reports, and no longer need to report separately to different departments. Among those qualified, more than 60 percent are private enterprises. The number of the annual report items has been reduced to around 40 from more than 120, a reduction of 70 percent.

Third, we have helped private enterprises "go global." The General Administration of Customs has promoted mutual recognition of the Authorized Economic Operators (AEO) with 36 countries and regions, and helped private enterprises to enjoy the various conveniences provided by local customs. Thank you.

CCTV:

Mr. Li, we know that in early December the cross-border e-commerce policy was further clarified through the press conference, which not only expanded the scope of the tax items, but also expanded the quota for individual transaction limits. Is there any substantial increase in annual data on retail imports and exports of cross-border e-commerce, particularly in December? Thank you.

Li Kuiwen:

Thank you for your attention. Cross-border e-commerce has always been an important area under customs supervision. China's e-commerce law took effect on Jan. 1, 2019, providing legal support for cross-border e-commerce customs supervision, protection of consumer rights and intellectual property rights. The General Administration of Customs actively cooperated with the Ministry of Commerce to study and formulate a new overall supervision plan for cross-border e-commerce after the transition period, and accordingly issued the "Announcement on Matters concerning the Supervision of Retail Imports and Exports in Cross-Border E-commerce", clarifying the scope of cross-border e-commerce supervision and the responsibility of participating subjects. This includes adding a series of new regulatory service measures; and further standardizing and strengthening the supervision of cross-border e-commerce.

There is a piece of data I would like to share with you. In 2018, the total volume of retail import and export commodities through the customs cross-border e-commerce management platform was 134.7 billion yuan, an increase of 50 percent; of which exports were 56.12 billion yuan, an increase of 67 percent; and imports were 78.58 billion yuan, an increase of 39.8 percent. 

In the next step, the General Administration of Customs will further improve the information system for cross-border e-commerce retail imports and exports; improve and upgrade tax administration, quota control, and declaration management; and further meet the needs of cross-border e-commerce customs supervisions. This will also better serve internet users. Thank you.

Die Welt:

Would you like to provide us the import and export data on China's trade with Europe, Germany and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea?

Li Kuiwen:

Thank you for your question. Let me first introduce the data on China-EU. Statistics from customs show that China's trade with Europe in 2018 amounted to 4.5 trillion yuan, a year-on-year growth of 7.9 percent. China's exports to the EU totaled 2.7 trillion yuan, a 7 percent increase from last year, while imports from the EU reached 1.8 trillion yuan, up 9.2 percent from the previous year. EU remains China's largest trade partner and the biggest source of imports. China and Europe are important partners in trade. Specific data on China-Germany trade will be released on the customs website, to which you are welcome to refer. Regarding China's trade with the DPRK, I can provide certain data here. According to the customs, China-DPRK overall imports and exports value totaled 16.09 billion yuan, a decrease of 52.4 percent from last year. China's exports to the DPRK reached 14.67 billion yuan, which fell by 33.3 percent, and imports totaled 1.42 billion yuan, an 88 percent drop. The trade surplus expanded 29.9 percent to 13.26 billion yuan. For China-DPRK trade, China customs have always adopted the resolutions of UN Security Council in a comprehensive and strict way. Thank you.

China Business Network (CBN):

How would you define characteristics of the imports in 2018? How will the policies, implemented recently to expand domestic demand and consumption, influence imports this year?

Li Kuiwen:

Thanks for your questions. However, I prefer to respond in view of both imports and exports. Regarding imports, we adopted a string of policies to sustain sound development of foreign trade, expanding import capacity proactively. Throughout 2018, imports increased by 12.9 percent from the previous year and maintained good growth momentum, which shows in a number of respects, as follows:

First, quantity has played an increasingly important role in adding import value. The Import Quantum Index reached 106.4 in 2018, up 6.4 percent year over year. The expansion of import quantity contributed 51.2 percent to the growth of total import values in our country. At the same time, the Import Price Index reached 106.1, up 6.1 percent year over year. 

Second, import tax rebate policies on certain products resulted in rapid growth. In 2018, cosmetics imports grew by 67.5 percent to 65.7 billion yuan, while aquatic products rose 39.9 percent to 79.4 billion yuan, with both of these being higher than the overall import growth. 

Third, micro market entities' import businesses showed vitality. In 2018, 211,000 enterprises had import records, 6,300 more than a year before. Among them, 57,000 enterprises accessed new import business, or 26.8 percent of the total figure. All the figures well defined the effectiveness of policies, such as proactive import expansion, adopted to boost imports among domestic enterprises.

Regarding exports, the two-time export tax rebates in 2018 helped a number of products to go global. On Sept. 15 of last year, China raised tax rebates on the first batch of 397 export commodities, including electromechanical and cultural products. In 2018, the combined value of the first batch of products enjoying the increased rebate totaled 745.1 billion yuan, up 8 percent year over year, and 0.9 percentage point higher than export growth as a whole. On Nov. 1 of last year, the tax rebate covered 1,172 products, valued at 1.53 trillion yuan, up 7.5 percent year over year, and 0.4 percentage point higher than the overall export growth. The growth of exports accelerated particularly rapidly in November and December, increasing by 13.3 percent, 7.1 percentage points higher than in the first 10 months combined. Those statistics are for reference. Thank you.

Economic Herald:

What's your projection for China's efforts in expanding imports? Thank you.

Li Kuiwei:

We have touched upon the issue of expanding imports in a couple of questions. I think the first China International Import Expo held last year sent a strong message that China would further expand its imports. Generally speaking, we will exert more effort to realize trade balance, boost the domestic economy, and import scarce key components and consumer goods this year. Particularly, the second China International Import Expo will be held, with the country pushing forward its all-round opening up policy. The General Administration of Customs will take more measures to support the move and improve trade facilitation. 

Thank you.

Hu Kaihong: 

I'm afraid today's press conference has reached its conclusion. Thank you, Mr. Li. Thank you, everyone. 

Read in Chinese

Speakers:

Xie Zhenhua, China's Special Representative on Climate Change

Li Gao, Director-General of Climate Change in the Ministry of Ecology and Environment

Chairperson:

Xi Yanchun, spokeswoman of the State Council Information Office

Date:

Nov. 26, 2018

Xi Yanchun:

Good morning, Ladies and Gentleman. Welcome to this press conference. The 2018 United Nations Climate Change Conference will soon open in Poland. Today, the document on "China's Policies and Actions for Addressing Climate Change (2018)" was officially published. To help you gain a better understanding of the related situation, we are pleased to have Mr. Xie Zhenhua, China's Special Representative on Climate Change, here to introduce the report and answer your questions. We also have with us Mr. Li Gao, Director-General of Climate Change in the Ministry of Ecology and Environment. Now, I give the floor to Mr. Xie.

Xie Zhenhua:

Welcome to the press conference on China's Policies and Actions for Addressing Climate Change (2018). It is customary to hold such a press conference every year before the Climate Change Conference, in which we report to the public, especially the international community, on the annual progress, achievements and problems of China's policies and actions for addressing climate change. It demonstrates that China's policies and actions are completely open and transparent in this field.

This year's Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change will be held in Katowice, Poland. It is the 24th COP and is internationally known as Katowice Climate Change Conference. Today's briefing will focus on the latest progress and major achievements of our country's response to climate change since 2017. These include climate change mitigation and adaptation, local action, broad societal participation, institutional development, improvements of basic capabilities, active participation in international negotiations and strengthening of international exchanges and cooperation. We will demonstrate the policies, actions and results of our country's response to climate change in various sectors, localities and fields.

As we all know, the Chinese government attaches great importance to tackling climate change, and regards the promotion of green and low-carbon development as an important part of the construction of an ecological civilization and a major opportunity to accelerate the transformation of economic development and adjust the existing economic structure. Since 2017, China has made positive progress in mitigating climate change, adapting to climate change, improving institutions, strengthening capacity building, encouraging local action, and raising public awareness.

In accordance with the Chinese government's work plans and specific measures for institutional reform this year, the responsibilities for addressing climate change and emission reduction have been transferred to the newly-established Ministry of Ecology and Environment. During the National Conference on Ecological and Environmental Protection held in May this year, President Xi Jinping stressed that we will implement a national strategy for actively addressing climate change. This will include advancing and guiding the establishment of a global climate governance system featuring fairness, rationality and win-win cooperation. We will also honor the image of China as a responsible country, and endorse the building of a community with a shared future for mankind. We will act with firm resolve to implement President Xi's instructions, fully enacting the national strategy for addressing climate change. China will proactively participate and take the lead in global climate governance, and play a greater role in dealing with climate change in high-quality development, promoting ecological progress, and tackling environmental pollution. 

The Chinese government has always proactively and constructively participated in international negotiations on climate change, and adheres to the principles of the UNFCCC. China upholds the principles of common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities, and works with all parties to promote global climate governance. We have continuously strengthened dialogues and exchanges with various parties and carried out pragmatic cooperation on climate change. While promoting South-South cooperation on climate change, we have provided vigorous support to developing countries in enhancing their capability to adapt to climate change. Our efforts and approaches have been highly praised by the international community and are widely welcomed by developing countries.

This week's United Nations Climate Change Conference in Katowice, Poland, signifies a critical juncture in the global climate governance process. We hope that the General Assembly will complete the negotiations on the implementation of the Paris Agreement as scheduled. We must properly address the financial problems, and send a positive message to the international community to implement the Paris Agreement, promote green and low-carbon industrial development, and build a community with a shared future for mankind. We will continue to play an active and constructive role in working with all parties to promote the success of the conference in Katowice.

Today we are here to announce the release of this report. Now let's get to the Q&A session, in which Mr. Li Gao and I would like to take your questions. Thank you.

Xi Yanchun:

Thank you, Mr. Xie. Now, the floor is open to questions. Please identify your media outlet before raising questions.

CCTV:

What are China's expectations for the upcoming Climate Change Conference in Poland? Thank you.

Xie Zhenhua:

We have the same expectations as the international community in general for the upcoming conference, and these can be summarized in three aspects.

First, the Paris Agreement adopted in 2015 has taken effect. Now, the main task is to finish the negotiations on implementation guidelines so they can be adopted at the annual climate change conference in Katowice, Poland. Hopefully, we will establish a mechanism to ensure continuity in implementation of the Agreement.

Second, in accordance with the Agreement and the decisions taken at last year's conference, we will have a Talanoa Dialogue at this conference. Initially called a "facilitative dialogue", this gets its name from the Fijian language as it was proposed at the meeting last year in Fiji. During the dialogue, all parties should introduce the best practices they have been able to adopt to address climate change, and discuss their efforts and difficulties in implementation, so as to enhance understanding and strengthen cooperation among all parties concerned. The ultimate purpose of the dialogue is for countries to share their successful experiences to promote accelerated transformation in line with the green and low-carbon development mode.

Third, we must review the implementation of the pre-2020 commitments through the dialogue. For example, this entails examining what each country has done and how effective the measures are, and if the decisions adopted at the conference of all parties have been universally implemented. Another issue is that of capital accumulation. During the Copenhagen conference, developed countries pledged to provide US$100 billion per year to support climate action in developing countries by 2020. We hope the developed countries will take the lead in reducing emissions and that the Doha Amendment to the Kyoto Protocol will take effect. Meanwhile, we will review if developed countries have honored their commitments regarding that figure of US$100 billion in annual aid, so as to lay a foundation for further implementation of the Paris Agreement beyond 2020 and achievement of the long-term goal of addressing climate change.

Thank you.

CNN:

As you said in an interview with me before the 2015 Climate Conference in Paris, the international community does not need to worry about China's resolve and policies on climate change, but of those of the United States. You said back then the U.S. might change its policies if a Republican president was elected in the 2016 election. Unfortunately, you called it right. My question, then, is after the Trump administration announced withdrawal from the Paris Agreement, what changes have occurred to China's performance on the global issue? Will China play a greater role? Some people worry that the Chinese government will loosen its environmental protection measures on greenhouse gas emission reduction. What's your comment on that?

Xie Zhenhua:

In international conferences, there are often some people raising this question. First of all, the U.S. is a very important country in the field of climate change. It is fair to say that the cooperation between China and the U.S. made a very important contribution to the forming, signing and putting the agreement into effect. However, President Donald Trump decided to leave the accord after assuming his post. Originally, the international situation regarding the fight against climate change, through win-win, multilateral cooperation, was very good. However, the political influence of the American withdrawal was quite big. At least, it affected the resolve and confidence of some other countries to some extent at first. However, that influence soon dissipated. It is known that China and the U.S. play important roles in responding to the climate issue. So, President Xi Jinping said twice at the U.N. headquarters in Geneva and at an international conference that China would resolutely carry out the Paris Agreement, and not give up the hard-won achievements of the accord. China will firmly carry out the Paris Agreement and take proactive measures. Particularly, China has clearly announced that it will completely fulfill its promises. China has sent out such a strong political signal, which helps stabilize the international efforts to cope with climate change. I attend all kinds of international meetings in the field of climate change, and all countries express their resolve to carry out the Paris Agreement, and all of them promise to implement the agreement earnestly. So, the withdrawal of the U.S. from the agreement had some influence at first, but that influence has since become weaker.

The United States has an important role in reducing emissions, and had promised to provide US$3 billion in finance for the Green Climate Fund (GCF). Therefore, the rest of the world is deeply concerned about its withdrawal, which creates a massive void up front, including a huge funding gap . However, in September, I visited California as a co-chairman of The Global Climate Action Summit (GCA) and was encouraged that at least 17 American states pledging to follow the previous commitments made by the U.S. government, and all have already taken positive actions. There are also some philanthropists who have announced willingness to make up the amount if the U.S. government refuses to pay what it pledged. It should be said there are still positive factors in American society in dealing with climate change. This year, we have seen that extreme weather does not only affect developing countries, but also developed countries, exemplified by the forest fires that recently engulfed California. There has, already, been an enormous impact, with substantial losses. Therefore, I believe that, in dealing with climate change, all countries are showing a willingness to work together, help each other, and do their utmost in accordance with the principle of common but differentiated duties. It can be said that the entire process is still relatively stable. Why is that? It is because in dealing with climate change, humanity has recognized it must transform and innovate the existing growth models and embrace a low-carbon approach – a tendency of which we are all increasingly aware. So I believe this trend is unstoppable.

On the role of China, President Xi Jinping has publicly pledged that we will deliver 100 percent of our commitments. It is not just a matter of honoring our commitments, President Xi's active response to climate change is not a thing that the others have asked us to do, but is out of our own motivations. This is an inherent requirement for China's sustainable development. It is also our responsibility, as a major developing country, to protect humanity and the earth. In this sense, China will remain resolute and proactive in combating climate change and carrying out the Paris Agreement, regardless of the position and attitudes of other countries. Many have asked about the progress that China has made in combating climate change. The following are some figures. China had pledged that by 2020, it would cut its carbon intensity by 40 to 45 percent from 2005 levels. China also pledged to increase the share of non-fossil fuels in primary energy consumption to around 15 percent and increase its forest reserves by 1.3 billion cubic meters. By the end of 2017, China's carbon intensity had already fallen by 46 percent, meaning that it has achieved its goal three years ahead of schedule. Renewable energy already accounts for 13.8 percent of primary energy consumption and will surely meet the goal of 15 percent by 2020. Our forest reserves have increased by 2.1 billion cubic meters, exceeding our targets for 2020. The realization of these targets has laid a very solid foundation for achieving peak carbon dioxide emissions in 2030. I am confident that we will fully live up to our commitments and strive to do even better. The difficulties and challenges encountered will not change our goals and determination.

In addition, the action that China has taken to address climate change has also promoted high-quality development. I have mentioned several figures that can demonstrate its intensity and share internationally. We set up goals on energy conservation and emission reduction to reduce carbon intensity. According to figures released by the World Bank, China has contributed to over 50 percent of the conserved energy globally since 2005. Renewable energy in China has the largest scale in the world with the installed capacity totaling 0.65 GW, accounting for 28 percent of the global total. Over the last five to six years, China has led the world in investments in renewable resources resulting in the lowering of the cost of photovoltaic and wind power generation, which is a great contribution to the world.

In addition, regarding forestation. China has the largest plantation area and a forest coverage rate reaching 22 percent. We have already reached the goal of forest stock for the year of 2020.

China has launched a national carbon trading market, maybe the world's largest, with the amount of carbon emissions totaling 3 billion tons. In comparison, the EU has achieved a market of only 1.7 billion tons, although it has been engaged in work on a carbon market for many years.

As President Xi Jinping has announced, China has established the South-South Climate Cooperation Fund to promote cooperation among developing countries.

So far, China has signed memoranda of cooperation with 34 countries, presenting them goods and materials to cope with climate change. We have trained nearly 1,000 officials and researchers from over 100 developing countries to improve their abilities in raising capital and combating climate change.

China has embarked on a road pursuing low-carbon development. The international community agrees that China's progress in combating climate change has great reference significance for other countries.

All the above aspects I have mentioned are China's policies, actions and progress for addressing climate change, and showing it is playing an important role on the global stage. Thank you.

Reuters:

I wanted to ask whether there is any possibility that China will consider increasing its target of emissions reduction. So, low emissions reduction by 2020, or 2030, as you said earlier, China is on the target to meet the 2020 suggested amount agreed at Paris, but increasingly given new reports like the IPCC 1.5℃ report and pressure growing on the European Union to consider reducing its target, I wonder whether China is also considering that, under what conditions it might reduce its emissions target. Thank you.

Xie Zhenhua:

The IPCC recently made a special report on the impacts of global warming of 1.5 °C above pre-industrial levels. This report shows that the dangers and impacts of climate change have already happened, and the response to climate change is becoming more and more urgent. It gives us such a clear signal and offers various options. Therefore, Chinese scientists have made great contributions in this regard.

The report put forward that measures must be taken with intensified efforts to limit warming to below 2 °C or 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels. And the time is running out. For China, we should accomplish the goals we have already made and strive to do better. For example, as I said just now, two of our 2020 goals have been achieved, and we will continue to work tirelessly to improve this aspect and do a good job. Because doing a good job aims not only to deal with climate change, but also provide an incentive to promote the high-quality development of our domestic economy and society. Therefore, the international community does not need to doubt this, and we will do it seriously.

We hope that developed countries will earnestly honor their commitments. The Paris Agreement enshrines the principle that actions and support must be matched. Actions refer to both mitigation actions and adaptation actions, while support refers to the financial and technical support provided to developing countries by developed countries. As long as the developing countries are provided with financial and technical support to improve their capabilities in all aspects, it is possible for them to take proactive measures. In this sense, therefore, we hope that during the implementation of the Paris Agreement, in the negotiation process of the implementation rules, and in the process of mapping out the future institutional arrangements, the provisions of the Paris Agreement should be seriously implemented, so that all countries in the world can truly establish political mutual trust and take active action to achieve the goals through international cooperation while addressing climate change at different stages. Thank you.

China Daily:

Could you please give us an introduction to the overall construction progress of the national carbon emissions trading market and the plan for the follow-up work? Thank you.

Xie Zhenhua:

This work is organized and promoted by the Climate Change Department, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment. I would like to invite Mr. Li to give you some information on that.

Li Gao:

Thank you. It is a major institutional innovation to establish a nationwide carbon emissions trading market in a bid to control greenhouse gas emissions through the market mechanism. It is also an extremely complicated and systemic-based project. We have set up carbon trading pilot schemes in seven provinces and cities since 2011, analyzing relevant experiences as part of the groundwork for establishing a nationwide and integrated carbon emissions trading market. Generally speaking, these pilot schemes have made good progress since trading began in June 2013, with total transactions reaching 270 million tons of carbon dioxide and the trading volume surpassing 6 billion RMB. In the regions that have introduced pilot schemes, the total amount of carbon emissions as well as carbon intensity have both decreased. Thus, the carbon emissions trading market has indeed been significant for meeting our target of controlling greenhouse gas emissions and promoting regional low-carbon development.

On the other hand, we are still learning from the developed countries. As Mr. Xie has mentioned, China is not the first country to establish a carbon emissions trading market. Over the past few years, we have proactively learnt from and drawn on the lessons of the experiences of the E.U. as well as the state of California, making them an important reference in the design of our carbon emissions trading market. We released "The Development Plan of the National Carbon Emissions Trading System (Power Generation Sector)" at the end of 2017, which marked the launch of the carbon emissions trading system (ETS). After that, we have carried out a series of activities and kept advancing the work in regard to reporting, examining and checking carbon emissions in 2016 and 2017. We have made significant progress by proposing an initial design plan for the registration and trading systems, both of which are crucial for development of the ETS. We have also carried out a lot of work in the power generation sector, the first to implement carbon emissions trading, such as the design of carbon quota distribution and the compilation of training materials. In September, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment held a mobilization meeting and carried out large-scale training to ensure the preparation of the power generation sector as the first to join the national carbon ETS. We will continue to advance the relevant work by firmly upholding the principle of considering the carbon ETS as our policy tool in controlling greenhouse gas emissions. It is an important original intention to establish the carbon ETS.

We will steadily advance the phased building of the carbon trading market. After the power generation industry, we will gradually involve more industries and various related parties in carbon emission rights trading and enrich the trading category. During this process, we will be cautious to avoid adverse speculation and over-financialization. We also seek to prevent financial risks and make full use of the carbon market to both reduce greenhouse gas emissions and save related costs.

We will step up the building of the carbon trading market in the following four aspects: First, issuing regulations and supporting rules. Together with relevant departments, we will further advance the adoption of the temporary regulation on the carbon emission rights trading, fundamental to market operation. We will later issue some supporting rules, all of which are currently in the drafting process.

Second, we will boost necessary infrastructure development. So far, the enterprise direct reporting system has taken shape, but needs improvement. We have formed preliminary plans for the registration and trading systems, and we intend to waste no time in their argumentation and optimization.

Third, better managing the work related to quota allocation and verification of the carbon emission reports of key emitters. Next year, we will verify the reports submitted in 2018. Besides, we will exert more efforts in nourishing third party verification agencies. As for the power generation industry, we will issue a guidebook on its quota allocations and encourage spreadsheet making with the guidebook in enterprises. This will enhance the statistical foundation and ensure the quota allocation plan better matches practice.

Fourth, strengthening capability building. Ecological authorities and other related government agencies and organizations should all acquire necessary capacities. Local ecology authorities will have a role to play in managing the carbon trading market, and they need to do more in personnel training and capability building. We have been proactively pushing ahead with technique preparations since the nation launched the carbon trading system in late 2017.We will work harder and try to realize trading as soon as possible. Thank you.

Associated Press:

I would like to ask about China's policy in terms of climate change in the context of the Belt and Road Initiative project. Chinese institutions have been investing heavily in coal projects overseas, and this has raised concern among environmentalists in particular for the Belt and Road project. So, I was wondering if there might be any measures to compensate for the carbon emissions that might increase due to these projects for the Belt and Road.

Xie Zhenhua:

A large part of the Belt and Road cooperation is infrastructure development, which features a lock-in effect, meaning that long-term carbon emissions are mostly determined by the technologies, materials and standards the project adopted at its initiation. When proceeding with the Belt and Road development, the Chinese central government has been very clear that all the construction projects should be green and follows a low carbon path. Therefore, all the projects will adopt the latest technologies, save resources and energy as much as possible, and ensure the best performance in emissions reduction. Our existing standards on energy conservation and climate change reduction should also be adopted for both industrial and non-industrial programs. Moreover, the programs can also use as reference world-leading standards on climate change adaption in order to promote local development and cut emissions at the same time.

We have arranged several "South-South Cooperation" programs with countries along the Belt and Road to help increase their capacity to cope with climate change and also initiated some public welfare programs to help protect the local environment. When proceeding with Belt and Road development, we will strive to ensure the way forward is green and follows a low carbon path.

Both developed and developing countries are now wondering if their measures to cope with climate change will affect the local economy and employment. However, based on Chinese practices in tackling climate change, those worries might be unnecessary. I will give you some figures to showcase how China is following a transformative path in tackling climate change.

From 2005 to 2017, the GDP grew 1.8-fold, during which time the country lifted 170 million people out of poverty. Measures for energy conservation, emissions reduction and environmental protection have also created new employment opportunities and new industries. During the period, we have created over 30 million jobs. Those measures have also improved national performance in dealing with environmental pollution, which is beneficial to public health. Therefore, the measures have promoted high quality economic growth, improved people's wellbeing, and protected their health. Our green and low carbon practices will also be introduced to the Belt and Road countries, seeking to avoid the old development pattern of "pollution first, treatment afterwards" that developed countries followed in their industrialization. We have suffered losses in that process and do not want to see countries along the Belt and Road facing the same consequences. Therefore, we will strive to follow a low carbon path and build a green Belt and Road. Thank you.

Guangming Daily:

How will China push forward with its efforts to address climate change after the government institutional reform? What will be the focus? Thank you.

Xie Zhenhua:

Mr. Li has first-hand knowledge, since he was transferred from the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) to the Ministry of Ecology and Environment. I'll give the floor to him.

Li Gao:

In this round of government institutional reform, the function of addressing climate change was transferred to the newly-established Ministry of Ecology and Environment. This is a major institutional arrangement made by the CPC Central Committee and the State Council to address climate change and prevent and control pollution in a more coordinated way, as well as pursue ecological and environmental protection more holistically. We will advance China's efforts to address climate change under new circumstances. President Xi Jinping delivered an important speech at a national conference on environmental protection in May, which Mr. Xie also mentioned just now. We will ensure the full implementation of the requirements made by President Xi. Addressing climate change, which involves various fields, is beyond the capabilities of one single institution. This function was transferred from the NDRC to the Ministry of Ecology and Environment. But it does not mean that all the duties for addressing climate change were or are assumed by the NDRC or the Ministry of Ecology and Environment. The structure of the national leading group on climate change can serve to illustrate the point. Headed by the Chinese premier, the group has members from almost all the institutions. It enables all the institutions to perform their duties and play their roles in a more coordinated way, thus enhancing the effect of related policies.

We have an important task recently to establish a new departmental coordination mechanism under the leadership of the leading group to further coordinate the work between the departments. Through long-term practice, China has formed a working pattern in the field of addressing climate change: the leading group exercises unified leadership over the work, the competent department of climate change (now the Ministry of Ecology and Environment) is responsible for the coordination, all the relevant departments cooperate and support each other, and local departments and various industries fully participate in the field of addressing climate change. Next, we will make such a work pattern play a better role. In addition to maintaining the coordination mechanism at the departmental level, we also need to promote the establishment of provincial-level leading groups and related coordination mechanisms to give impetus to local work, in accordance with the requirements of the State Council after the transfer of local institutions has been completed.

I mentioned earlier that under the new situation it is important to integrate and synergize the work of tackling climate change with environmental pollution prevention and treatment and ecological protection. So next, we will accordingly focus on the better coordination and synergy in addressing climate change and ecological environment protection. In the future, from monitoring to target setting, policy and plan formulating, then to related supervision and implementation in tackling climate change, we should better coordinate our work with environmental pollution control and ecological protection. China has set a medium and long-term goal in addressing climate change, and there is a very practical supervision and implementation mechanism in the field of ecological environment protection. Therefore, how to use such a good mechanism to serve the national goals will be the next focus for the Ministry of Ecology and Environment in addressing climate change.

Of course, tackling climate change involves both international and domestic aspects. At the international level, Xie Zhenhua, special representative for climate change affairs of China, has just introduced that we will continue to work with all parties in a positive and constructive manner to foster a global governance system that is fair, reasonable, and focused on win-win cooperation, unswervingly promote the multilateral system for addressing climate change, and unswervingly promote the full and effective implementation of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC）and the Paris Agreement. This year's negotiations are very important. We will spare no effort in working with all parties to ensure advances in the development of the Paris Agreement implementation rules, so as to lay a good institutional foundation for post-2020 global cooperation in tackling climate change. We will also demonstrate the effectiveness of the multilateral system in addressing the challenges of global climate change through such an outcome.

There are also some other tasks. Since we have put forward the nationally determined action objectives on climate change by 2020 and 2030, we will advance implementation of our enhanced actions and promote some key areas and industries to independently roll out their own plans and roadmaps in view of nationally determined contributions and exert more efforts to ensure achieving the national targets . At the same time, we should take into account the specific conditions beyond 2030, the actual conditions of our national development, the needs to address climate change, and the two-stage development plan for building China into a great modern socialist country put forward at the Nineteenth National Congress of the Communist Party of China, so as to further determine the long-term objectives and tasks of tackling climate change. These are all very important tasks for us in the next stage.

In addition, there is another very important task in the field of climate change. Just now, I have answered the reporter's question on it, that is, to speed up the construction of the national carbon emission trading market. Thank you.

China Review News:

In the upcoming G20 summit to be held in Argentina, what suggestions will China put forward on climate change? Thanks.

Xie Zhenhua:

The framework convention on climate change plays a fundamental role in the international response to the problem. Prior to the Katowice Climate Change Conference, world major economies are to gather in Buenos Aires, Argentina, for the G2O summit [opening this Friday]. The attending countries and international organizations have important influence in both economic development and climate change. So, we hope that they will send out a clear message on implementation of the Paris Agreement and the U.N. 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, which will provide more impetus to the Katowice Climate Change Conference. Argentina has always played an active part in tackling climate change, as do the most of the countries attending the summit. So, I believe that there will be more actions on combating climate change, as well as a successful holding of the Climate Change Conference at the end of this year.

Xi Yanchun:

Thanks for Mr. Xie and Mr. Li. Thank you all. That marks the end of the press conference.

Read in Chinese

Date:

Oct. 19, 2018

Hu Kaihong: 

Ladies and gentlemen, good morning. Welcome to this press conference. Today, we have invited Mr. Mao Shengyong, spokesperson of the National Bureau of Statistics, to introduce China's economic performance of the first three quarters of 2018. He will also answer some of your questions.  

Now, Mr. Mao will give you a brief introduction. 

Mao Shengyong:

The Chinese economy has, on the whole, maintained stable in the first three quarters with deepened transformation and upgraded development.

During the first three quarters, the country was confronted with a rather complex international situation as well as formidable tasks of domestic reform and development. Under the strong leadership of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core, all regions and departments implemented the decisions and arrangements made by the CPC Central Committee and the State Council, firmly adopted a new development philosophy, actively worked in line with the standards and requirements for high quality growth through deepened supply-side structural reform, and strived for coordination in maintaining stable growth, advancing reform, promoting structural adjustment, improving people's well-being, and guarding against risks. As a result, the national economy has maintained generally stable while achieving steady progress. The economic structure has continued to be upgraded; old growth drivers have been constantly replaced by new ones; the development quality and performance has steadily improved, and high quality growth has been achieved.

According to preliminary statistics, GDP in the first three quarters was 65.09 trillion yuan (US$9.38 trillion), up 6.7 percent year on year in comparable prices. On a quarterly basis, the year-on-year increase was 6.8 percent, 6.7 percent and 6.5 percent respectively. In regard to the different industrial sectors, the added value of the primary, secondary and tertiary industries reached 4.22 trillion yuan, 26.30 trillion yuan and 34.58 trillion yuan respectively, up 3.4 percent, 5.8 percent and 7.7 percent year on year.

1. The agricultural sector posted stable performance with an improved planting structure.

The total output of summer grain was 138.72 million metric tons, a drop of 3.06 million metric tons, or a year-on-year decrease of 2.2 percent. The total output of early rice was 28.59 million metric tons, down 1.28 million metric tons, or 4.3 percent year on year. We expect a bumper yield in Autumn grain. With an upgraded structure, planting areas for quality rice, soybeans, cotton and sugar increased, while the corn planting area decreased. In the first three quarters, the total output of pork, beef, mutton and poultry reached 60.07 million metric tons, up 0.2 percent year on year, among which the figure for pork was 38.43 million metric tons, up 0.3 percent. There were 428.87 million live pigs, a year-on-year decrease of 2.3 percent, while 495.79 million pigs were slaughtered, a year-on-year increase of 0.1 percent.

Mao Shengyong:

2. Production in both the industrial and service sectors is generally stable, and corporate profits registered relatively fast growth. 

In the first three quarters, the added value of industrial enterprises above designated size increased by 6.4 percent year-on-year, although this was down 0.3 percentage points from the level recorded in the first half of the year. In terms of economic types, the added value of State-owned enterprise increased by 7 percent year-on-year, that of collectively owned enterprises decreased by 1.4 percent, that of joint-stock enterprises rose by 6.6 percent and that of foreign-invested companies and Hong Kong-, Macao- and Taiwan-invested companies grew by 5.7 percent.

In the three major categories, the added value achieved by the mining industry increased by 1.8 percent year-on-year, that of the manufacturing industry increased by 6.7 percent, while that in the sectors of electricity, heat, gas and water production and supply grew by 10.3 percent. In September, the added value of industrial enterprises above designated size rose 5.8 percent year-on-year. In the first three quarters, the index of services production increased by 7.8 percent year-on-year, 0.2 percentage points lower compared to the level achieved in the January-June period, with information transmission, software and information technology services, and leasing and business services growing by 37.5 percent and 10.8 percent, respectively. 

In September, the index of services production grew by 7.3 percent year-on-year. During the January-August period, the combined profits of industrial enterprises above designated size stood at 4.42 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 16.2 percent; the profit margin in regard to the main business income of industrial enterprises above designated size was 6.43 percent, up 0.35 percentage points year-on-year. During the January-August period, the operating revenues and operating profits of service sector enterprises above designated size respectively rose by 12 percent and 15.5 percent year-on-year.

3. Market sales kept increasing, while consumer spending increased at a faster speed.

In the first three quarters, total retail sales of consumer goods reached 27.4299 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 9.3 percent. This was 0.1 percentage point lower than the figure for the first half of this year. Specifically, retail sales in urban areas reached 23.4717 trillion yuan, up 9.1 percent, while sales in rural areas totaled 3.9582 trillion yuan, up 10.4 percent.

Grouped by consumption patterns, revenue from the catering sector totaled 2.9763 trillion yuan, up 9.8 percent, while revenue from commodities rose 9.2 percent to 24.4536 trillion yuan. Sales of goods for a consumption upgrade grew at a faster rate. Of commodities above the limitation unit, the total retail sales of gasoline and related products rose 14.4 percent, and that of communication products rose 10.7 percent. This represented gains of 5.4 percentage points and 1.4 percentage points respectively from the same period of last year. 

In September, the total retail sales of consumer goods increased by 9.2 percent year-on-year, 0.2 percentage point faster than the previous month. In the first three quarters, residents' per-capita consumption spending was 14,281 yuan, representing nominal growth of 8.5 percent year-on-year, 1.0 percentage point faster than the same period of last year, and an actual growth of 6.3 percent, 0.4 percentage point faster year-on-year after adjusting for inflation. Specifically, urban residents' per-capita consumption spending was nominally up by 6.5 percent, 0.3 percentage point higher year-on-year. For rural residents, there was a nominal gain of 12.0 percent, 3.4 percentage points higher than last year. 

Mao Shengyong:

4. Investment on fixed assets slowed and became more stable; private and manufacturing investment achieved an apparent increase.

During the first three quarters, nationwide fixed assets investment (except for peasant households) totaled 48.34 trillion yuan, up 5.4 percent year on year, the growth rate being 0.6 percentage points lower than in the first half of the year, but 0.1 percentage points higher when considered from January to August. Among the relevant figures, private investment reached 30.17 trillion yuan, up 8.7 percent year on year, with the growth rate 0.3 percentage points higher than in the first half year and 2.7 percentage points higher than the same period of last year. Viewed from an industrial sector perspective, investment in primary and secondary industries increased 11.7 percent and 5.2 percent respectively. Manufacturing investment grew 8.7 percent, 1.9 percentage points higher than in the first half of the year, and the increasing momentum has been maintained for the past six months. Investment in the tertiary sector increased 5.3 percent, while that for infrastructure grew 3.3 percent. During the same period, investment for real estate development totaled 8.87 trillion yuan, up 9.9 percent year on year. The area involved in commercial housing sales totaled 1.19 billion square meters, up 2.9 percent year on year and the sales volume reached 10.41 trillion yuan, a year-on-year gain of 13.3 percent. 

Mao Shengyong:

5. Export growth rate accelerated and imports increased remarkedly.

In the first three quarters, imports and exports of goods totaled 22.28 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 9.9 percent. The growth rate was 2.1 percentage points higher than in the first half of the year. Breaking the figures down, Chinese exports reached 11.86 trillion yuan, a year-on-year gain of 6.5 percent, the rate being 1.8 percentage points higher than that in the first half of the year. Meanwhile, imports increased 14.1 percent to 10.43 trillion yuan, 2.5 percentage points higher than in the first half. The foreign trade surplus shrank 28.3 percent year-on-year to 1.43 trillion yuan. Imports and exports involving our major trade partners have all seen increases, being up 7.3 percent, 6.5 percent and 12.6 percent respectively to the EU, the United States and the ASEAN. In addition, exports to and imports from some key countries involved in the Belt and Road Initiative maintained sound growth momentum, with increases of 19.4 percent, 11.9 percent and 11.8 percent respectively to Russia, Poland and Kazakhstan. In September, the total volume of imports and exports reached 2.89 trillion yuan, up 17.2 percent year-on-year. Exports increased 17.0 percent to 1.55 trillion yuan while imports increased 17.4 percent to 1.34 trillion yuan. In the first three quarters, the delivery value of exports of industrial enterprises above designated size reached 8.97 trillion yuan, up 8.1 percent year-on-year. The September figure was 1.18 trillion yuan, up 11.7 percent year-on-year.

Mao Shengyong:

6. The Consumer Price Index (CPI) saw mild growth, the Producer Price Index (PPI) rose steadily.

In the first three quarters, the national CPI rose 2.1 percent year-on-year, 0.1 percentage point higher than in the first half of the year. By category year-on-year, food, tobacco and liquor prices rose 1.6 percent, clothing prices 1.2 percent, residences 2.4 percent, household facilities, articles and services 1.6 percent, transport and communications 1.7 percent, education, culture and entertainment 2.2 percent, health care 5.0 percent, and other goods and services 1.1 percent. In September, the national CPI rose by 2.5 percent year-on-year, an increase of 0.2 percentage point over August, while the figure was up 0.7 percent month-on-month.

In the first three quarters, the national PPI rose 4.0 percent year-on-year, 0.1 percentage point higher the growth rate witnessed in the first half of the year. The national purchasing prices for industrial producers grew 4.5 percent year-on-year. In September, the PPI rose 3.6 percent year-on-year, 0.5 percentage point lower than the figure for August and the index rose 0.6 percent month-on-month. The national purchasing prices for industrial producers rose 4.2 percent year-on-year and 0.6 percent month-on-month.

Mao Shengyong:

7. The employment situation remained stable, with the surveyed urban unemployment rate declining.

The surveyed urban unemployment rate was 4.9 percent in September, 0.1 percentage point lower than both in August and in the same period of last year. The surveyed urban unemployment rate in 31 large cities was 4.7 percent in September, 0.2 percentage point and 0.1 percentage point lower than in August and the same period last year respectively. The surveyed unemployment rate for the major workforce aged 25 to 59 was 4.3 percent, unchanged from the previous month. By the end of the third quarter, the number of rural laborers forming the migrant work force had reached 181.35 million, 1.66 million more than the same period last year, for a gain of 0.9 percent. The average monthly income of migrant workers was 3,710 yuan, up 7.3 percent year-on-year.

8. The increase in personal income kept pace with economic growth, while the ratio of urban to rural income decreased.

In the first three quarters, personal per capita disposable income totaled 21,035 yuan, an increase of 8.8 percent year-on-year in nominal terms, and 6.6 percent in real terms taking price factors into account. The real increase remained the same as that in the first half of this year, keeping pace with economic growth. Factoring for permanent residence, urban and rural per capita disposable income totaled 29,599 and 10,645 yuan respectively, with the nominal growth rates reaching 7.9 percent and 8.9 percent respectively, while real growth was 5.7 percent and 6.8 percent respectively after taking account of price factors. The ratio of urban to rural per capita disposable income was 2.78, a reduction of 0.03 compared to the same period of the previous year. The median figure for national per capita disposable income was 18,236 yuan, an increase of 8.7 percent year-on-year in nominal terms.

9. The industrial structure has been further improved and the fundamental role of consumption has been continuously enhanced.

The upgrading of industries has continued to progress. In the first three quarters, the value-added growth rate of the tertiary industry was 1.9 percentage points faster than that of secondary industry. It accounted for 53.1 percent of the GDP, an increase of 0.3 percentage point compared to the same period last year, and 12.7 percentage points higher than the secondary industry. 

The fundamental role of consumption has been continuously strengthened. In the first three quarters, the contribution rate of final consumption spending to economic growth was 78.0 percent, 46.2 percentage points higher than the contribution from gross capital formation. 

The proportion of service consumption continued to increase. In the third quarter, service consumption accounted for 52.6 percent of the national residents' consumption spending, an increase of 0.2 percentage point year-on-year.

The investment structure has achieved continuous optimization. In the first three quarters, investments in the high-tech manufacturing industry increased 14.9 percent on a yearly basis. The growth rate was 9.5 percentage points higher than overall investment.

The trade structure has been further improved. In the first three quarters, the general trade of imports and exports increased by 13.5 percent, accounting for 58.4 percent of the overall total, up 1.9 percentage points year-on-year. The export of mechanical and electrical products increased by 7.8 percent, or 58.3 percent of total exports.

10. The effects of supply-side structural reform have continuously showed and new drivers of growth have developed fast.

The industrial capacity utilization rate has remained stable. In the first three quarters, the national industrial capacity utilization rate was 76.6 percent, identical with last year. In the third quarter, the capacity utilization rates of the ferrous metal smelting and rolling processing industry and the coal mining and washing industry reached 78.7 percent and 70.1 percent respectively, 2.0 and 1.1 percentage points higher year-on-year.

Enterprise operational costs and their leverage ratio have dropped. From January to August, the cost per 100-yuan of main business revenue of industrial enterprises above designated size was 84.39 yuan, 0.35 yuan less than last year. At the end of August, the liability-asset ratio of industrial enterprises above designated size was 56.6 percent, down 0.5 percentage point year-on-year. 

The stocks of commercial buildings for sale have continued to decrease. At the end of September, the total floor space of commercial buildings for sale dropped by 13.0 percent year-on-year.

More investments have been made in key industries to address inadequacies. In the first three quarters, the investment in ecological preservation and environmental treatment and agriculture grew year-on-year by 33.7 percent and 12.4 percent respectively, 28.3 and 7.0 percentage points faster than the average growth of total investments in all fields respectively.

Green development has advanced steadily. In the first three quarters, the energy consumption per unit of gross domestic product dropped by 3.1 percent year-on-year.

New industries have enjoyed comparatively fast growth. In the first three quarters, the added value of high-tech manufacturing and equipment manufacturing industries increased year-on-year by 11.8 percent and 8.6 percent respectively, 5.4 and 2.2 percentage points faster than industrial enterprises above designated size. The added value of emerging strategic industries increased by 8.8 percent year-on-year, 2.4 percentage points faster than that of industrial enterprises above designated size.

New products have continued to be developed rapidly. For example, in the first three quarters, the output of new energy vehicles increased by 54.8 percent year-on-year and that of integrated circuits 11.7 percent.

New forms of businesses have developed vigorously. In the first three quarters, online retail sales totaled 6.28 trillion yuan, an increase of 27.0 percent year-on-year. Among them, online retail sales of physical goods reached 4.79 trillion yuan, up 27.7 percent and  accounting for 17.5 percent of the total retail sales of consumer goods. This represented an increase of 3.5 percentage points over the previous year. Online retail sales of non-physical goods reached 1.48 trillion yuan, an increase of 24.8 percent.

Generally speaking, in the first three quarters, the Chinese economy operated within an appropriate range. Economic performance was stable, with improved momentum; the economic structure was further adjusted. The quality of development continued to improve. More efforts were made to promote reform and opening up, and the public enjoyed more benefits from development.

Meanwhile, there were several issues to be noted: We were confronted with more external challenges. The difficulties in adjusting the domestic economic structure remained. Despite a stable performance, the national economy was confronted with possible changes and greater downward pressures. 

As far as the next step is concerned, we will focus on promoting high-quality development and continue the reform and opening-up campaign. In the current supply side structural reform, the key task will be to address certain inadequacies. We seek to expand effective market demand. We will ensure a stable development of the job market, the financial market, the foreign trade sector, the foreign capital sector and the investment sector, and keep overall expectations stable. We will promote stable and healthy economic development. And we will be able to achieve the main economic and social development targets set for this year.

Hu Kaihong:

Thank you Mr. Mao. Now, the floor is open to questions. Please identify the media outlet you represent before asking questions.

CCTV:

As you said, the growth of GDP and some industrial indicators fell to some extent. Does it mean the economy faces many difficulties? And how would you comment on the current economic situations? Thanks. 

Mao Shenyong:

I would like to summarize the economic operation over the first three quarters into three points.

First, stability has been maintained. From the perspective of growth, over the first three quarters, GDP grew 6.7 percent year-on-year, laying a solid foundation for the realization of the objective of an annual growth rate of around 6.5 percent. From the perspective of employment, the nationally-surveyed urban unemployment rate in September was 4.9 percent, 0.1 percentage points lower than the previous month and also September 2017. More than 11 million new urban jobs were created, which means the annual job creation task has been completed a quarter in advance. From the price perspective, the CPI grew by 2.1 percent over the first three quarters, 0.1 percentage points higher than the level in the first two quarters. However, the growth of CPI over the first three quarters remained 2.0 percent, the same as the level achieved in the first half of this year, if the price rises of food and energy is not taken into account. From the perspective of residents' income, the average disposable personal income over the first three quarters increased 6.6 percent, the same figure as was established in the first half of this year, basically keeping pace with national economic growth. So, considering the indices of growth, employment, price and income, it is fair to say that the economy is operating stably in a rational zone.

Second, the momentum of progress has been maintained. The economic structure is going through a process of optimization and adjustment. As has been noted, from the perspective of industrial structure, the service sector's role as the bedrock has been consolidated. Over the first three quarters, the value-added achievements of the service industry increased by 7.7 percent, which is comparatively fast growth, contributing 60.8 percent of economic growth, 1.8 percentage points higher than the same period of last year. Over the first three quarters, the service industry's share in GDP was 53.1 percent, 0.3 percentage points higher than last year. Besides, the sector's progress to a medium- and high-level has speeded up. The changes of the structure of demand indicate that the foundational role of consumption has been continuously strengthened. Over the first three quarters, consumption contributed to 78 percent of economic growth, 14 percentage points higher year on year. The structure of investment has improved as well, with the growth of investment in manufacturing rising for six straight months, while private investment growth has remained above eight percent. Meanwhile, the quality and efficiency of the economy have also been improving. 

Third, new driving forces are becoming stronger far more quickly. The supply-side structural reform has advanced solidly; the upgraded version of mass entrepreneurship and innovation initiatives is taking shape; new driving forces are developing fast. The number of market entities has increased by a large margin. Over the first three quarters, the number of newly registered enterprises exceeded five million, which translates to more than 18,000 new businesses every day. New industries develop fast. The growth of value added of the high-tech industries, equipment manufacturing industries and emerging industries of strategic importance, among the medium- and large-scale enterprises, respectively hit 11.8 percent, 8.6 percent and 8.8 percent, markedly higher than other industries. New types of industries are obviously prospering. The value of online retail sales of physical commodities increased by 27.7 percent, for instance. The development of new driving forces has gathered momentum for the optimizing of economic structure and steady economic operation.

In brief, the economy is operating within a rational range. The long-term stable and progressive fundamentals of the economy will continue. Meanwhile, it is known that the external environment has obviously changed, and the stable economic growth has slowed down slightly. We will act according to the policies made by the central authorities to ensure stable development of the job market, financial markets, foreign trade, foreign capital sector and the investment sector, so as to ensure the stability and health of economic growth. 

Phoenix TV:

China's GDP growth in the third quarter fell to 6.5 percent, the lowest in the last nine-and-a-half years. We are concerned whether the growth rate will continue to fall? You just mentioned that the downward pressure is increasing. How much more pressure can be expected?

Mao Shengyong:

Judged by macro indicators such as the GDP growth rate, employment, commodity prices, incomes and the balance in international payments, the Chinese economy maintained stability while making steady progress in the first three quarters. However, we noticed some uncertainties concerning economic growth, such as that of the external environment. In the first three quarters, the momentum in world economic growth slowed down, as did expansion of world trade. Some new economies encountered many difficulties. Recently, we can see the international financial market has experienced obvious fluctuation. China has become the second largest economy in the world, which has become increasingly integrated with the world economy. At present, uncertainties of the world economy are increasing, and there are also uncertainties resulting from China-U.S. trade friction. As a result, the Chinese economy is facing downward pressure due to those uncertain factors.

However, there are many certain factors in China. The economy shows strong resilience and many positive fundamentals. We will continue to deepen reform and opening-up so as to continuously release dividends. All departments in all regions should strengthen their implementation of policies to ensure stable development of the job market, financial markets, foreign trade, foreign capital sector and the investment sector, so as to ensure overall expectations remain stable. The intended effect of such policies will be unleashed gradually. Therefore, although we are facing external uncertainties, we will maintain stable growth of the Chinese economy as the domestic certainties somewhat offset external uncertainties. 

Economic Daily: 

We notice the total retail sales of consumer goods increased by 9.3 percent during the January-September period, lower than the growth rate of 10.4 percent during the same period last year. It can be said that there is an obvious slowdown in consumption growth. Recently, there are also a lot of public discussion on whether China is witnessing a consumption downgrading. Mr. Mao, how would you comment on this? Thank you. 

Mao Shengyong: 

When talking about changes in consumption on a month to month basis, we usually use the total retail sales of consumer goods to measure the market consumption situation. Fluctuations in the growth rate of this indicator in the last few months have caused some public discussion. 

We can analyze consumption changes from multiple perspectives as we gather more quarterly statistics. For instance, when looking at overall volume, the total retail sales of consumer goods increased by 9.3 percent in the January-September period, with the volume in September being 0.2 percentage points higher than August. A growth rate above nine percent can be considered as relatively fast. 

In terms of per capita consumption expenditure of Chinese households, the nominal growth reached 8.5 percent in the first three quarters, up one percentage point year-on-year. 

When seeking to understand consumption in a holistic and comprehensive manner via an accounting perspective, it should be pointed out that final consumption expenditure's contribution to economic growth reached 78 percent in the first three quarters, up 14 percentage points year-on-year. 

Taking these indicators into consideration, we can see that consumption has maintained relatively fast growth and its contribution to overall economic growth keeps increasing. This momentum trend has not changed. 

Now, let's look at the statistics via several different structures. The first is the Engel Coefficient, which shows the proportion of food expenditure in total household spending. In 2017, China's Engel Coefficient dropped to 29.3 percent, below the usual benchmark of 30 percent for the first time. It was 28.5 percent in the first three quarters of this year, down a further 0.7 percentage points year-on-year. 

In terms of the consumption of services, this accounted for 48.2 percent of Chinese residents' total consumption in 2017, up 5.2 percentage points compared to 2012. It means that the proportion of service consumption in the total increased by an average of 1.04 percentage points annually over the past five years. In the third quarter of this year, its proportion reached 52.6 percent, up 0.2 percentage points year-on-year. 

In terms of physical goods consumption, sales of some products taken to indicate consumption upgrading, such as cosmetic products and smart home appliances, have maintained relatively fast growth. Auto sales overall did slow down; however, the percentage of SUV sales in the total keeps increasing. 

In terms of the urban and rural structure, in the first three quarters, the nominal growth of rural residents' consumption increased by 12 percent, much higher than that in the urban areas. Rural residents' spending on education, culture and entertainment is growing at a relatively fast pace. 

As a result of studying such factors, we can see that the public consumption structure has maintained a rapid trend of upgrading.

To sum up, the trend continues as China's consumption maintains relatively fast growth, the consumption market is expanding, the contribution of consumption to economic growth continues to increase and consumption structure is constantly upgrading. In the next period, consumption will play an increasingly important fundamental role in promoting China's economic growth as China enters different stages of development and transforms its economic development mode. However, we should attach importance to various factors that constrain consumption growth. On the one hand, we should take various measures and work harder to increase incomes, improve income distribution and the social security system, and thus raise residents' consumption capacities. On the other hand, we need to deepen the supply-side structural reform and improve the quality of supply, so as to continuously satisfy the needs of consumption upgrading. 

China Business Network:

Statistics show that, overall, investment in the first three quarters slowed down, with the growth rate of infrastructure investment only 3.3 percent. Will the low speed of increase become the new normal in infrastructure investment? How to analyze this trend? In addition, private investment has maintained good momentum, but we notice the contradiction in private financing is aggravated this year. Will this affect the overall growth rate of private investment in the future?

Mao Shengyong:

You have asked two questions. The first is about infrastructure investment. During the first three quarters, the growth rate of fixed assets investment was 0.1 percentage points higher than the level achieved from January to August. As for its structure, the growth rate of manufacturing investment is accelerating and that in the real estate sector has become a bit slower, yet is still around 10 percent. The increase rate of infrastructure investment fell further to 3.3 percent; however, if we view it consecutively, the range of falls is narrowing. With the efforts made to keep employment, the financial sector, foreign trade, foreign and domestic investments and expectations stable, a larger number of key projects are advancing steadily and infrastructure investment is expected to be more stable. 

Your second question concerns the growth of private investment, which has gone generally well this year. It has witnessed a cumulative growth rate of over eight percent, a relatively high rate, as most of the private investment has flowed into manufacturing and real estate, both sectors where around 70 percent of capital comes from this source. Investment in manufacturing grew faster, while real estate saw a cumulative growth rate of about 10 percent. Therefore, private investment has been able to maintain good momentum. 

Market News International:

Some investors believe China will face greater downward economic pressures next year, considering the negative impact of the China-U.S. trade war, such as falls in the job market and investment, and influences on imports and exports are yet to be fully revealed. So, what is your expectation of next year?

Mao Shengyong: 

According to the statistics of the first three quarters, the national economic performance remained stable. We have certainly noticed growing uncertainties caused by changes in the external environment, but how the current trade friction between China and the United States will develop is unpredictable to some extent. These factors may exert some influence on the Chinese economy and pose some challenges to us. 

Yet, the statistics of the first three quarters show that the factors you just mentioned, such as the job market, the urban unemployment rate and the number of new urban job openings, remained stable. We have conducted investigations on enterprises with high reliance on foreign trade and on export-oriented enterprises in coastal areas. Their employment has  remained generally stable. This means the overall job market is stable. There are some structural conflicts in the job sector. However, we need to wait to see what affects will be produced by the changes in the external environment. 

Regarding influences on investment, presently, as noted, investment is stable. In the first three quarters, foreign direct investment and the inflow of overseas capital increased at a fast speed. The Chinese market is a big one, with great potential; so, it is still attractive to investors.

Regarding imports and exports, the growth rate in the first three quarters was satisfactory. The third quarter in particular saw very fast development. In the period of July, August and September, both the total volume and the growth rate of imports and exports increased each month. This was caused by several factors. For one thing, some enterprises actively changed their operations mode and rhythm to cope with changes in the general environment. For another, a series of foreign trade policies, including the policies and measures to facilitate trade, provided effective support. Besides, many enterprises have adopted a diversified trade strategy. So, when we take a closer look at foreign trade, we find that the growth rate of trade with countries along the routes of the Belt and Road is much higher than the overall figure.

Generally, we are confident of achieving the 6.5 percent economic growth rate set for this year. We will face uncertainties next year; however, the Chinese economy is resilient, and many factors are predictable. Therefore, we hope we can utilize the resilience and our overall strengths to handle external pressures. As long as we focus on our own issues, our economic performance will be stable next year. 

China National Radio:

Recently, the Central Bank revealed that, in order to resolve structural problems in the domestic economy, China is considering the treatment of State-owned enterprises on the principle of “competitive neutrality”. Does this mean State-owned enterprises will be exempted from their policy burden, and that all businesses will compete on a level playing field? In addition, how to achieve this kind of competitive neutrality in the future? What changes will this produce in regard to China's economic structural problems? Thank you.

Mao Shengyong:

Your questions are very academic. This point was raised by the Governor of the People's Bank of China Yi Gang only a few days ago. Competitive neutrality, from an academic viewpoint, means that, under the conditions of a market economy, countries treat different types of enterprises equally. We call this kind of technical methodology as the principle of competitive neutrality. In other words, as long as it is a market entity, regardless of its identity, it is treated equally, and enjoys fair treatment in terms of market access and resources. The principle of competitive neutrality can help promote development of the private economy, thus boosting private investment. It is also conducive to the reform and development of State-owned enterprises.

Reuters:

I notice the contribution rate of imports and exports to economic growth was negative in the first three quarters. Does it mean that, although the indicators relating to exports were positive, the trade friction between China and the U.S. has already impacted the Chinese economy? What is your opinion on the impact of the friction in regard to the financial market, including exchange rates? Will it influence the real economy? Thank you.

Mao Shengyong:

As I mentioned just now, from the expenditure accounts, the contribution rate of final consumption expenditure to economic growth was 78 percent in the first three quarters, an increase of 14 percentage points over the same period last year. Net exports of both goods and services contributed minus 9.8 percent to economic growth, while the relevant figure for the same period last year was 1.3 percent. Does it mean the export performance exerted a negative impact on economic growth in the midst of the trade friction? I don't think so. Actually, both imports and exports maintained faster-than-anticipated growth in the first three quarters, with the growth rates increased month by month in the third quarter. Why was the contribution rate of net exports negative? I think the following explanation can account for it.

First, in measuring imports and exports, apart from trade in goods calculated by customs, we should also take into consideration the trade in services. Although China enjoys surplus in goods trade, it still faces a services trade deficit. We need to consider the two parts together. 

Second, we need to adjust the value of imports and exports according to international accounting principles, for example, using CIF to calculate import prices, and FOB for export prices.

Third, when talking about the speed of growth, we need to take into consideration both current and the constant prices. The price factors of services and goods imports and exports should be deducted and then the constant price can be computed. The figure differs from that released by Customs, as the statistical caliber is different. Another important factor is the base quota of the previous year. As imports and exports during the first three quarters of last year performed much better, so the growth rate was even higher than now.

With all those factors combined, though the contribution rate of imports and exports to economic growth this year is negative, the general foreign trade performance is within expectations, or even better than expected. The impact of China-U.S. trade friction on the import and export situation is not so apparent.

The second question is about the exchange rate. During the first three quarters, due to factors of the Fed raising interest rates and shrinking its balance sheet as well as the rising dollar index, major currencies all depreciated against the U.S. dollar, and those in some developing countries depreciated sharply. Against such a backdrop, the exchange rate of RMB against the dollar is relatively stable and performed better compared with other major currencies. In addition, the Chinese economy is running smoothly at present, and the momentum can be well maintained in the near future. The goods and services imports and exports continue to run smoothly and the balance of international payments is stable, therefore the exchange rate can also generally be kept stable.

Hu Kaihong:

Now, the news conference concludes. Thank you all. Thank you, Director Mao.

By Li Xiaohua, Chen Xia, Huang Shan, Guo Yiming, Zhang Junmian, Mi Xingang, Li Huiru, Zhang Liying, Li Jingrong, Li Yang, Wang Qian, Wang Wei, Yuan Fang, Geoffrey Murray

.

Read in Chinese

Speakers:

Liu Liehong, deputy director of the Cyberspace Administration of China; 

Ge Huijun, president of the Zhejiang Provincial Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and director of the Publicity Department of the CPC Zhejiang Provincial Committee; 

Sheng Yongjun, secretary of the CPC Tongxiang Municipal Committee

Chairperson:

Xi Yanchun, spokeswoman of the State Council Information Office of China

Date:

Sept. 28, 2018

   

Xi Yanchun:

Ladies and gentlemen, good afternoon. Welcome to this press conference. The Fifth World Internet Conference will be held from Nov. 7 to 9 in Wuzhen, Zhejiang Pprovince. To help you gain a better understanding of the related situation, we have invited Mr. Liu Liehong, deputy director of the Cyberspace Administration of China, Ms. Ge Huijun, president of the Zhejiang Provincial Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and director of the Publicity Department of the CPC Zhejiang Provincial Committee, as well as Mr. Sheng Yongjun, secretary of the CPC Tongxiang Municipal Committee, to this press conference. They will introduce the overall situation and preparatory work for the Fifth World Internet Conference, and will answer some of your questions.

Now, I'll give the floor to Mr. Liu Liehong.

Liu Liehong:

Good afternoon. Welcome to this press conference. On behalf of the organizing committee of the Fifth World Internet Conference, now I would like to give you a brief introduction of the related situation.

The Fifth World Internet Conference, co-sponsored by the Cyberspace Administration of China and the Zhejiang Provincial People's Government, will be held in Wuzhen, Zhejiang, Nov. 7 to 9 on the theme of "Creating a Digital World for Mutual Trust and Collective Governance – Toward a Community with a Shared Future in Cyberspace." The conference will invite more than 1,500 important guests from around the world, including government and private sector leaders, representatives from international organizations, technological communities and nongovernmental organizations, to discuss and exchange insights focusing on innovative development, cyber security, cultural exchanges, people's livelihood and welfare, and international cooperation. The aim is to build a platform for China to better connect to the world, and for all countries to pursue shared governance, to promote global common prosperity, and to lift the development level so as to build a sustainable digital world.

At present, the preparatory work for the conference has been completed. Compared with previous years, the fifth conference has the following special features:

First, the theme is more focused and the design more innovative. The conference will thoroughly implement the Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, especially the Four Principles for promoting reform of global internet governance, and the Five Propositions to build a community with a shared future in cyberspace laid out by President Xi. Adhering to the "1+2" functional positioning, involving forums, a world leading internet scientific and technological achievements release and an expo, the conference will have a total of 19 sessions focusing on such hot topics as artificial intelligence, 5G, big data, cyber security, digital Silk Road, etc.

Second, the fifth conference will highlight both inheritance and innovation. This year we will focus on the extraordinary journey the conference has gone through in the past five years. Focusing on the theme of "Creating a Digital World for Mutual Trust and Collective Governance – Toward a Community with a Shared Future in Cyberspace," an exhibition on the achievements over the past five years will be inaugurated. There is a special topic of "Wuzhen Roundtable: Review and Prospects," focusing on in-depth discussion on building a community with a shared future in cyberspace. At the same time, the old brands such as Minister Dialogue, Business Leaders Dialogue and International High-Level Think Tank Forum on the Internet will continue to function with new connotations. 

Third, international elements will become even more prominent. This conference will be co-organized by five international organizations such as the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs and the International Telecommunication Union. Drawing on advanced experience of other international conferences, we will build a platform for China to better connect to the world. We will invite more elites and representatives from around the world, and bring together more new elements in the internet sector to ensure more people can share the benefits of its development. During the fifth conference, a New Internet Gadgets and Applications Promotion Salon will be held to encourage internet companies from around the world to launch outstanding new products and new applications. There will be also a salon for international guests to exchange ideas. 

Fourth, the results are expected to be more fruitful. The conference will publish a "Report on World Internet Development 2018,""Report on China Internet Development 2018" and "Wuzhen Outlook 2018," as well as further promoting the "Wuzhen Process." The world-leading internet scientific and technological achievements release will cover about 15 global leading scientific and technological achievements in the field this year; the Light of the Internet Expo will focus on the latest developmental trends. At the same time, a pragmatic cooperation platform will be set up to encourage all parties to publish the latest research reports, advocacy documents and cooperation results in the internet field.

Fifth, new levels of intelligence will be generated. Technical applications such as driverless sightseeing cars, VR/AR applications and highway unmanned driving will be gradually shown at the scenic spot. The conference is actively promoting the application of smart technologies such as face recognition and artificial intelligence in guest registration, conference services, and information release.

Ladies and gentlemen, the World Internet Conference has been successfully held for four times. It has received great attention and wide recognition globally. While Wuzhen is a classic ancient Chinese town, the future-oriented World Internet Conference is embracing the world. The fifth World Internet Conference is about to open in a little over a month, and we look forward to your arrival.

Thank you.

Xi Yanchun:

Thank you, Mr. Liu Liehong. Now, we give the floor to Ms. Ge Huijun.

Ge Huijun:

Good afternoon, everyone. 

In 30 days, the Fifth World Internet Conference will open in Wuzhen. Zhejiang province has been comprehensively implementing the guiding principles from Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC), on the conference. Under the leadership of the Cyberspace Administration of China, no effort has been spared in preparing for the conference to make it better than before, and we try hard to play a good role on the home stage. With the experience learnt over the past four years, we have gradually increased our abilities and we are confident for the success of the annual conference this year.

First, conditions for holding the conference have been greatly improved. In the past five years, we have focused on the development of soft and hard infrastructure to meet international standards. While the first and second conferences were held at Wuzhen Township's crowded scenic areas, it is gratifying to note that the third and fourth ones took place in the spacious Wuzhen Internet International Conference and Exhibition Center, thus scaling new heights in infrastructure improvements every few years. This year, we are doing even better – more than 400 guest rooms have been newly added to ensure that all the 1,500 invited guests can book their accommodation and check in smoothly when the time comes.

The new banquet center, located only one street from the convention and exhibition center, will begin operating during the conference. With a construction area of 48,000 square meters, its overall appearance is integrated with elements of the internet and distinctive features of the southern region on the lower reaches of the Yangtze River, hence becoming another landmark building after the convention and exhibition center in Wuzhen. During the conference, we will display a number of high-tech products, involving 5G communications technology for commercial use in pilot areas, face recognition technology, and intelligent conference systems, as well as other relevant technologies. I am sure that all these approaches will help our guests better experience the facilities of an intelligent and smart international conference.

Second, more varied and colorful events are on offer during the conferences. In previous conferecnes, we set a small goal of launching special events to display the distinctive styles of Zhejiang province so that our guests could share and experience the pleasant life of the region south of the lower reaches of the Yangtze River during their stay in Wuzhen.

This year, in addition to major events such as the opening ceremony, forums and the "Light of Internet Expo" mentioned by Mr. Liu just now, we will also launch some new events, such as the Zhejiang special forum on "innovation and breakthrough of the industrial Internet", the "direct connection with Wuzhen," an internet innovation and entrepreneurship competition, and a "business talent show." Besides, our signature event "Dialogue Between Internet Tycoons" will continue to be held. This year, we will premiere the large multimedia symphony "Liangzhu" as a special performance. Through the excellent combination of art with high technology, and the fusion of the world and the Chinese nation, the symphony will show the audience the 5,000-year-long history of "Liangzhu" – a civilization popular in the Yangtze River Delta of southern China.

Third, the event is bringing more tangible benefits. The four previous conferences have raised Zhejiang's popularity and influence, made Wuzhen better known around the world, and brought about a series of preferential policies for Zhejiang province. For example, the government has approved the first national information economy demonstration area to be set up in the province; Zhejiang's capital Hangzhou was named as one of the national internet backbone access points; the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and the Zhejiang provincial government have a cooperative agreement to promote industrial internet development; Wuzhen has set up a comprehensive experimental zone for internet innovation and development. These policy supports have created new opportunities for Zhejiang's digital development and its reform program to streamline administrative procedures. Last year, the provincial government established the Zhejiang Laboratory, a key scientific and technological innovation platform. In the first half of this year, core industries of the provincial digital economy recorded an added value of 234.8 billion yuan (US$ 34.14 billion), up by 16.4 percent year-on-year. I introduced the Computing Conference during the press conference for the second World Internet Conference three years ago. Back then, the event attracted 40,000 participants. This year, the number reached 120,000, coming from 81 countries and regions. This has mirrored Zhejiang's booming digital economy.

Friends of the media, the CPC Zhejiang Provincial Committee and the Zhejiang Provincial People's Government attach great importance to hosting for the World Internet Conference. We will continue to provide good service for the participants.

Finally, I would like to thank you for your support and welcome you to come to Wuzhen and have a wonderful time.

Thank you!

Xi Yanchun:

Thank you for Ms. Ge's introduction. Now the floor is open for questions. Please identify the media outlet you represent before asking your question.

CCTV:

I have a couple of questions for Mr. Liu. Just now, you introduced the theme of this World Internet Conference "Creating a Digital World of Mutual Trust and Shared Governance – Joining Hands to Build a Community of Shared Future in Cyberspace." Why was this theme specifically chosen? In addition, you said that the conference had been held for four times, this year is the fifth one. What has changed during those five years and what has not? What are the other highlights? Thanks.

Liu Liehong:

At present, global trade protectionism is gaining ground and the backlash against the globalization trend brings many challenges. We set the theme aiming to further encourage the world to establish a concept of internet development featuring mutual trust, management by all countries, free exchanges, mutual learning, cooperation and sharing to boost peace and development of global cyberspace.

This emphasis shows up in the following ways. First, the exploration and application of latest technologies will be highlighted. The expert and entrepreneur forum will be added to focus on the release of the world leading internet scientific and technological achievements. More leading technological talents and entrepreneurs can exchange views here. Second, equal importance will be attached to security and development. The conference will not only pay attention to problems facing the entire international community such as dealing with cyber terrorism and the protection of privacy, as well as focusing on internet developmental trends such as artificial intelligence and 5G. The challenges will be faced and potential solutions discussed to improve the prevention and control of risks and the promotion of digital development. Third, the internationalization will be increased. The world's Internet enterprises, international organizations and experts will get together in Wuzhen to discuss issues such as how to bridge the digital gulf between nations and international cyberspace management to further build a community of a shared future in cyberspace.

China National Radio:

Mr. Sheng, as Tongxiang has undergone a dramatic transformation since it became the permanent site of the World Internet Conference, would you please tell us in what way the county-level city will ensure a greater sense of gain for its people when seizing the opportunity to boost local economic development?

Sheng Yongjun:

Thank you so much for your question. I wish to express my great gratitude on this particular occasion to every media friend for your continuous concern and support to Wuzhen and to Tongxiang. The World Internet Conference has brought about an all-round and profound transformation to Tongxiang.

The first change is in regard to the landscape. By expanding from 67 to 110 square kilometers, Wuzhen has made notable progress in sprucing up its appearance and improving its functions, both of which have enabled the city to evolve in its nascent stage as an international place. The second is in regard to growth momentum. Tongxiang has basically achieved high-quality development with its economy and society moving in an obvious promising upswing. The third is in regard to its people. The World Internet Conference has brought about a tremendous impact on Tongxiang's residents, transforming their ways of thinking, changing their mode of production and renovating their daily lifestyle. Now, Tongxiang people are more willing to learn, accept and sharing in new things. Therefore, to better benefit from the Conference and develop the local economy to ensure local people a stronger sense of gain, keeping in mind General Secretary Xi Jinping's instructions on the Conference, Tongxiang as well as Wuzhen, we'll strive for three-pronged endeavor to make Wuzhen, Tongxiang and the lives of local people better:

First, we'll build a better Wuzhen. Tongxiang is strongly committed to staging each annual session of the Conference in an increasingly remarkable way. At the same time, we will strive to secure an advanced position of the digital industry, giving full play to the Wuzhen experimental zone of Internet innovation. 

We'll vigorously develop such industries as artificial intelligence and big data, and expand the exhibition economy, making Wuzhen a center of empowerment for the future economy. In doing so, we have designed a 10-square-kilometer zone for digital economy development, in hope that it can receive more quality resources. We will make Wuzhen a quality destination. We will, with an international view and in line with international standards, further reinforce its functions and improve its amenities with a view to enabling its tourism sector to better generate all-round development for the town. We will consolidate Wuzhen's position as a leading tourism destination that is also increasingly livable and suitable for working in.

Second, we'll develop a better Tongxiang. We think there are three effects we need to achieve to further elevate the high-quality development of Tongxiang. The first one is industrial cluster effect. We have planned an area of 125 square kilometers centered on scientific innovation in Wuzhen as a main avenue to respond to the integrated development of the Yangtze River Delta, the construction of the Zhejiang Great Bay area and the opportunities arising from the World Internet Conference. We aim for the area to make up 80 percent of Tongxiang's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) within three years. Second, radiation effect. We have set aside four major blocks with clearly defined functions: the intelligent manufacturing industry in the economic development zone, the digital industry in Wuzhen, the fashion industry in Puyuan and the back-up services in the main urban area, hoping the four blocks can respond to each other and achieve coordinated development. Third, demonstration effect. We have decided on forging a partnership with China Ping An Insurance Group Co. Ltd. to build a smart city of 3.5 square kilometers with ubiquitous Internet technologies and smart experiences, providing a showcase of future lifestyle and mode of production. 

Third, we'll ensure local people can lead better lives. The dividend brought by the Conference to Tongxiang and Wuzhen is in essence a greater sense of gain for local people. We will work to ensure that our people can get their things done more easily in terms of administrative procedures. We will continue the reform aimed at enabling people to get their things done in one go, and improve smart governance so that local people can finish all their procedures online and enterprises can benefit from improved administrative service. Additionally, we'll make local lifestyles smarter, with the promotion of smart senior care, smart health care, smart education, smart traffic and smart social governance. We'll provide more and higher-quality public services to see that our people benefit from the Internet. Besides, we'll open more channels to increase our people's incomes. Against the backdrop of rural vitalization, we'll take advantage of the Internet to increase the efficiency of our agricultural production and increase farmers' income. 

All in all, the World Internet Conference has become the largest IP of Wuzhen as well as Tongxiang. With the opportunities presented by the Conference, we'll have a great future to be embraced. Thank you all.

The Beijing News:

My question is for Mr. Liu. The guest lineup of the World Internet Conference draws great attention every year. Could you please tell us which famous enterprises and business leaders of the internet industry will be expected this year? Also, you mentioned that there will be 19 sub-forums this year. Why arranging these sub-forums? What results are they expected to achieve? Thank you. 

Liu Liehong: 

Thank you for the question. The World Internet Conference is an important global event. Top internet enterprises, including multinationals, and leading industry figures actively participate each year. Since the preparatory work of this year's conference began, all work has been carried out smoothly, with many industry heavyweights, famous global enterprises and notable domestic enterprises confirming their attendance. I'm sure this year's conference will be as excellent as before.

This year's conference is divided into five sectors with 19 sub-forums. We made this arrangement for the following three reasons. 

First, after studying and reviewing this year's hot topics worldwide, and focusing on the theme of this year's conference, we set up the five sectors -- innovative development, universal security, openness and inclusiveness, beautiful life, as well as common prosperity. Our aim is to give a full explanation to the concept of "community of shared future in cyberspace."

Second, we place equal emphasis on development and security. While paying attention to cutting-edge technologies like AI and 5G to comprehend the trend of technological development, we try to rise to the challenges posed by cyber security, which affects all countries, by enhancing the world's ability to manage risks. 

Third, we continue to promote the themes of the previous sessions, so we continue to hold the forums of minister dialogue, high-level think tank forum and business leaders dialogue. We are trying our best to consolidate and extend the influence of the conference's most eye-catching forums worldwide. 

Thank you. 

Bloomberg:

My question is for Mr. Liu. It was reported that Facebook had registered an incubator platform in Hangzhou this year; however approval was later withdrawn. Does it indicate that internet companies like Google and Facebook will be restricted by the Chinese government from expanding their non-social and non-search businesses in China? Thank you.

Liu Liehong:

Thank you for your question. As far as we know, Facebook made contacts with relevant agencies in Hangzhou, but has not got the business license for its subsidiary in the city. I would like to reiterate that China is willing to share the opportunities of its internet development with the rest of the world. Foreign internet companies are welcome to develop their businesses in China as long as they abide by our laws and regulations, observe rules made by relevant agencies as well as respect China's history and culture.

Thank you.

China Radio International:

We know that the World Internet Conference has had a profound impact on Zhejiang province's economic and social development, and also played a positive role in promoting the government's digital transformation. The "One-Stop Service" reform has become a new business card of Zhejiang. What is the state of progress of the reform and what kind of benefits have people got from it?

Ge Huijun:

Thank you for your question. Here I will give you an example. Last February, a couple in Shaoxing, Zhejiang province, were arranging a transaction involving the purchase of a secondhand housing in Keqiao District of Shaoxing. They submitted the relevant document at the service window at 10:00 a.m., and then got the new property ownership certificate before 11:00 a.m. This is one of the changes brought about by the "One-Hour Handling and Conclusion" service launched this year in Keqiao district, which is also a reflection of Zhejiang's "One-Stop Service" reform.

As you said, the World Internet Conference has promoted Zhejiang's economic and social development and also contributed to the government's digital transformation. In the past, the problem that companies and the general public mentioned most was "slow, complicated and difficult procedures". One of the important reasons is that there are data barriers between government departments, and information cannot be freely exchanged and shared. 

The "One-Stop Service" reform is to comply with the concerns and expectations of enterprises and the general public. With the help of the internet, big data and other information technologies, we will vigorously promote the digital transformation of government procedures, removing information islands and data barriers. Relying on the internet, we can ensure that data will move more freely, meaning people will make fewer visits, and even won't have to visit at all. 

At present, the number of registered users of Zhejiang Government Administration Service Network (zjzwfw.gov.cn) has exceeded 18.3 million. More than 50 percent of civil matters for the public can be handled by the "One ID Having All Matters Done" system. The average start-up time of an enterprise in the province has been reduced to 5.5 working days, and the registration of residents' property ownership can be handled and completed within an average two working days. According to a third-party survey, the implementation rate and satisfaction rate for the "One-Stop Service" reform reached 88.8 percent and 94.7 percent respectively. We can say reform has given enterprises and the general public a full sense of benefit. Thank you! 

Guangming Daily:

My question is to Minister Liu. With the rapid development of the internet, web applications have penetrated every aspect of our lives. At the same time, security incidents such as cyber fraud and cyber theft are occurring now and then. What can the government do to create a more secure cyberspace? Thank you.

Liu Liehong:

Thank you for your question. As you have said, cyberspace security is closely related to national security and the public interest. Achieving and safeguarding the legitimate interests and rights for the people is the aim of our work on cyber security. In recent years, we have undertaken four tasks in terms of maintaining cyberspace security and safeguarding public security.

First, we have gradually established laws and a regulatory system for cyberspace security, and promoted cyberspace governance according to the laws and regulations. Since 2016, we have successively published the Cybersecurity Law of the People's Republic of China and Measures for the Security Examination of Network Products and Services (for Trial Implementation), as well as other regulations and measures to effectively protect and safeguard the interests of the people in cyberspace. To implement the requirements of the Cybersecurity Law, we are formulating related measures such as the Measures for Security Assessment of Cross-Border Data Transfer of Personal Information and Important Data. These provide a strong legal guarantee for regulating online behavior, maintaining network order, and purifying the network environment.

Second, we set up a China Cybersecurity Week to enhance the cyber security awareness and basic security protection skills for netizens. In the third week of September each year, we are staging this event nationwide. The main venue of the 2018 China Cybersecurity Week was held in Chengdu. We held a summit forum on cyber security, The 2018 Cyberspace Expo, as well as themed activities for promoting the concept of cyber security among the public.

Third, we have accelerated the development of the cyber security industry. Maintaining the security of cyberspace requires a strong cyber security industry to support it. In recent years, cyber security industry has grown at a compound annual growth rate of 20 percent. The cyber security industry has become as a strategic emerging industry of China, spawning many famous cyber security enterprises.

Fourth, we have cracked down on internet crimes in accordance with the law. We have continuously maintained a high-level posture on cybercrime. We have repeatedly cracked down on hacking, telecommunication fraud, and infringement of citizens' personal privacy. The cyber security order has been effectively maintained for creating a clean environment for internet users. 

Science and Technology Daily:

The world-leading internet scientific and technological achievements released at each year's WIC have drawn much public attention. What are the highlights this year? To which key areas do the achievements belong? Are there any cool emerging technologies in the lineup? Thank you.

Liu Liehong:

Thank you for your interest in the planned release. The event has been held for two years and has become a major highlight of the annual WIC. World-leading internet scientific and technological achievements, including theories, technologies, products and business patterns, are collected from all across the world every year and then selected for release through a just, fair, objective and authoritative evaluation by an expert committee. The final result will be unveiled at the WIC.

This year, we have collected many quality Internet technology achievements. We believe the list will contain important achievements for release at the WIC this year. I appreciate your continuous interest in this event. Thank you. 

Economic Daily:

My question is for Ms. Ge. You said just now that Zhejiang province has achieved great progress in developing the digital economy through holding the World Internet Conference. Could you brief us on the highlights in this regard?

Ge Huijun:

Thank you for your question. Since the first World Internet Conference, we have maintained double-digit growth in the value added component of the key industries involved in the digital economy. This sector is becoming a new engine powering our innovation-driven development. I think there are three highlights of the development of digital economy in Zhejiang.

First, the development of the digital economy started early in Zhejiang. As early as 2003, General Secretary Xi Jinping, then the Party chief of Zhejiang province, initiated the program for developing a digital-based economy. Over the past 15 years, all the provincial leaders have been consistently implementing this program. Last year, the CPC Zhejiang Provincial Committee and the Zhejiang provincial government made such development a top priority, aiming to take the program to a new level. This has increased the overall strength of the provincial digital economy.

Second, Zhejiang has created a good information infrastructure. We have been promoting the development of infrastructure for cloud computing, big data, the internet, the Internet of Things and a service interface for many years. By the end of last year, our fiber-optic broadband network covered all the buildings in urban areas and all the administrative villages in rural areas, and the people gained access to 4G mobile communications. Zhejiang leads China in rural e-commerce, with the number of "Taobao villages" accounting for more than a third of the national total. Zhejiang has also become a "province of mobile payment", with the technology being applied to almost every aspect of daily life including public services, transport and health.

Third, Zhejiang has a large number of market entities engaged in the digital economy. There are more than 480 companies involved, with a production value of over 100 million yuan and 18 companies with production value of 10 billion yuan, forming five industrial clusters with the production value of more than 100 billion yuan each. In addition, driven by the development of companies with global influence such as Alibaba, Hikvision and Dahua Technology, Zhejiang is striding towards the world stage in terms of the digital economy.

Here I would like to invite more individuals and companies to develop such businesses in Zhejiang, and to better share the opportunities presented by development of the digital economy.

Xi Yanchun: 

This is the end of today's conference. Thanks for Mr. Liu, Ms. Ge and Mr. Sheng. Thank you all.

.

Read in Chinese

Date:

Sept. 25, 2018

Guo Weimin:

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to this press conference. Yesterday afternoon, the State Council Information Office released the white paper "The Facts and China's Position on China-U.S. Trade Friction." Today, we are holding this press conference to give you a brief introduction to the book and offer explanations to its content.

Present at this press conference are: Mr. Fu Ziying, China International Trade Representative and the vice minister of the Ministry of Commerce; Mr. Wang Shouwen, vice minister of the Ministry of Commerce and Deputy China International Trade Representative; Mr. Lian Weiliang, deputy head of the National Development and Reform Commission; Mr. Luo Wen, vice minister of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology; Ms. Zou Jiayi, vice minister of the Ministry of Finance; Mr. He Hua, deputy head of the National Intellectual Property Administration.

I'm Guo Weimin, vice minister and spokesperson of the SCIO. I will be the host of this press conference.

First, I'd like to introduce the main contents of the white paper. Entitled "The Facts and China's Position on China-U.S. Trade Friction", it comprehensively clarifies the facts about China-U.S. trade and economic cooperation, systematically states China's stance on China-U.S. trade frictions, describes the mutually-beneficial and win-win cooperation between China and the United States in regard to trade and the economy, outlines the damage of trade protectionism and bullying practices of the U.S. administration towards the world economy, as well as China's will and determination to safeguard its national interests and the current multilateral trade system. Excluding the foreword, the 36,000-Chinese-character white paper is comprised of six parts.

The white paper points out that, since the establishment of diplomatic relations, bilateral trade and economic ties between China and the U.S. have developed steadily; a close partnership has been forged to the benefit of both countries and the rest of the world; trade and economic relations between China and the U.S. are of great significance. The Section 301 investigation produced by the U.S. administration makes a series of false accusations towards China that seriously distort the facts about China-U.S. economic and trade relations. At the same time, the U.S. has also introduced escalating tariff measures that greatly damage years of growing bilateral economic and trade relations and put at risk the multilateral trade system and free trade.

The white paper emphasizes that economic globalization is the trend of the times, and peace and development represent the shared aspirations of all peoples. China-U.S. economic and trade ties concern not only the wellbeing of the two countries, but also world peace, prosperity and stability. Cooperation is the only correct option for China and the U.S., and only a win-win approach will lead to a better future. China's position is clear, consistent and firm. China is firmly committed to safeguarding its national dignity and core interests, firmly committed to the sound development of China-U.S. economic and trade relations, firmly committed to reform and improvement of the multilateral trading system, firmly committed to protecting property rights and intellectual property rights (IPR), firmly committed to protecting the lawful rights and interests of foreign businesses in China, firmly committed to deepening reform and widening national opening-up, firmly committed to mutually beneficial cooperation with other developed and developing countries, and firmly committed to building a community with a shared future for all humanity.

"A just cause enjoys abundant support while an unjust one finds little support." In a world of increasing uncertainty, instability and insecurity, China will remain true to its original aspirations, follow the trend of the times, shoulder its responsibility for justice, and pursue the greater good. It will unswervingly safeguard the multilateral trading system, press forward with the reform of global governance, promote world peace, contribute to global development, uphold the international order, and build a community with a shared future for mankind.

The white paper is available in eight languages, namely, Chinese, English, French, Russian, German, Spanish, Arabic and Japanese. The Chinese copies are published by the People's Publishing House and the foreign language versions are published by the Foreign Languages Press, all being distributed by the Xinhua Bookstore across the country.

Now, please welcome Fu Ziying, China's international trade representative and the vice minister of the Ministry of Commerce, to give some details about the white paper.

Fu Ziying:

As we all know, China is the largest developing country in the world, and the United States is the largest developed country in the world. China-U.S. economic and trade relations are of great significance not only to the two countries themselves, but also to the stability and development of the global economy. Since the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and the United States, bilateral economic and trade relations have been deepening and interests have become highly interdependent, which has brought tangible benefits to the both peoples and benefited the whole world.

The scale of economic and trade cooperation between China and the United States is huge, yet the stages of economic development, social systems, and cultural traditions are different, so it is normal to have economic and trade frictions. The key is how to enhance mutual trust, promote cooperation, and control differences. For a long time, each government has made tremendous efforts to overcome all kinds of obstacles and move economic and trade relations forward, which has served as the ballast and propeller of the overall bilateral relationship. However, the U.S. side has recently adopted unilateralism and protectionism, adopting a series of trade restrictions on China, and continuously raising tariffs on goods imported from China. Starting from basis of safeguarding the common interests of the two countries and the world trade order, China adheres to resolving disputes through dialogue and consultation and responds to U.S. concerns with the utmost patience and sincerity. However, the U.S. side has been contradicting itself and constantly escalating the situation, which has greatly affected China-U.S. economic and trade cooperation and has also caused serious threats to the multilateral trading system and the principle of free trade.

In order to clarify the facts of China-U.S. economic and trade relations, clearly state China's policy on trade friction with the United States, and pursue reasonable solutions of the issue, the Chinese government has compiled a white paper entitled "The Facts and China's Position on China-U.S. Trade Friction."

First of all, the White Paper systematically expounds the mutually beneficial and win-win characteristics of China-U.S. economic and trade relations from various perspectives of trade in goods, trade in services, and mutual investment - pointing out that both sides have benefited a lot from it. In particular, the United States has gained extensive and enormous economic benefits in its economic and trade exchanges with China and shared the opportunities and achievements brought about by China's development. The claim that the United States is "losing" in this relationship does not stand up to scrutiny.

Since last year, the U.S. government has accused China of "economic aggression," "unfair trade," "IPR theft" and "national capitalism," which have distorted the facts of China-U.S. economic and trade relations. Based on a large amount of data and facts, the White Paper makes a detailed analysis and clarification on how to view the U.S. trade deficit with China, how to look at the issues of fair trade, technology transfer between Chinese and American companies, China's intellectual property protection, Chinese companies' "going global," and China's subsidy policies and more.

At the same time, the White Paper points out that the United States itself has a large number of restrictive policies and practices on investment and trade which distort market competition, hinder fair trade, disrupt the global industrial chain, including: discriminating foreign countries' products in violation of the principle of fair competition, abusing the "National Security Review" to hinder the normal investment activities of other countries' enterprises in the United States, as well as the provision of large subsidies that distort market competition, using large-scale non-tariff barriers, and abusing trade remedy measures.

According to the White Paper, as a major establishing force and participant in rebuilding the international economic order and multilateral trade system after World War II, the United States should have been the spearhead in following the multilateral trade rules and addressing the trade conflicts with other member countries through dispute-resolving mechanisms under the framework of the World Trade Organization (WTO). However, the unilateral emphasis of "American First" has brought American domestic issues to the international community and politicized the economic and trade problems, causing damage to the national interests of China and other countries, as well as America's own image, thereby ruining its own interests in the long run.

The White Paper reiterates that, while the global economy has just been relieved from the shadow of the global financial crisis, recovery is yet to secure sound momentum. However, the United States has insisted on imposing a slew of unilateral trade protectionist policies, which have sabotaged the international economic order, challenged the global value chain as well as the international industrial division system, interrupted market expectations, and risked the global economic recovery with the enormous uncertainties it has created.

In its final chapter, the White Paper systematically elaborates China's stance.

First, China firmly safeguards its national dignity and core interests. China does not want a trade war, but it is not afraid of one. We have the confidence, resolve and capability to meet all risks and challenges. No external factor will hold back China's development. China has kept the door to negotiations open, but negotiations can only happen when there is mutual respect, equality, good faith and deeds matching words. Negotiations cannot be conducted at the cost of China's right to development.

Second, China is firmly committed to the sound development of China-U.S. economic and trade relations. The sound and steady development of China-U.S. economic and trade relations is in the fundamental interests of the two peoples and the common interests of people across the world. China would like to work with the U.S. in the same direction, act in a spirit of mutual respect and win-win cooperation, focus on economic and trade cooperation, properly manage economic and trade differences, and make vigorous efforts to foster a new China-U.S. economic and trade order that is balanced, inclusive and mutually beneficial, so as to contribute to the well-being of the two peoples.

Third, China is firmly committed to the reform and improvement of the multilateral trading system. China resolutely abides by and upholds the WTO rules, supports an open, transparent, inclusive and non-discriminatory multilateral trading system, and supports necessary reform of the WTO. China is working to promote trade and investment liberalization and facilitation, and make economic globalization more open, inclusive, balanced and beneficial to all.

Fourth, China is firmly committed to protecting property rights and intellectual property rights (IPR). China will keep improving its laws and regulations on IPR protection, and protect the lawful IPR of Chinese and foreign businesses in strict accordance with the law. China will enhance its cooperation with all countries to protect IPR, and hopes that governments of other countries will also step up their efforts to protect Chinese IPR.

Fifth, China is firmly committed to protecting the lawful rights and interests of foreign investors in China. China is committed to building an open and transparent legal system concerning foreign affairs, improving the business environment, and providing better, higher-quality services to businesses from all countries operating and investing in China. The Chinese government pays close attention to the legitimate concerns of foreign investors, and stands ready to respond to and address their specific concerns.

Sixth, China is firmly committed to deepening reform and opening wider to the outside world. China will not reverse course, but only deepen its reform. China will not close its door to the world, but only open wider. China will unswervingly deepen reform, expand opening up, comprehensively promote the rule of law and build a socialist country under the rule of law.

Seventh, China is firmly committed to mutually beneficial cooperation with other developed and developing countries. On the basis of reciprocity, China will work with relevant economic and trade partners to expedite the negotiations on multilateral and bilateral economic and trade cooperation. China will promote deeper cooperation under the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative and create new drivers for common development.

Eighth, China is firmly committed to building a community with a shared future for mankind. China will continue to act as a responsible major country, and join every other country in building an open, inclusive, clean and beautiful world that enjoys lasting peace, universal security and common prosperity.

In short, no matter how the international situation changes, China will promote world peace, contribute to global development, and uphold international order.

Thank you everyone!

Guo Weimin:

Thank you, Mr. Fu. Now, the floor is open to questions.

CCTV:

As for bilateral trade and economic ties, the U.S. side believes the Chinese side has adopted unfair approaches causing the United States to suffer losses. What do you think of this claim? Besides, what do you think of the future of bilateral trade and economic ties between China and the United States? Thank you.

Fu Ziying:

Some people in the United States accused China of unfair competition leading to a huge U.S. trade deficit in goods with China and losses on the U.S. side. This accusation is not consistent with the facts. It doesn't have a leg to stand on, being a totally a misleading accusation.

China-U.S. economic and trade cooperation is the natural outcome of the complementarity of Chinese and American industries and the inevitable choice of the international division of labor. It is in the common interests of the two peoples. After nearly 40 years of development, the economies of China and the United States have become deeply integrated and attached to each other. The annual bilateral trade volume has reached US$700 billion, and the stock of two-way investment has exceeded US$230 billion. The annual sales revenue of American firms in China has reached US$700 billion, with profits exceeding US$50 billion. The common interests of China and the United States are far greater than their differences.

In fact, the gap in China-U.S. trade is merely gap in trade volume, not the gap in profits and losses. I used to be an accountant, so I know why. Similarly, no one knows better than the related enterprises and consumers themselves whether or not the United States has suffered losses in the bilateral trade. In terms of production, China and the United States are in different positions in the global industrial and value chains. The United States stands at the high-end, while China stands at the low-end. Chinese firms are more likely to earn processing fees, while American firms benefit enormously from design, parts supply, marketing and other links. In terms of consumers, Chinese goods of good quality and reasonable price have entered millions of American homes, enriched the American consumer market and improved American consumer welfare. On the whole, the U.S side has gained more from bilateral trade. The profits gained by U.S. enterprises in bilateral economic and trade cooperation are far greater than those gained by Chinese enterprises. It can be said that, the trade surplus is reflected in China, while the "interest surplus" is reflected in the United States.

The formation of the U.S. trade deficit with China is related to the economic structure, international division of labor, statistical divergence and other factors between the two countries. Fundamentally speaking, trade competitiveness is the competitiveness of industries, and the industries with strong competitiveness see relatively higher export volumes. The United States has maintained a big trade surplus with China in competitive industries such as automobiles, airplanes, agricultural products and services. In 2017, China imported US$13.1 billion of automobiles from the United States, while China's automobile exports to the United States only reached US$1.4 billion. The United States enjoyed a US$16.4 billion trade surplus with China in agricultural products. The U.S. trade surplus in services to China exceeded US$54 billion. The China-U.S. trade imbalance can also be attributed to American export controls to China. According to the analysis of relevant American institutions, the U.S. trade deficit with China would be reduced by as much as 35 percent if American control over high-tech products for civilian use exported to China could be relaxed. The United States doesn't want to export what China wants to import, and this situation is also a major cause of the current trade imbalance.

China is willing to work hard to push bilateral trade towards greater balance, and hopes the United States will also show a positive attitude. Currently, our planet has become a close-knit global village. The trend of economic globalization is unalterable, and the trend of China-U.S. economic cooperation is irreversible.

The Australian:

China is Australia's largest trading partner. We sell LNG and other major products [to China]. Do you say that other third countries can perhaps benefit or perhaps have opportunities to sell more to China as a result of the trade war between the U.S. and China?

Wang Shouwen:

Thank you for the question. The trade war has caused great damage to the global value chain and imposed a negative influence on normal trade activities. The United States could have been a major LNG supplier of China; however, because of its restrictive measures, we were forced to take countermeasures, and this will affect U.S. LNG producers' exports, as China is one of their important export markets. To be frank, the measures have already created some effects.

Australia is an important LNG supplier of China. The trade volume is enormous, and there is even greater potential. As Mr. Fu Ziying just said, China has a big market, and is willing to open wider. Opportunities are available to all LNG producers and supplying countries if there is no trade war.

Xinhua News Agency:

Can China's economy sustain the impacts of the economic and trade frictions with the United States? How will China respond to the downward pressure on its economy?

Lian Weiliang:

Thank you for these questions. Undoubtedly, America's punitive tariffs on US$200 billion of its imports from China will have both direct and indirect impacts on the Chinese economy, with the influence on some industries and regions being comparatively big. Yet, although the impact is unavoidable, the risks are generally controllable, and the Chinese economy has the ability to hedge through boosting domestic demand. The risks are controllable, because of support from at least three aspects: the resilience of the Chinese economy as a whole, the potential of expanded domestic demand, and the increasing competitiveness of market entities.

First, the Chinese economy has overall resilience. The size of the economy reached US$12.7 trillion last year, with exports hitting US$2.26 trillion, so that US$200 billion only accounts for 8.8 percent. If the contribution of the processing trade is considered, the influence of (the ongoing trade frictions) on added value can be reduced even further. An important characteristic with the Chinese economy is that it has a complete range of industries and multi-element components, and various parts can complement and replace each other, which means the Chinese economy can demonstrate strong resilience and tenacity while responding to any external impact.

Looking back at the development of the Chinese economy, we have actually experienced several tests, in which external demand plummeted. For instance, China's total export-import volume dropped eight percent, in dollar prices, in 2015 and 6.8 percent in 2016, which both exerted huge downward pressure on overall economic growth. However, relying on expanding domestic demand and deepening supply-side structural reforms, we maintained economic growth within a rational range. Currently, the Chinese economy is in the phase of transforming from high-speed to high-quality growth, attaching more significance to the quality of economic growth. So, its resilience and capacity to cope with any impacts are stronger.

Second, the Chinese economy has much potential in terms of domestic demand. China has nearly 1.4 billion people, which is even more than the total population of all developed economies, and annual per capita income is now nearly US$9,000, with an obvious trend of consumption upgrading. It is fair to say the domestic market has huge potential. Meanwhile, as a developing country, where regional development gaps have yet to be bridged, China still has many problems and weaknesses, so it also has huge potential in increasing investment.

All these factors have created favorable conditions for the Chinese economy to respond to external fluctuations. The economic operations in the first eight months this year proved this judgment. The additional American tariffs on US$50 billion worth of imports from China took effect in two batches on July 6 and August 23 respectively. China's industrial added value growth in August was 0.1 percentage points higher than the previous month as well as the same period of last year. The total volume of retail sales in August was 0.2 percentage points higher than July. Investment in manufacturing industries in that month was three percentage points faster than the same period of last year, and 0.2 percentage points higher than that achieved from January to July. It is noteworthy total power consumption from January to August increased by nine percent, the fastest growth since 2011.

Third, the competitiveness of market entities constantly increases. Although export-oriented enterprises meet many difficulties, their ability to adapt to market changes, expand markets and promote science and technology innovation, will enable them to withstand market tests in the process of coping with challenges arising from the decline of external demand. The Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council attach great importance to the influences of Sino-U.S. trade frictions, and have taken a series of positive measures, stressing that we must do our own business well, and focus on the necessity of keeping stability in six fields: employment, finance, foreign trade, foreign investment, investment and expectations.

In regard to dealing with the economic downturn due to China-U.S. trade friction, the following three specific measures can be adopted: first, expand domestic demand and strengthen areas of weakness more efficiently; second, take more effective steps to lighten burdens and improve the business environment, third, introduce more effective policies to boost restructuring and improve capabilities.

First, in regard to expanding domestic demand and strengthening areas of weakness more efficiently, a guideline issued by the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and the State Council recently aims to further tap the country's domestic consumption potential. The guideline outlines fifteen specific measures to upgrade consumption and tap this potential. We will focus on strengthening weaknesses in the areas of infrastructure development, people's well-being, public services, agriculture and ecological and environmental protection, while deepening supply-side structural reform in which we will ensure private investment plays an important role and improve the confidence of private investors.

Second, in taking more effective steps to lighten burdens and improve the business environment, China will further ease the burden on companies through additional cuts on taxes and fees, deepen reforms in streamlining the administration, delegate powers, and improve regulation and services to further improve China's business environment and deepen the country's opening up. All these measures are applied equally to both Chinese and foreign companies. We will continue to adhere to the socialist basic economic system while unwaveringly seeking to encourage, support and guide the development of the non-public sector to stabilize social expectations and boost development confidence.

Third, in regard to introducing more effective policies to boost restructuring and improve capabilities, we will provide more support for Chinese companies to explore international markets to strengthen win-win cooperation with the European Union, Japan, Russia, ASEAN and Africa and develop a diversified trade market based on the Belt and Road Initiative. We will also encourage Chinese companies to improve their adaptability to market changes, which requires them to optimize their product structure, to develop products that can meet diversified market needs and improve innovation capacity and core competence.

As a general comment, the Chinese economy has sufficient resilience and potential. China is fully capable of hedging the impact of China-U.S. trade friction through promoting high-quality development by expanding domestic demand, and we have full ability, confidence and conditions to keep the Chinese economy on a steady course. Thank you.

CNN:

Recently, many people have concluded from editorials and commentaries in China's official media that China's leaders and government increasingly feel that the trade war and Trump's tariff measures are not just a matter of economic and trade friction, but a strategic step for the U.S. to contain China's development and rise in an all-round way. We've heard similar voices in the U.S., and there's a growing consensus among Democrats and Republicans that China is a strategic competitor for the U.S. Under the circumstances and context, do you believe that the trade friction is a deadlock, and any economic and trade talks or negotiations would be useless or unhelpful? Thank you.

Fu Ziying:

This white paper released by the Chinese government aims to profoundly analyze the benefits that both China and the U.S. have received in their cooperation after the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries. Despite bumps, difficulties, twists and turns along the way, China and the U.S. both have seen remarkable progress in their gross economic products and people's welfare since the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries over more than 40 years ago. We can't forget that the bumpy development of China-U.S. ties over the past more than four decades has always become better and better, as people from the both countries have received benefits and welfare.

The problem right now is what do you think of China? I think there are still some misunderstandings of China in the international community. One of China's three major priorities set by the Chinese government is poverty elimination. Why? Because there we still have tens of millions of people living in poverty. It has been a common task for the world to eliminate poverty. It would be impossible for millions of people to get out of poverty if China didn't develop. In the face of the poverty issue, we all know that China must stick to the reform and opening-up so as to develop itself in economic globalization. However, the key problem is that people always focus on China's large GDP and trade volume while ignoring the average level of GDP and trade per capita, which is still very low.

Mr. Wang Shouwen and I deal with both international and domestic affairs. I've learnt a lot in the investigation and survey of some areas of central and western China. I went to a village in Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region at the beginning of 2017. I went there alone without any officials accompanying me. This randomly selected village is over 100 kilometers from Nanning, the capital city of Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region. There is a family with a veteran and his three sons. It's inconceivable to see the fact that only one son can get married. Because of poverty, there is no furniture in the room, and all the children and adults sleep on the cotton-padded mattress on the floor. Their food is corn congee directly cooked on a fire pan. I burst into tears after seeing this, and I gave them all the money in my wallet.

Should we lift people out of poverty and seek common prosperity with people in China and around the world under the circumstances of economic globalization? Or should we fight with each other and adopt containment policies to end up with the fact that the rich get richer and the poor poorer? Can we do that?

Therefore, I believe that containing China or the so-called trade war is not in line with the direction and future of human peaceful development. Throughout history, wars and trade wars have a price to pay. Who will bear the cost? It's the people. Thank you.

Phoenix TV:

It's reported China has rejected the American request for negotiations; so, what is your comment on this? In addition, under what circumstances is China willing to resume high-level trade negotiations? When is the soonest this might start? Thank you.

Wang Shouwen:

Thank you for your questions. The timing of when to resume high-level economic and trade negotiations is entirely up to the United States. China has kept the door open to negotiations to address economic and trade differences; however, negotiations can only work when there is equality and mutual respect. The United States has now imposed such large-scale trade restrictions, so, how can negotiations proceed when there is a knife being held to one's neck? That is not an equal negotiation.

Second, it requires good faith and credibility to conduct negotiations. There have been four rounds of high-level negotiations between China and the United States. The two sides reached much consensus, and even issued a joint statement. However, the United States has gone back on its words, reneged on the consensus achieved, and imposed trade restrictions, making negotiations hard to proceed. Therefore, I would like to highlight that, as long as there is good faith, equality and credibility, there will be a way out through negotiations. Thank you.

Ta Kung Wen Wei Media Center:

Do China's subsidy policies comply with the relevant provisions of the WTO? Do they create unfair competition? Thank you.

Zou Jiayi:

Thank you for your questions. Under market economic conditions, subsidies are widely used by many countries and regions, including the US and China, as one of the tools to address market failure and imbalanced economic development. However, subsidy policies should follow certain rules. As one of the WTO members, China formulates the policies of subsidies in conformity with the stipulations of the WTO, which divides subsidies into three categories: prohibited subsidies, actionable subsidies and non-actionable subsidies.

Prohibited subsidiesrefer to mainly export subsidies and import substitution subsidies. Actionable subsidies may result in trade-distortion and unfair effects on international trade, and harm the interests of members, but WTO members can recourse to the WTO dispute settlement mechanism. Non-actionable subsidies will not result in social distortions and unfair trade and are used mainly for supporting research and development, a country's undeveloped regions and support enterprises to achieve new and higher standards of ecological environment protection and so on.

Since China joined the WTO, we have actively pressed ahead with reform to ensure the compliance of domestic policies.Most of China's subsidies are non-actionable subsidies, and supplemented by actionable subsidies. Prohibited subsidies have been fully abolished. At the same time, we have earnestly implemented the agreement on subsidies and countervailing measures, which stipulate obligations such as WTO's rule of transparency on subsidies. For example, according to the WTO's transparency principle on subsidies, China strictly follows the requirements to regularly notify the WTO of the revision, adjustment and implementation of relevant laws, regulations and specific measures. Since China's WTO entry, we have submitted to the WTO over one thousand notifications. The latest one was in this July. We notified the WTO of the central and sub-national policies of subsidy policies between 2015 and 2016, covering all the provincial level administrative areas for the first time.    

Of course, I don't mean that our policies are impeccable. As a developing country, China has made continuous efforts in reforming and improving the policies of industrial subsidies and the endeavor is still underway. Based on the guideline, subsidies will mostly focus on non-actionable areas, avoiding as much as possible the adoption of actionable aspects. This is exemplified by two cases. The first involves agricultural subsidies. We have scrapped three types of subsidies, namely, direct subsidies to grain growers, comprehensive subsidies for agricultural inputs and subsidies for the seeds of high-quality crops, all of which belong to the yellow box subsidies that we previously adopted. We have replaced them with supportive policies related to the conservation of agrarian lands and appropriate operational land scale, in an attempt to secure the agricultural surroundings and facilitate sustainable development while shifting to green box subsidies. The second one is: not long ago, we undertook a round of reducing capacity among manufacturing industries. To better support this, we established a designated prize fund, primarily spent on trainings and re-employment of the people losing jobs during the process. The financial support of those enterprises is provided with non-actionable subsidies as well.

By and large, China has fulfilled its commitments to the WTO. The subsidies in both the standards and measures have in no way gone beyond the organization's regulations. Hence, we have not caused market disorder and unfair competition. At the same time, during implementation, if some local governments are found to be continuing to provide prohibited subsidies, it is our indomitable resolve to get them to stop such wrongdoing. Thank you.

Global Times:

What influences will the additional tariffs imposed by the United States on Chinese goods have on the global industrial chain? If foreign investment withdraws from China because of the tariffs, what influence will it have on China's industries and the global industrial division of labor? Thank you.

Luo Wen:

The additional U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods will cause great harm to and exert negative influences on global industrial chain, which can be shown in three aspects.

First, the tariffs will break the connection between the industries of different countries, risking fragmenting the global industrial chain. As we all know, under the conditions of economic globalization, the economies of all countries are deeply integrated into the global industrial chain. The trade between countries is no longer just simple commodity trade, but relies on global production networks to jointly complete product R&D and design, processing and manufacturing, logistics and transportation, and marketing services between countries. All countries are dependent on each other with their economies closely intertwined. We prosper and suffer together. The imposition of tariffs by the United States can be said to disrupt the normal international division of labor system, making some industries disconnected from upstream and downstream industries, meaning that the global industrial chain is facing the risk of fragmentation.

Second, the tariffs will break international economic and trade rules, leaving the global industrial chain in a state of disorder. The existing international economic and trade rules represented by the WTO regulations are the important cornerstone of global economic growth. The unilateralism and protectionism currently adopted by the United States have forced some countries to take countermeasures. By July this year, in addition to China, the other major trading partners of the United States, including the European Union, Canada and Mexico, successively launched countermeasures. . Therefore, the risk of a worldwide trade war is growing. In this situation, the international economic and trade rules may be damaged or collapse completely. Once the global industrial chain loses the fundamental support of these rules, the risk of disorder will become even greater.

Third, the tariffs will reduce the efficiency of global economic operations, leaving the global industrial chain exposed to greater risks of low efficiency. The additional tariffs of the United States have dealt a blow to normal commodity trading and resource allocation worldwide, reducing the efficiency of international economic operation. In April this year, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) released the World Economic Outlook, stressing that an increase in tariffs and nontariff trade barriers could disrupt global supply chains, and slow the spread of new technologies, reducing global productivity and investment. This will lower the overall efficiency of the global industrial chain.

This is the answer to your first question.

As to the impact of relocation of foreign companies, we believe that cross-border investment and relocation are voluntary business practices of companies to allocate resources efficiently across the globe. For any country, there are companies moving in and out every day. It is a normal and natural result of economic globalization. Up to now, the escalating trade friction provoked by the United States has had some impact on foreign companies in China. Some have decided to move to other countries in order to diversify their risks and lower costs. We should take a rational view of this issue.

First, instead of sidestepping it, we will take various measures to help companies overcome any difficulties. We will consistently deepen reform to streamline administration, delegate powers, improve regulation and strengthen services. We will cut taxes and reduce tax burden on companies and consistently improve the business environment.

Second, instead of exaggerating the issue, we should have every confidence in the potential of the Chinese market and the advantages of our industrial supporting capacity. China offers enormous market potential, a complete industrial supporting system and ample room for business development. Therefore, most of the foreign companies decide to stay for common development with the Chinese economy. There are also companies further exploring the Chinese market. For example, American electric vehicle manufacturer Tesla in July announced plans to build a super factory in Shanghai, its first outside the United States.

Third, we will open China wider to the outside world at our own pace. We will stay committed to market-oriented reform, continue opening-up, and implement all of the announced initiatives to achieve this. We are convinced that more and more foreign companies will come to invest in China, and most of the companies operating here will stay for further development. Thank you.

Bloomberg:

What expectations do you think the U.S. negotiators have for China-U.S. economic and trade frictions? What do they expect from the negotiations?

Wang Shouwen:

There have been four rounds of high-level negotiations between China and the U.S. As I have mentioned already, the two sides have reached much consensus during the negotiations, and even issued a joint statement. However, it is very regrettable that the U.S. administration has backtracked and reneged on the consensus achieved, thus escalating the trade frictions. These moves harm not only China-U.S. trade, but also the interests of American workers, farmers, herders, companies and consumers, about which other WTO members around the world are also concerned. We do not know why the U.S. has backtracked and reneged in this way. Actually, the trade war waged by the American administration has brought the U.S. no benefits. The U.S. is a major source of China's agricultural imports; however, from January to July this year, China's agricultural imports from other countries, including Brazil and Australia, increased significantly, while those from the U.S. rose only slightly. The U.S. was long the largest supplier of cars to the Chinese market; now, however, Germany has replaced the U.S. In the Chinese market, the supply of Japanese and German-made cars is growing, while that of American cars is falling. The trade measures of the U.S. have not cut its global trade deficit. Instead, its trade deficit with both China and other parts of the world are increasing. Therefore, we believe that a trade war is not in the interests of China, nor is it in the interests of the U.S. Terminating the trade war is the way out. China International Trade Representative Fu Ziying mentioned just now that the China-U.S. trade volume amounts to US$700 billion. For such a large trade volume, it is normal for there to be trade disputes between the twosides. As long as both conduct equal negotiations in a spirit of good faith and credibility, I believe that there will be a way out through negotiations. Thank you.

China News Service: 

The U.S. administration accused China of lack of IPR protection and the so-called theft of intellectual property. What's your take on this issue? What measures will China take to further enhance protection of IPR, especially IPR owned by foreign enterprises in China?

He Hua:

Thank you for your question. First of all, the recent accusations by the U.S. administration about IPR protection show total disregard for China's improvement in the system for intellectual property rights protection, the sharp increase in China's innovation capacity and the fact that China has been a major IPR nation. Thus, the accusations are totally unfounded and untenable. The Chinese government has adopted a clear stand in regard to strengthening IPR protection. In his keynote speech at the Boao Forum for Asia Annual Conference 2018, President Xi Jinping announced China would strengthen protection of intellectual property rights as one of the important new measures for further expanding reform and opening up. In his address at the opening ceremony of the Summer Davos this year, Premier Li Keqiang reaffirmed China will implement a more rigorous IPR protection system to ensure law breakers pay an insufferable price for their IPR infringements, so as to propel more domestic innovation. These statements reflect the clear stand of the Chinese government in this regard.

China has the intrinsic requirement for strengthening IPR protection. China has come to a stage when its innovation capacity is rapidly increasing and innovation-oriented entities are developing fast. According to the "Global Innovation Index 2018" released by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and Cornell University in July, China's ranking rose from 22nd in 2016 to 17th in 2018. Thus, it has broken into the world's top 20 most-innovative economies for the first time. Over nine out of every 10 Chinese invention patent applications are from domestic applicants. China filed 51,000 international patent applications via the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) in 2017, ranking second in the world. In the first half of this year, nearly 80 percent of the invention patents granted by China were from domestic applicants and and nearly 70 percent of the invention patents valid in China were from domestic applicants. Therefore, strengthening IPR protection is the intrinsic requirement of China for its own development. Meanwhile, China's achievements with regard to IPR protection are widely recognized.

China treats foreign companies the same as domestic companies in regard to IPR protection. Its achievements are gaining increasing endorsement by the international community. Here are some statistics reflecting the progress made by China on IPR protection. First, foreign invention patent applications reached 650,000 over the past five years, up by an annual average of 3.1 percent; and foreign trademark applications reached 840,000 in the same period, up by an annual average of 10.3 percent. With these statistics, China has proved itself a country with a good national IP environment. Otherwise, such a big volume of applications would be unthinkable. 

The second data group: From 2012 onwards, the National Intellectual Property Administration has commissioned a third party to conduct a series of surveys on public satisfaction with China's protection of intellectual property rights. Last year's survey produced a satisfaction rate of 76.69 points. At the same time, the satisfaction level of wholly-foreign–funded enterprises secured a score higher than the general standard with 76.94 points, and joint ventures went even higher with 80.16 points. This would suggested a high degree of satisfaction and their consent to China's endeavor in IPR protection.

The third data group: An article published this year on the U.S. website--"The Diplomat"--revealed that foreign enterprises in China could win over 80 percent of the lawsuits concerning IPR infringements in the country. China has already been a destination for the IPR prosecutions from many multinational conglomerates.

Finally, Chinese companies paid US$28.6 billion for royalties of foreign patents in 2017. Among the amount, China held the biggest deficit in IPR royalties against the U.S., reaching US$5.07 billion. Such a big volume would be unthinkable without a good national IP environment. 

We will strengthen IPR protection in a stricter, more comprehensive, efficient and equal manner. To improve the strictness of IPR protection, we are working on amending the Patent Law and the Copyright Law, and setting up systems of punitive damages for all sectors related to IPR protection. To establish a comprehensive system of IPR system, we will mainly strengthen administrative law enforcement and judicial protection in accordance with the law, and also improve arbitration and mediation. To enhance the efficiency of IPR protection, we have set up 19 IPR protection centers across China to undertake review, determination and protection of rights faster in a more coordinated way. For example, it takes no more than seven to eight working days to obtain a decision on administrative punishment. To ensure equality, we will offer equal protection measures to all companies, whether they Chinese or foreign, big or small. Thank you.

Guo Weimin:

I believe reporters here have already witnessed the efforts the Chinese government has made to protect intellectual property rights (IPR). Officers from the National Intellectual Property Administration have done lots of effective work, like at least holding one IPR Promotion Week every year and a SCIO briefing to answer questions from the press.

Please go ahead and raise your questions.

TASS:

Can China compensate for the losses caused by the U.S. trade friction through international platforms such as the BRICS and through economic cooperation with some partner countries, including Russia? Thank you.

Fu Ziying:

The comprehensive strategic partnership between China and Russia has set up a good framework for the cooperation and exchanges between the two countries.

The various dialogue mechanisms between the two sides have seen smooth and effective progress. Especially at the recent 18th SCO Qingdao Summit, the leaders of the participating countries reached a broad consensus on future development. China and Russia have solid foundation of political mutual trust and strong complementarity.

Under such circumstances, the cooperation and exchanges between the two sides serve the fundamental interests of the two peoples. Under the leadership of Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin, we can overcome obstacles and further develop the China-Russian relationship in a more healthy and stable way. Thank you.

Shenzhen TV:

We note that some enterprises committed to bilateral trade between China and the United States have been affected by the Sino-U.S. economic and trade frictions. For example, ZTE in Shenzhen. In view of the impact of the frictions on enterprises, I would like to ask the heads of relevant departments for some specific tips to these enterprises to help them weather the storm better? Thank you.

Wang Shouwen:

Not only Chinese enterprises don't like trade conflict, enterprises, workers, farmers and consumers in the United States do not welcome a trade friction either. Mr. Luo said that the trade friction refers to the whole industry chain. It damages enterprises both in China and in the United States, and even in other countries. Mr. Lian mentioned that the Chinese central government has already taken measures in six areas to offer a better business environment for enterprises.

Meanwhile, enterprises have to be fully prepared to respond to unavoidable risks in terms of exporting and developing international markets. Therefore, we must do the following to tide over the crisis. Firstly, the government should create a better external and internal business environment for enterprises. Secondly, the enterprises should constantly enhance their competitiveness and try hard to develop diversified markets.

Luo Wen:

I'd like to add that the China-U.S. trade friction will hamper the development of the small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in both countries. The United States made an announcement to impose 10-percent additional tariffs on US$200 billion worth of Chinese products from Sept. 24. Millions of SMEs will be targeted. Objectively speaking, the China-U.S. trade friction not only damages the interests of SMEs and consumers, but also threatens the security of the global industry chain and supply chain.

As always, China develops amid obstacles and difficulties. Nothing is impossible to overcome. We have confidence and are capable of helping SMEs to get through this hard time.

Statistics in the first seven months of this year show that the performance of small and medium-sized enterprises above the designated size was generally sound. The value added was up by 7 percent year-on-year. The revenue of the principal activities was up by 9.5 percent year-on-year and the total profit was up by 11.4 percent year-on-year.

The next step:

Firstly, we will continue to expand domestic demand, give full play to the advantage of huge markets in China, and lead SMEs to develop in a professional, precise, characteristic and novel manner

Secondly, we will actively open new markets and firmly support SMEs to involve in the Belt and Road Initiative and develop the markets along the routes.

Thirdly, we will vigorously streamline administration, cut taxes and reduce administrative fees to stimulate the vitality of small and medium enterprises. Thank you.

Macao Daily News:

The United States has repeatedly accused the Chinese government of compulsory technology transfer. What is your comment? Thank you.

Wang Shouwen:

Thank you for your question. The White Paper explains this issue. I will do some more reading here. Regarding the so-called "compulsory technology transfer," we must first make it clear who is forcing who.

In all Chinese laws, regulations and policy documents, foreign enterprises are not forced to transfer any of their technology to Chinese companies. I challenge you to really find any such provisions in any documents, and if you do so, please let me know. Moreover, in order to prevent government agencies from exerting pressure on foreign enterprises and requiring them to transfer technologies to Chinese enterprises, this year, the State Council also issued a special instruction asking governments at all levels not to use administrative measures to force any such technology transfer.

When foreign companies export products to China, the Chinese door is open and there are no obstacles. If they want to sell their technologies to China, that is completely voluntary and there are no obstacles. Some companies now say that, when they want to invest in China, the Chinese government asks them to transfer technologies. Let's look more closely at this claim, and make it clear that foreign companies can invest in China and establish wholly-owned enterprises in most areas. There is no issue of technology transfer in establishing wholly-owned enterprises.

Everyone can check our negative list of foreign investment and find that fewer and fewer industries now require joint ventures. There are, indeed, only a small number of industries that require Sino-foreign joint ventures. This requirement was accepted by the U.S., Europe, Japan and other WTO members in the negotiations for China to join the WTO.

As a result of the negotiations, China has the right to require the joint venture approach for the entry of foreign capital in certain specified industries. This is recognized by everyone. It's not only China that does this; developed countries also have such requirements, and a large number of developing countries have such demands. If you want to invest here, produce products, and meet the demands of the local market, you need to make a joint venture.

Let's then take a look at the joint venture: is it asking for a compulsory technology transfer? Some companies say they have to transfer technologies when they form the joint venture, and if they don't do so, nobody will be willing to join them in a business, so this is a compulsory transfer. We say this is not the fact. When you are negotiating a joint venture, you definitely want a good price. If you have technologies, you can get a good price. If you don't have a good price, you will lose money and you will not agree to transfer the technologies.

Who are the parties negotiating this good price? They are foreign enterprises and Chinese partners. They are equal market entities. Negotiations between equal civil entities is a contract-based negotiation. It is a free choice of enterprises. It is an equal consultation and negotiation of enterprises. The government does not play any role in it. The government has no compulsory influence. In fact, many joint ventures are developing very well in China. Ford's joint ventures in China produces more cars than its American plants. Ford's profits in China exceed its profits in the United States.

The Deputy Director of the National Intellectual Property Administration, Mr. He Hua, just mentioned that China's protection of intellectual property rights is highly praised by joint ventures with their satisfaction degree in some cases being more than 80 percent; so, how can you say this is compulsory?

Some people ask, can you waive the joint venture requirements? Let me tell you, we are doing more and more to waive the joint venture requirements. This year, we have timetables for the national negative list and the negative list of the free trade pilot zone to waive requirements for the joint ventures handling the manufacture, maintenance and design of automobiles, aircraft and ships, as well as waive the joint venture requirements for finance, securities, banking, and insurance. However, as far as joint venture requirements are concerned, not only China has them, but other developed countries and developing countries have them, too. We need to negotiate within the WTO framework, and we need to resolve these issues through bilateral free trade negotiations or investment agreement negotiations. Don't use compulsory technology transfer as an excuse to initiate a trade war. This excuse is wrong.

At the same time, I would especially remind everyone that when it comes to "compulsory," some countries now engage in a so-called compulsory technology transfer ban. For example, they impose export restrictions and refuse to export some products and some technologies. This involves government orders and government laws and regulations. This is called compulsory. When enterprises want to sell products to China, or want to sell technologies to China, their government does not allow it. When Chinese companies go to invest in such country, or to acquire a company there, the company is willing to accept such a sale, but the government does not allow it, the laws do not allow it. So, I want to draw your attention to the compulsory technology transfer ban. Thank you.

China National Radio:

Regarding the China-U.S. trade frictions, is there any evaluation or estimation made by the Ministry of Commerce on their influences on China's foreign trade this year? What are the influences? Thank you.

Fu Ziying:

According to China's Customs, from January to August, the total value of China's imports and exports was US$3.02 trillion, increasing 16.1 percent. Specifically, the value of exports was US$1.6 trillion, increasing 12.2 percent; the value of imports was US$1.41 trillion, increasing 20.9 percent.

The figures show that China's import and export have remained stable with a growing momentum. The structure has further improved. The quality and performance are also good. This indicates that in the past few years, China's economic reform with its focus on the supply side, and China's active implementation of opening-up policies and measures have enhanced the competitiveness of Chinese enterprises in the world. Despite the trade frictions, the stable and growing momentum has remained.

Presently, the trade frictions are complicated and keep worsening. Foreign-invested enterprises are faced with a more adverse international environment. How to keep Chinese economy running healthily and steadily under this circumstance? The key is to keep foreign trade stable.

Not long ago, the Chinese central government pondered on a series of policies and measures to keep foreign trade stable and help enterprises to weather the storm. One thing for sure is that these policies and measures will strictly conform with WTO rules.

For instance, we may further increase the export tax rebate rates. Previously, the VAT paid by enterprises for exporting goods were not fully paid back. Now, we are considering following international convention to fully return the VAT of some. There is another example. Enterprises are usually faced with certain risks when entering emerging markets. Therefore, we will follow international conventions to provide exporting enterprises more export credit tools, thus to reduce the risks they are faced with.

These measures will be launched soon. I believe, as long as we stick to economic globalization and international trade liberalization, and we safeguard multilateral trade system and international trade orders, no one can stop the economic and trade cooperation between Chinese enterprises and all the other countries in the world. China is willing to work together with all the other countries to build a community with a shared future for mankind, and to build an open, inclusive, clean and beautiful world that enjoys lasting peace, universal security and common prosperity. Thank you.

Guo Weimin:

If you have more questions, you can contact us via fax and e-mail. We will organize more press conferences and interviews to meet your needs. Now, the press conference is over. Thank you.

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Read in Chinese

Speakers:

Ning Jizhe, vice director of the Office of the Leading Group for the Belt and Road Initiative, deputy head of the National Development and Reform Commission, head of the National Bureau of Statistics

Qian Keming, vice minister of commerce

Zhang Jun, assistant minister of foreign affairs

Chairperson:

Hu Kaihong, spokesperson for the State Council Information Office of China

Date:

Aug. 27, 2018

Hu Kaihong:

Ladies and gentlemen, good afternoon. Welcome to this press conference. This year marks the fifth anniversary of the Belt and Road Initiative proposed by Chinese President Xi Jinping. 

Today, we are delighted to invite Mr. Ning Jizhe, vice director of the Office of the Leading Group for the Belt and Road Initiative, deputy head of the National Development and Reform Commission and head of the National Bureau of Statistics, Mr. Qian Keming, vice minister of commerce, and Mr. Zhang Jun, assistant minister of foreign affairs to brief us on the progress made under the Belt and Road Initiative over the past five years and its outlook in the future.

Now, Mr. Ning Jizhe will give you a brief introduction.

Ning Jizhe:

Thank you all. This morning, Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, attended the symposium on the fifth anniversary of the Belt and Road Initiative, and delivered an important speech.

Over the past five years, the initiative has witnessed a warm welcome and active participation in countries all over the world. Much headway has been made in the construction of the Silk Road Economic Belt and 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, as the Belt and Road Initiative has developed from a proposal and vision, into concrete activities.

First, enhancing strategic mutual trust and building international consensus. The Belt and Road Initiative and the principle of seeking shared benefits through extensive consultation and joint contribution have been included into many documents of international organizations like the United Nations. So far, 103 countries and international organizations have signed 118 cooperation agreements with China under the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative. 

In 2017, the first session of the Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation was held successfully in Beijing. State and government heads of 29 countries, as well as more than 1,600 representatives of over 140 countries and over 80 international organizations participated in the event. Of the 279 items on the forum's outcome list, 265 items, or 95 percent of the total, have been completed or have become routine works, while great efforts have been made to accelerate the implementation of the remaining items.

Second, actively implementing cooperation projects to create demonstration effects. Solid progress has been made in a batch of cooperation projects, such as the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, China-Laos railway, China-Thailand railway, Hungarian-Serbian railway, Jakarta-Bandung high-speed railway, and Gwadar Port Free Zone. As of Aug. 26, 10,000 cargo train journeys have been made on the China-Europe railway lines. The lines connect China with 43 cities in 15 European countries. 

Third, promoting cooperation in the pursuit of win-win results and mutual development. By June 2018, the total volume of trade in goods between China and countries along the Belt and Road had surpassed US$5 trillion, and China's outward direct investment has surpassed US$70 billion. China's total investment in the economic and trade cooperation zones in countries along the Belt and Road has surpassed US$20 billion, creating more than 100,000 local jobs and bringing tax revenue worth billions of dollars to local governments. Currently, Chinese enterprises are exploring ways to work with enterprises from developed countries, including some multinational companies, in third-party markets under the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative. 

Fourth, improving service systems and enhancing financial support. China has endorsed the Guiding Principles on Financing the Development of the Belt and Road with 17 countries, greatly boosting the overseas development of Chinese financial institutions. So far, 11 Chinese banks have set up 71 first-class branches overseas. Joint financing services have been developed with several multilateral banks, such as the African Development Bank, Inter-American Development Bank, and European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. The control of legal risks has been tightened. The mechanisms and institutions to solve international commercial disputes under the framework of Belt and Road Initiative are being established. 

Fifth, intensifying cultural exchange under the principle of openness and inclusiveness. Cooperation has been actively promoted in education, technology, cultural and other fields. Special cooperation plans have been designed in education, technology, finance, energy, agriculture, inspection and quarantine, the connectivity of standards, amid others. The "Silk Road" scholarship, Chinese overseas education institutions and other programs have cultivated many technological and managerial professionals for countries along the Belt and Road. In 2017, more than 300,000 students from these countries studied in China, and more than 60,000 Chinese students studied in these countries. In 2020, it is estimated that China and countries along the Belt and Road will receive more than 85 million tourists from each other, with a total expected consumption value of about US$110 billion.

The development of the Belt and Road Initiative over the past five years has proved that the initiative conforms to the trend of the times and the direction of development, thus winning greater international recognition and more partners, with its influence extending far and wide. However, we should also notice that the global economy is faced with many uncertain and unstable factors. Great changes are taking place in the world. The Belt and Road Initiative is also faced with many risks. A handful of countries remain doubtful about the initiative. Chinese enterprises are also faced with difficulties in overseas investment and development. Therefore, we should have an objective and reasonable understanding of the achievements and problems. We should remain resolved, use development and cooperation to solve problems, improve the safeguard system and international cooperation mechanisms, promote further, deeper development of the Belt and Road Initiative in a stable manner.  

In view of the new situation, the Chinese government will continue to stick to the principle of seeking shared benefits through extensive consultation and joint contribution, stick to the rules of the market economy, and stick to international conventions to promote the high-quality development of the Belt and Road Initiative with high standards, thus to pursue win-win results through cooperation. 

First, we will enhance overseas coordination, build closer friendships with more countries, and turn the Belt and Road Initiative into an initiative for peace. 

Second, we should promote win-win development, intensify mutually beneficial cooperation, improve connectivity and industry development, and turn the Belt and Road Initiative into an initiative for prosperity. 

Third, we should play the leading role in pursuing open markets, boost the development of trade, improve trade and investment facilitation, and turn the Belt and Road Initiative into an initiative for openness.

Fourth, we should enhance the establishment of various mechanisms, explore more ways of reform, promote cooperation in high-tech sectors, and turn the Belt and Road Initiative into an initiative for innovation.

Fifth, we should improve cultural exchange, enhance friendly communication, build up soft power in the cultural sphere, and turn the Belt and Road Initiative into an initiative for higher civilization.

That's all. Thank you.

Hu Kaihong: 

Now, let's welcome Mr. Qian Keming to give his briefing.

Qian Keming:

Friends from the media, since the Belt and Road Initiative was proposed five years ago, the Ministry of Commerce has firmly carried out the central authorities' decisions and deployment, advanced relevant economic and trade cooperation, and achieved remarkable effects, which are mainly embodied in the following five aspects:

First, the trade volume has increased continuously. We actively promote mutual market opening-up, enhance trade facilitation, optimize trade structure and cultivate new growth points in foreign trade. We make full use of the comprehensive exhibitions' roles as platforms, and actively organized trade promotional activities. In the past five years, China's trade volume with the countries and regions along the Belt and Road exceeded US$5 trillion, up an average 1.1 percent annually. We obtained positive growth of 1.1 percent, while world trade declined and witnessed negative growth. China has become the largest trade partner to 25 countries along the Belt and Road. 

Second, investment cooperation has also deepened. We unceasingly strengthen service guarantees, and encourage Chinese enterprises to invest and develop their businesses in countries along the Belt and Road. In the past five years, China's direct investment in these countries has surpassed US$70 billion, which has increased at an average annual speed of 7.2 percent; the foreign contract amount exceeded US$500 billion, up 19.2 percent annually on average. Meanwhile, we have constantly broadened entry fields for foreign investments, aiming to build a high standard business environment and attract these countries to invest in China.

Third, big projects have taken root. We, together with relevant parties, have prompted the materialization of a batch of big projects in infrastructure construction and industrial capacity cooperation. For instance, the Mombasa-Nairobi Railway and Addis Ababa-Djibouti Railway have been completed; the China-Thailand Railway and Hungary-Serbia Railway constructions kicked off; the second phase of the construction of the Hambantota Port was finished; the Gwadar Port in Pakistan re-opened; and the transportation projects of the China-Laos Railway and China-Pakistan Economic Corridor are progressing steadily.

Fourth, the construction of economic and trade zone is steadily advancing. We actively promote the construction of economic and trade cooperation zones with countries along the Belt and Road routes. In the past five years, Chinese enterprises have built 82 such zones, with a total investment of US$28.9 billion, attracting 3,995 enterprises, which have paid US$2.01 billion in taxes to the host countries and created 244,000 jobs for local talent. 

Fifth, the free trade network is continuously expanding. We have accelerated the construction of free trade areas with countries along the Belt and Road, and signed five free trade agreements with 13 countries along the routes. A high-standard free trade network based on neighboring regions, covering the Belt and Road and facing the whole world is in progress. China has signed economic and trade cooperation agreements with the Eurasian Economic Union, and concluded the joint feasibility study of the Eurasian Economic Partnership agreement with Russia. 

It's important to note that China is actively preparing for the China International Import Expo in November, and so far, 138 countries and regions, three international organizations and more than 2,800 enterprises have confirmed their participation in the event.

Hu Kaihong: 

Thank you, Mr. Qian. Now let's invite Mr. Zhang Jun to speak more on the case.

Zhang Jun:

Hi everyone. Just now, Mr. Ning Jizhe and Mr. Qian Keming have already introduced relevant affairs. Now, I'd like to add a bit more information. 

First, looking back on the past five years and the construction of the Belt and Road, we are justifiably feel happy and proud of its achievements. The initiative proposed by President Xi Jinping has carried different peoples' wishes for common development and prosperity, conforms to the practical needs of resolving risks and challenges of the world economy; demonstrates strategic vision of leading and constructing an open world economy, as well as signifies China's constructive role as a responsible country in the world. In the past five years, the initiative has won the hearts of those involved, as well as the wide understanding, recognition, support and participation of the international community, harvesting a bigger circle of friends. Facts show that its construction has come at an opportune time, and is in line with the people's wishes and interests. It has achieved remarkable effects and proved to be the correct path not only for China, but for everyone involved.

Second, five years on, we stand on a new starting point today. We are confident about the prospects of the initiative. Our confidence comes from the correct direction of the initiative. It is in line with the times and trends of peaceful development and win-win cooperation; it upholds the concepts of collective consultation, joint participation, and shared benefits, which complies with the universal wishes of countries around the world to seek coordination and common development. Our confidence comes from the solid foundation of the initiative, which has concepts, proposals, plans, actions and mechanisms, and more importantly the wide support and participation of the international community. The Chinese economy has entered a phase of high-quality growth from its previous phase of high-speed growth. It has a strong driving force, is more open and resilient, and will inject stronger vitality to the initiative's construction.

Third, it takes concerted efforts of all parties to advance the initiative. President Xi has pointed out many times that the initiative stems from China, but belongs to the world. Facing the future, we will uphold the concepts of collective consultation, joint participation and common benefits to further advance the Belt and Road partnership. We will make the people the center, and economic cooperation the main line, focusing on the creation of more development opportunities, so as to bring more blessings to people from home and abroad. We will continue to promote synergy in policies and development plans with various parties and countries so as to achieve interconnected development and realize win-win objectives. We will adhere to opening-up and inclusiveness, welcoming any countries interested in the initiative to take part in it. We do not reject or target any other country. China will host the 2nd International Forum for Belt and Road Cooperation. We welcome all parties to actively take part in it. We will adhere to high quality and high standards, respect different countries' laws, and abide by the widely recognized international standards and market rules. We firmly support multilateralism, and safeguard the multilateral trade system based on the established rules. We are against trade protectionism. We sincerely hope the media can witness very glorious moments of the initiative's construction, tell good stories to the world and highlight the initiative's bright prospects. Thank you all. 

Hu Kaihong:

Now the floor is open. Please identify the media outlet you represent before asking the question.

China Central Television:

Mr. Ning, how can the Chinese government better share the opportunities with countries along the Belt and Road Initiative under the framework of extensive consultation, joint contribution and shared benefits? Thank you.

Ning Jizhe:

I want to answer this very important question from the following three aspects. China, as the world's second largest economy, now contributes over 30 percent to the world's economic growth. China's extensive consultation, joint contribution and shared benefits with the Belt and Road countries is conducive to creating more opportunities for mutual development.

First, in the past few years, China and the countries involved in the Belt and Road initiative have worked together to promote regional economic development and the recovery of the world economy. As you know, the impact of the global financial crisis, which broke out a decade ago, was still felt five years ago. In this economic situation, President Xi Jinping proposed the Belt and Road Initiative which has promoted economic growth and improved people's livelihood through cooperative projects with other countries. For example, countries like Kazakhstan, which champions the "Bright Road" Initiative, also seeks alignment with China's proposed Belt and Road Initiative. Over the past years, Kazakhstan's economy has picked up, Chinese enterprises have developed rapidly in Kazakhstan, and the people of the two countries have benefited from the development. This is only one example, the same is true for China and Southeast Asian countries. Under the backdrop of global economic crisis and the intensive development of the China-ASEAN Free Trade Area, bilateral cooperation between China and Southeast Asian countries achieved much progress under the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative. A large majority of the countries in the region achieved an annual growth rate of around 5 to 7 percent. It has become the region with the most dynamic growth in the world.

Second, joint contribution and shared benefits of the Belt and Road development has expanded two-way trade and investment. The two-way trade between China and the Belt and Road countries has totaled over US$5 trillion, and this rate of growth is faster than the growth rate of trade between China and other regions. Two-way investment between both sides, based on my calculation, is nearly a hundred billion US dollars, which is also growing very quickly. Development opportunities actually lie in two-way investment, trade and personnel exchanges.

Third, joint contribution and shared benefits of the Belt and Road development have also increased complementary advantages and win-win outcomes of all parties. As you know, countries along the Belt and Road, as well as other cooperation partners are mostly developing countries. There are, however, also developed countries, emerging economies and high-income oil-exporting nations. They all have their unique advantages, be it in capital, technology, management, labor, resources or market. Most importantly, the Belt and Road Initiative can utilize their complementarities and share opportunities for development among the countries.

China has long enjoyed a comparative advantage in traditional production and is also now creating new advantages in the areas of capital and management. Other developing countries boast huge markets, while developed countries have clear advantages in the areas of capital and technology. Through bilateral, trilateral and multilateral cooperation, the Belt and Road Initiative can combine all the advantages of countries along the Belt and Road to promote economic development and improve people's livelihood along the route. Thank you.

Lianhe Zaobao:

Earlier you mentioned, China's direct overseas investment for the Belt and Road countries reached over US$70 billion. Some wonder if there will be returns on that huge amount of money. How is the effectiveness and returns of these investments so far? Did it achieve the expected results? In addition, regarding the contribution of these countries along the route, we are aware that many of the Belt and Road projects are funded by loans. Some of these countries, however, seem to have no ability to pay the debt. For example, under a new administration, Malaysia's East Coast rail project has been canceled and the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor may also face uncertainties. Has China learned a lesson from those cases and will China change the way how the Belt and Road Initiative is implemented in the future? Thank you.

Qian Keming:

Your question involves many aspects.

First of all, let me talk about the debt issue. As you know, finance is the lifeblood of economic activities, especially in the initial development stage. I have read several reports on the matter, one of which is by the Asian Development Bank (ADB). It says that a total of US$1.7 trillion of infrastructure spending is needed in Asia every year through 2030. Calculated from the current investment scale, there is still a gap of over US$800 billion investment each year. Another report from the African Development Bank (AfDB) says that a total of US$130 billion to US$170 billion infrastructure investment is needed each year in Africa, and currently only less than one third of the amount is spent. That is to say, Asia is a little better off, it is receiving half of the total investment for infrastructure it needs and missing the other half. Africa is missing two thirds. As is known to all, infrastructure investment plays a very important role in promoting economic growth and increasing people's well-being.

Second, most of China's current investments in the countries under the Belt and Road Initiative are infrastructure related which include the building of railway lines and ports. I believe these infrastructure investments will have a long-term and important role in promoting the economic growth in those countries.

Third, infrastructure investment, mainly on public goods, normally takes a fairly long period of time to show returns. Moreover, after the global financial crisis, international commodity prices dropped significantly. Although they have rebounded slightly, the prices are still far below the pre-crisis level. The price of crude oil reached US$150 per barrel at its peak and then fell back to US$20, US$30 per barrel. Recently, the price rose to around US$70 per barrel, but is still half of the price at its peak. The prices for mineral products have not rebounded much, which hurt the economy in some African and Asian countries. Some of the countries have seen rising debt levels, which is a reality we must face.

Fourth, China has been trying to promote economic development in the host countries through the Belt and Road Initiative and avoid creating too much burden for them. Therefore, we have chosen some projects that can deliver both economic benefits and increase employment, taxes and exports in the countries involved in the Belt and Road Initiative. While embracing bilateral, trilateral and multilateral cooperation, as Mr. Ning mentioned just now, we also welcome involvement from developed countries and multilateral financial organizations to spend and manage the money more efficiently.

Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA):

I have a question about the cooperation between Iran and China. Iran is one of the important countries along the Belt and Road, so how does China plan to cooperate with Iran under the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative? Thank you.

Zhang Jun:

Thank you for your question, and thank you for conveying Iran's positive attitude towards jointly promoting the Belt and Road Initiative. The Belt and Road Initiative focuses on the Eurasian continent and, at the same time, it is open to global partners as well. Historically, Iran has been an important hub along the Silk Road, making significant contributions to promoting economic and trade cooperation and cultural exchanges between China, Eurasian and European countries.

With the implementation of the Belt and Road Initiative, both China and Iran are facing important opportunities in infrastructure construction, economic and trade cooperation, and cultural exchanges. There is no doubt about this. Thanks to the joint efforts made by the leaders of the two countries, the current relationship between China and Iran has maintained a sound and steady momentum of development. Both sides have reached many important consensuses on jointly promoting the Belt and Road Initiative.

Of course, we should be fully aware of the many practical and potential challenges in implementing the specific cooperative projects. On the one hand, we will make an active effort and take solid steps towards the goal; on the other hand, the two sides will work with the international community to create a more favorable environment and conditions for jointly promoting the Sino-Iranian cooperation and the Belt and Road Initiative.

Economic Daily:

I would like to ask Mr. Ning a question. Presently, some developed countries and large multinational corporations have shown interest in participating in the Belt and Road Initiative in the form of the third-party market cooperation. What considerations does China have in this regard?

Ning Jizhe:

The tripartite cooperation is very important, so you raised a very good question

First of all, third-party market cooperation is an open, inclusive, pragmatic and effective mode for international cooperation. It also reflects the principle of the Belt and Road Initiative, namely seeking shared benefits through extensive consultation and joint contribution. This will help Chinese enterprises and enterprises in other countries, especially those of developed countries and multinational enterprises, to complement each other and jointly inject new momentum into the economic development of third countries.

Second, China has made good progress in working with relevant countries to promote third-party market cooperation and in recent years, China has actively engaged in third-party market cooperation with relevant countries. Presently, we have formally signed cooperative documents on third-party market cooperation with France, Canada, Japan, Singapore and some other countries and international organizations. We have also contributed to the establishment of third-party market cooperation funds with other countries. The following are some examples.

China's Silk Road Fund established a third-party market fund with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. The China Investment Corporation also established funds with relevant French financial institutions. All these are being supported and guided by the governments of both sides. Moreover, the third-party market cooperative projects between China and France have achieved early results, and the two sides will expand their cooperation to new projects in the near future. China and the European Union (EU) have also finalized specific projects for third-party market cooperation.

As you all know, during Premier Li Keqiang's visit to Japan, China's National Development and Reform Commission and Ministry of Commerce and Japan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) reached a memorandum of understanding on the third-party market cooperation between the two sides. In order to implement the consensus and ministerial memorandum reached by the leaders of the two countries, we held a seminar on the Sino-Japanese-Thai tripartite cooperation in Thailand last month, possibly a little bit earlier, to finalize specific cooperative projects. The Eastern Economic Corridor of Thailand is led by the Chia Tai Group of Thailand and the CITIC Group of China, with enterprises from Japan participating in bidding the project.

Currently, some developed countries, such as the United Kingdom, and some emerging economies, including China, also share a sincere desire for third-party market cooperation worldwide in promoting the Belt and Road Initiative. This is not only conducive to China, the developed countries and the new economies who participate in the tripartite cooperation, but also conducive to the third country – the host country of the project.

Third, in the future, China will work with relevant countries and enterprises to expand the scope of third-party market cooperation. We will adhere to the principle of seeking shared benefits through extensive consultation and joint contribution, develop new markets for investment, production and operation, and actively innovate on models for cooperation. We will encourage enterprises to open up new markets by means of joint tendering and joint investment so as to complement each other's strengths and achieve win-win results. Thank you.

CRNTT:

I have a question for Mr. Zhang Jun. The Beijing summit of the Forum on China Africa Cooperation is about to be held. We know that the joint development of Belt and Road Initiative is an important topic for China-Africa cooperation. People have talked about Africa as a pilot region for joint efforts to build the "Belt and Road". What do you think of this? What challenges do you think China and Africa face in carrying out the "Belt and Road" cooperation? Thank you.

Zhang Jun:

The construction of the "Belt and Road" is especially targeted at the Asia-Europe-Africa continents, and African countries are one of the key areas for the joint development of the Belt and Road Initiative. As a major group of developing countries, Africa is facing the arduous task of infrastructure construction and economic and social development. Supporting and helping Africa achieve peaceful development and stability has always been one of the priorities of China's diplomacy. For a long time, we have invested a lot in the development of Africa, and have made great achievements.

In recent years, it has been an important part of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation to inject vitality and motivation for African development through the joint construction of the Belt and Road Initiative. The Beijing Summit will be held in Beijing, with China and Africa having agreed to promote the Belt and Road cooperation in Africa, both sides should strengthen integration and docking between China's development strategy and "Belt and Road" joint contribution, and the Africa's Agenda 2063, as well as strengthening the connection and docking between the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the African development strategies. Those will be an important part of this year's Forum on China-Africa Cooperation. Both sides have great expectations for the outcome of the forum.

As far as I know, at the Beijing Summit of the forum, more than a dozen documents on cooperation between China and African countries will be signed, which will further promote and implement the cooperation between China and Africa in joint contribution for the "Belt and Road." At the same time, China-Africa cooperation also has a broader space. For example, during the meeting of the BRICS leaders not long ago, President Xi Jinping met with African leaders and reached a broad consensus on further deepening China-Africa cooperation. An important achievement of the BRICS Summit Johannesburg was the establishment of a new industrial revolution partnership. We look forward to the advancement of the BRICS Partnership on the New Industrial Revolution, which will not only enable Africa and developing countries to address the issues of food, clothing and basic needs of development, but also enable developing countries to catch up with the new industrial revolution and better seize opportunities for development from the process of scientific and technological development in the current world. Under the complex and changing economic situation, we can better meet the challenges and achieve common development with other countries in the world.

Reuters:

With concerns about the increase in debt from this project, if we can expect to see China be more cautious in choosing Belt and Road projects or providing funding for these projects? Thanks.

Qian Keming:

I have already said about the debt issue just now. We have always been paying attention to the selection of projects. The first is wide consultation, which means, the host countries and China consult with each other to propose projects. The second is joint contribution, which means they participate in construction together. The third principle is shared benefits. We have strict procedures for the evaluation of projects, banks, enterprises, including environmental protection, there are strict evaluation procedures.

In the future, we also welcome developed countries and international institutions to actively participate in and jointly select projects with us to ensure that projects are transparent, high-quality and sustainable.

China Daily:

I have a question for Mr. Zhang Jun. You mentioned that China is promoting the construction of the "Belt and Road" with a high quality approach. Some people may not understand it, or have some doubts; what is "high quality"? Can you please explain how "high quality" is reflected in the Belt and Road cooperation projects?

Zhang Jun:

I think that this issue should be viewed comprehensively. In other words, you should go beyond the quality of a particular project. I think the high quality and high standards of the Belt and Road should be demonstrated at least in the following aspects:

First, high quality drives the growth of the world economy. The world economy is facing the problem of insufficient growth momentum. Infrastructure construction is also a bottleneck problem facing the development of various countries. We are promoting the Belt and Road Initiative, in order to further improve and perfect the global supply chain, value chain and industrial chain by strengthening connectivity and interconnection among countries, so that countries in disadvantaged positions can better participate in the world's division of labor, and will benefit more from the global value chain, thereby create greater impetus for their own development and create greater impetus for world economic growth. This is actually what we often say about building an open world economy and promoting the building of a community of shared future for mankind. Is this a high standard of quality? Of course, it is so high. It is in stark contrast to the unilateralism and protectionism pursued by some countries.

Second, the high quality of the "Belt and Road" is reflected in the high quality of addressing the issues for global development. Nowadays, the world faces a problem of imbalance. We call it a development deficit and development imbalance. How to solve these problems? We adhere to the people-centered development concept for 'domestically. In the process of building the "Belt and Road", we still place the people as the center of cooperation, and we strive to improve the conditions for economic and social development through the joint contribution of the "Belt and Road," and improve people's livelihood, enhance people's welfare. We have signed a "Belt and Road" cooperation agreements with relevant UN agencies, that is, through cooperation with the United Nations, we will better align the Belt and Road Initiative with the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and push forward the re-balancing of globalization, so that everyone can benefit from a more inclusive, balanced, universally beneficial, and win-win globalization process. This is surely high quality and high standards.

Third, to build the Belt and Road with high quality and standards, we also call for participants to abide by the laws of different countries, international rules and standards and market rules. President Xi has repeatedly stressed the building of a green Silk Road with high ethical standards. We pursue green, environmental-friendly and fiscally-sustainable development in building the Belt and Road. Through cooperation with the UN Environment, we founded the International Coalition for Green Development on the Belt and Road. We have also worked with some countries to formulate the Guiding Principles on Financing the Development of the Belt and Road. All of these provide important support for building the Belt and Road with high quality and standards.

Fourth, to build the Belt and Road with high quality and standards, we also uphold the guiding principle of seeking shared benefits through extensive consultation and joint contribution, though some countries have backed down from multilateralism. Under the guiding principle, different countries can participate in the process of building the Belt and Road and benefit from it, which is a quite advanced concept of high standards. To improve the institutional safeguards for the Belt and Road Initiative, we are working on building the Advisory Council for the Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation. We will invite international luminaries to join the council and advise us on the initiative. Yesterday, as another sign of pursuing high quality and standards, we set up the International Commercial Expert Committee in a bid to provide legal support for building the Belt and Road.

Of course, our pursuit of high quality and standards in building the Belt and Road is also demonstrated in the building of high quality infrastructure. However, we deem it necessary to make it clear that many of the countries involved in the initiative are developing countries, which means that high-quality and high-standard construction must be in accordance with the basic national conditions and laws of these countries. So, high quality must be achieved at a reasonable price, and should be inclusive, feasible and beneficial to all. It is necessary to keep the balance between high quality and practical use. We hope that the building of the Belt and Road can be both high-standard and practical.

Ta Kung Pao & Wen Wei Po

At the beginning, you mentioned that there are a few countries which have raised questions about the Belt and Road Initiative. Recently, some foreign media reported that the initiative has brought a debt trap for relevant countries, accusing China of attempting to gain controlling interests in projects by providing loans regardless of the host countries' overall liabilities and debt-paying abilities, and thus adding to the countries' debt burden. What are your comments on this?

Ning Jizhe:

First of all, the projects of the Belt and Road Initiative have brought effective investment and valuable assets to relevant countries and contributed to their economic growth and improved livelihood, instead of causing a so-called debt trap. Projects of the Belt and Road Initiative, be they related to connectivity or production capacity cooperation, must go through a sound feasibility study and strict debt approval process. We are the witness, so we are clear on how strict it is to get bank loans. There are requirements about capital contribution, debt-to-asset ratios, and financial returns. If a project doesn't meet the requirements, it will not be allowed to pass. Of course, there are some infrastructure projects that may take a long time to get the investment returns, but the assets are there and they will appreciate in value. 

To our knowledge, the debt issues in some countries as reported by some foreign media are not necessarily connected with the Belt and Road construction and relevant projects. Some countries already have very high levels of debt for many years mainly due to their long-term borrowing from other countries as well as international financial institutions. China is a late comer. It is not the biggest creditor.

Second, for jointly built projects and investment cooperation with relevant countries, China has always attached great importance to debt management. With regard to the investment and financing of the projects under the Belt and Road Initiative, China offers loans to projects based on the conditions of their host countries to avoid increasing the countries' debt risk and fiscal burden. Before offering the loans, Chinese banks will strictly review the borrowers' overall liabilities and debt-paying abilities, and continuously monitor the sovereign risks of relevant countries after offering the loans. For example, the China Development Bank has set up the system of sovereign credit rating and national risk quota management. The Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, China Export and Credit Insurance Corporation and other financial institutions have also established relevant evaluation, monitoring and management systems.

Developing the economy and improving people's livelihood are the primary goals of developing countries. For these developing countries who are in urgent need of money, Chinese banks will also design financing structures to help them sustainably manage their debt, such as the case of the fiber optic cable projects in Cambodia, and Yamal liquefied natural gas project in Russia, of course Russia is not a developing country, but an emerging economy. In any case, all these projects are supported by a system that combines equity investment and bank loans, and have achieved good results.

I would like to answer the questions of the journalist from Singapore about the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). Over the past four years, since the CPEC has been put forward, it has been progressing well and has yielded many profits. In November 2017, both sides signed the Long-term Plan for the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor. Among the projects proposed at the early stage, we have already launched 18 projects, including the building of power plants, which solves the problem of energy shortages that has been plaguing Pakistan for many years. Of course, the CPEC also includes projects relating to transportation, industrial cooperation and ports. I will not list them out one by one here. The new leadership of Pakistan has clearly expressed that the CPEC is not built by any one party or people. It is instead a project that involves the cooperation between all Pakistani and Chinese people, which will definitely become a great success.

Separately, on the East Coast Rail Link project, as some of you have mentioned earlier, as you all know, the Prime Minister of Malaysia Mahathir Mohamad has just concluded his visit to China. He has clearly stressed that his support of China's Belt and Road Initiative, and welcomed Chinese enterprises to expand their investment in Malaysia. He also mentioned the financial difficulties that Malaysia is facing, and hopes that China would offer support to solve some of these issues together.

Hindustan Times:

I just want to ask you if China is willing to address India's concern with the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), especially on other projects which are passing through Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, because India says it violates its sovereignty. 

Zhang Jun:

I have some points to add to this: Firstly, India is an important neighbor of China. Both of them are developing countries with emerging markets. Guided by the leaders of the two countries, China-India relations have shown good momentum and entered a new stage of development. If we take a moment to recall, we can see that since April this year, in just three months, President Xi Jinping and Prime Minister Narendra Modi have held three important meetings in Wuhan, Qingdao of China and Johannesburg of South Africa to reach a broad consensus. This has injected new impetus into the development of bilateral relations.

Secondly, India is historically an important country along the ancient Silk Road. It is regarded as a natural partner to build the Belt and Road Initiative cooperation. The exchanges between the two countries through history have left many interesting tales. As developing countries and emerging markets, the two countries are facing similar developmental tasks. As such they both have a lot of room and potential for cooperation to strengthen infrastructure construction. In fact, both sides have already cooperated in numerous ways in this aspect. As you know, India is a founding member and the second largest shareholder of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB). Currently, 20 percent of the investment projects of the AIIB are located in India. 

Thirdly, China has repeatedly emphasized that the CPEC is an economic cooperation project. Its implementation will not change China's long-standing position on the Kashmir dispute.

China News Service & Chinanews.com: 

There is a view that the advancement of the Belt and Road Initiative may encounter greater resistance given the current global situation which is undergoing certain changes, especially the rising trade and investment protectionism. Mr. Qian, what measures will the Ministry of Commerce take to further promote the Belt and Road Initiative in this context?

Qian Keming: 

In the next step, we will make solid efforts to promote the Belt and Road Initiative from the following five aspects.

First, making the first China International Import Expo (CIIE) a success. It is known that the expo was planned, announced and promoted by Chinese President Xi Jinping. The expo is by no means an ordinary exposition. Different from the China Import and Export Fair (Canton Fair) which is targeted at boosting the country's exports, the expo is a trade fair focusing on the importation of goods and services. In addition, the expo will be developed into an open cooperation platform for countries in the world to showcase their development achievements and carry out international trade. It will also become an international public product that helps to promote the Belt and Road Initiative and boost economic globalization.

Second, innovating trade and investment cooperation models. In this respect, we will give top priorities to cooperation on key projects and innovative areas. As for key projects, Mr. Ning said just now that we will promote the construction of some important projects along the Belt and Road routes. As for innovative areas, we know that China has been enhancing development in innovative areas such as e-commerce, big data, cloud computing and artificial intelligence in recent years. In boosting the development of the "Silk-Road E-commerce," we mean to take advantage of e-commerce, big data and the newest modern science and technologies in building the Belt and Road Initiative.

Third, accelerating the construction of platforms for opening up, including pilot free trade zones (FTZs), for example the China (Hainan) Pilot Free Frade Zone, as well as cross-border economic cooperation zones and overseas economic and trade cooperation zones.

Fourth, enhancing regional economic integration, at both regional and sub-regional levels. We are willing to work together with the Belt and Road countries and regions to build high-standard FTZs and develop a large market under the Belt and Road Initiative. 

Last, implementing important opening-up measures announced by President Xi, especially the implementation of an across-the-board management system based on pre-established national treatment plus a negative list. We will enhance intellectual property rights (IPR) protection, promote implementation of the WTO Agreement on Trade Facilitation (TFA), and deepen cooperation on achieving compatibility in customs clearance procedures along the routes.

China Arab TV:

After President Xi Jinping's visit to the United Arab Emirates (UAE), what major plans will be introduced to promote the cultural exchanges between China and the UAE as well as other Arab countries? Thank you.

Ning Jizhe:

The UAE is the first stop of President Xi Jinping's first overseas visit after the first session of the 13th National People's Congress. This demonstrates the importance of the cooperation between the two countries. The bilateral cooperation covers a wide range of areas. I have been most involved in the economic exchanges. Many Chinese people have been to Dubai. China COSCO Shipping Corporation Limited and Abu Dhabi Ports are enjoying strong cooperation on the development of Port Khalifa in Abu Dhabi. The port, under rapid construction, is expected to become one of the Chinese shipping company's pivot hubs in the Middle East. The China-UAE Industrial Capacity Cooperation Demonstration Zone is also a highlight of the bilateral economic cooperation. Under the guidance of the development and reform commissions in Jiangsu province, related Chinese companies are working well with their UAE counterparts on the demonstration zone project.

In terms of cultural and tourism cooperation, the number of Chinese tourist arrivals in the UAE has exceeded one million a year. It shows that the UAE and China maintain close people-to-people exchanges. The UAE has granted visa-free or visa-on-arrival treatment to Chinese citizens. A great number of Chinese tourists travel to Dubai during the Spring Festival holiday each year.

The UAE has also taken an active part in global cultural events. In particular, with the UAE set to host the World Expo 2020, more tourists from China and other countries are expected to travel there, thus cementing the friendship between each other. With more coordinated policies, infrastructure connectivity has been enhanced through port cooperation and bilateral ties have been facilitated by the development of industrial zones. In terms of financial integration, the UAE has considerable economic strength, so we are ready to boost trilateral cooperation with the UAE in Africa and embrace more investment from the UAE in China. In addition, the people-to-people ties have also been strengthened. So, China-UAE relationship is an embodiment of "a five-pronged approach" to building the Belt and Road. Thank you.

Zhang Jun:

President Xi Jinping's visit to the UAE, which is the first stop of his overseas trip in July, has delivered productive outcomes. President Xi received a warm welcome from people in the UAE and created an unforgettable experience with them. Both economic cooperation and cultural exchanges are important dimensions of the China-UAE relationship. I believe that the "Embrace China" Initiative launched by the UAE will play a significant role in promoting people-to-people and cultural exchanges among people from the countries along the Belt and Road. To boost such exchanges between each other, China and the UAE are negotiating about building Chinese cultural centers in Abu Dhabi. I think those measures by the two sides will improve our bilateral cooperation in all areas under the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative.

Qian Keming:

I think China and the UAE also enjoy huge potential for cooperation in innovation. I learnt during my recent visit to the UAE that the country has established foundations for innovation. In the building of one foundation, there is a 3D printed office constructed by a Chinese company. The UAE is a country of great creativity and China boasts a number of universities. Beijing Genomics Institute, a Chinese genome sequencing center, is cooperating with organizations in the UAE. So, I think China and the UAE can strengthen cooperation in innovation.

Hu Kaihong:

This concludes today's briefing. Thank you, Mr. Ning, Mr. Qian and Mr. Zhang. Thank you, friends from the press.

Read in Chinese

Speakers: 

Shen Changyu, commissioner of the State Intellectual Property Office

Yu Cike, spokesperson of the National Copyright Administration

Chairperson:

Hu Kaihong, spokesperson of the State Council Information Office of China

Date:

April 24, 2018

Xi Yanchun:

Ladies and gentlemen, good morning. Welcome to this press conference. April 26 is annual World Intellectual Property Day. Since you are all very interested in the issues pertaining to this field, today we are delighted to invite Mr. Shen Changyu, commissioner of the State Intellectual Property Office, to brief you on the development of China's intellectual property rights in 2017. He will also answer some of your questions.

Also present at the press conference today is Mr. Yu Cike, spokesperson of the National Copyright Administration.

At this time, Mr. Shen will give you a brief introduction.

Shen Changyu:

Thank you, Ms. Xi. Good morning, friends from the press. Let me begin by thanking the SCIO and friends from the press for your care and support for IPR-related work. Now I would like to brief you on China's IPR development in 2017.

The CPC Central Committee and the State Council made a series of important plans on IPR-related work in 2017. In his report to the 19th CPC National Congress, General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized that China will "foster a culture of innovation, and strengthen the creation, protection and application of intellectual property." At the first meeting of the Leading Group for Deepening Overall Reform of the 19th CPC Central Committee, Xi stressed that protecting IPRs is equivalent to protecting innovation. Local governments and related departments earnestly studied and implemented Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era and the spirit of the 19th CPC National Congress. They made steady efforts toward turning China into a country with strong IPRs, achieving major progress in a number of respects.

First, IPR creation has been improved in both quantity and quality. The number of patent applications over the year rose to about 1.38 million, an increase of 14.2 percent since the previous year, ranking first in the world for seven consecutive years. The number of international patent applications under PCT was 51,000, up 12.5 percent year over year, leaping to second worldwide. The number of patents per 10,000 people reached 9.8. The number of applications for trademark registration was about 5.75 million, up 55.72 percent year over year, ranking first in the world for 16 consecutive years. The number of trademarks registered in total reached 14.92 million. The number of applications for the Madrid International Registration of Marks from Chinese applicants was 4,810, ranking third in the world. The number of works and computer software copyright registered reached about 2 million and 745,400 respectively, up 25.15 percent and 82.79 percent. The number of applications for rights for new agricultural and forestry plant varieties reached 3,842 and 623 respectively. The number of products protected by geographical indications has steadily increased.

Second, China has made steady progress in enhancing its legal system for protection of intellectual property rights. The revision to the Law Against Unfair Competition was adopted at the 30th session of the NPC Standing Committee in 2017. We have seen substantive progress in revising and formulating the Patent Law, Regulations on Patent Commissioning and Regulations on Administration of Human Genetic Resources. We actively promoted the formulation and revision of Copyright Law, Regulations on the Protection of Olympic Symbols, Regulations on National Defense Patents, Regulations on the Protection of New Varieties of Plants and Regulations on Access to and Benefit-sharing of Biological Genetic Resources. We will step up our efforts to introduce the Guidelines on Anti-Monopoly Law Enforcement in the Field of Intellectual Property Rights. We will deepen research on the system for intellectual property rights protection of innovation achievements in new areas and business forms.

Third, the protection of intellectual property rights was more stringent. Administrative organs handled 67,000 cases related to patents, an increase of 36.3 percent year-on-year. They also handled 30,100 cases related to trademark, with a total worth of 333 million yuan. The copyright department investigated and dealt with more than 3,100 cases related to copyright infringement and piracy, and confiscated 6.05 million pirated products. Customs seized 19,200 batches of import or export goods that infringed on intellectual property rights. The cases involved 40.95 million goods with a total worth of 182 million yuan. Courts all over the country accepted 213,500 civil, administrative and criminal cases of first instance related to intellectual property rights. Of them, 203,000 cases were concluded. The number of cases accepted and concluded increased 40.37 percent and 38.38 percent respectively year-on-year. The procuratorial organs approved the arrest of 4,272 people involved in 2,510 intellectual property crimes. They also prosecuted 7,157 people involved in 3,880 lawsuits. The public security agencies solved 17,000 criminal cases concerning intellectual property right infringement and the production and sales of fake or inferior goods, with a total worth of 6.46 billion yuan. They also gave particular supervision over the handling of 44 major intellectual property rights infringement cases. A series of special law enforcement actions were taken. In an investigation on the public satisfaction with intellectual property rights protection, the public scored 76.69 for related works. Fourteen intellectual property rights protection centers were established. A nationwide network was established to provide legal aid concerning intellectual property rights protection and to accept tips and complaints of intellectual property rights infringement. Attempted steps have been taken to explore the establishment of a mechanism to coordinate the protection of the trademark rights of Chinese corporations overseas. The building of a long-term mechanism to promote the use of genuine software programs is in full swing. A campaign was launched to check the use of genuine software programs in 389 institutions in 16 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the central government.

Fourth, the efficiency of utilizing intellectual property rights (IPRs) has been markedly improved. We have been improving the supporting mechanism for the transfer and commercialization of scientific and technological achievements, speeding up the implementation of the National Fund for Technology Transfer and Commercialization, and promoting the construction of demonstration zones for the transfer and commercialization of national scientific and technological achievements. The national public service platform for the operation of IPRs took shape as the pilot commercialization centers in Xi'an and Zhuhai were established and put into operation. Operation funds for IPRs in key industries have been launched in succession, and the total fund raised has exceeded 4.2 billion yuan (US$665.13 million). Trademark and brand innovation and entrepreneurship bases were built to promote regional brand building based on industrial clusters. Copyright transaction centers and copyright trade bases were actively nurtured, and 10 national copyright transaction centers have been set up nationwide. The amount of patent pledge financing reached 72 billion yuan (US$11.4 billion), an increase of 65 percent year-on-year; the amount of trademark and copyright pledge financing reached 36.9 billion yuan (US$5.84 billion) and 5.98 billion yuan (US$947.2 million) respectively. The amount of patent insurance was 9.99 billion yuan (US$1.58 billion), an increase of 170.6 percent year-on-year. The total amount of import and export of IPR royalties exceeded US$30 billion.

Fifth is about deepening the reform in key areas of intellectual property rights. We have improved the policy of tax deductions for research and development expenses, sped up the reform on the distribution of intellectual property rights and strengthened the management and classification evaluation system for intellectual property rights in the implementation of national science and technology projects.

The one-stop service involving rapid patent examination, determination and protection as well as a new model of patent pledge financing have been included in the promotion list to support innovation and reform solutions by the State Council. We have continued to promote the reform on streamlining administration, reduced or canceled patent expanses totaling 5.8 billion yuan, and reduced the submission of various kinds of materials by about 2.7 million copies.

We have deepened the reform on facilitating trademark registration and established 105 windows for handling local trademarks as well as 49 centers for handling applications for the registration of pledge of exclusive rights to use a trademark. We have continued to promote the strict system for trademark examination, and accordingly the cycle of trademark registration has been shortened from nine months to eight months. 

We have strengthened the supervision of authentication institutions for overseas copyrights and handled the re-registration of six authentication institutions for foreign copyrights. We have continued to improve national copyright demonstration work and selected 35 demonstration units and five demonstration parks (bases).

Sixth, we have deepened international cooperation and the exchange of intellectual property rights. We signed an agreement with the World Intellectual Property Organization to strengthen "Belt and Road" intellectual property cooperation and signed a memorandum of understanding for judicial exchange and cooperation. Cambodia has become the first country to recognize the results of China's patent authorization within its own borders.

We have included relevant content on strengthening intellectual property cooperation into the BRICS Leaders Xiamen Declaration, continued to boost international cooperation in the field of trademarks, and promoted the Madrid System on international trademark registration. We have hosted the 2017 Worldwide Symposium on Geographical Indications, made substantive progress in the negotiations for agreement on geographical indications between China and the EU, and signed a memorandum on the negotiations for agreement on cooperation and protection regarding geographical indications. We have promoted an early entry into force of the Beijing Treaty on Audiovisual Performances, and 19 countries have ratified or joined the treaty. 

The above is the development of China's intellectual property rights in 2017. Thank you.

Xi Yanchun:

Thank you to Mr. Shen Changyu for the introduction. The floor is now open to questions. Please identify your media outlet before asking your questions.

CCTV:

At the Boao Forum for Asia annual conference recently concluded in China, President Xi Jinping emphasized that enhancing the protection of intellectual property rights is one of the important measures for further opening up. I've got a question for Mr. Shen. What concrete measures will be taken to enhance the protection of intellectual property rights? Thank you. 

Shen Changyu:

Thank you for your question. As you mentioned just now, at the Boao Forum for Asia 2018, with a straightforward stance, General Secretary Xi Jinping reinforced the protection of intellectual property as one of the four major measures to expand openness, once again conveying to the world the firm position of the Chinese government on strictly protecting intellectual property rights by law. His speech has won wide acclaim from the international community. The State Intellectual Property Office (SIPO) has since studied and deployed the work of implementation. Focusing on realizing the spirit of General Secretary Xi's important instructions, we will coordinate the related parties to improve the protection of intellectual property rights, speed up the formation of a protection system covering aspects such as authorization and confirmation of rights, law enforcement, judicial protection, arbitration mediation, and self-discipline, so as to provide a more powerful guarantee of the rule of law for innovators and market players.

We will further strengthen the protection of intellectual property rights in the following four aspects.

The first is to take the opportunity to re-structure the SIPO to actively guide the comprehensive law enforcement of patents and trademarks and to better combat all types of infringement.

Second, we will take the opportunity to revise the Patent Law of the People's Republic of China as a way to expedite the establishment of a punitive compensation system for infringement, so as to raise the cost for IP infringement substantially and fully unlock the deterring effect of the relevant laws.

The third is to regard the construction of intellectual property protection centers as the starting point, and to reduce the time required for authorization, confirmation and protection of rights by establishing more convenient, efficient, and low-cost channels for rights protection. At present, we have established 19 such centers throughout the country. This year we will further expand the scale and improve the layout of these centers. The centers work quite well though they have been established for only a short time; this year we will further optimize the layout.

Fourth, we will take the 40th anniversary of reform and opening up as an opportunity to deepen international cooperation on intellectual property rights, to promote the building of more open, inclusive, balanced, and effective international rules regarding intellectual property rights so that China's intellectual property rights can also be well protected in foreign countries. We hope these measures can create a favorable international environment for Chinese companies "going global."

Thank you.

China Daily:

I would like to raise a question to Yu. Tencent Music and Netease Cloud Music have reached consensus on internet music copyright cooperation, authorizing music to each other. This has caught widespread attention. How will the people benefit from this cooperation? And what concrete measures have the National Copyright Administration taken to promote the development of the internet music industry ?

Yu Cike:

I appreciate your care about the copyright work. Music is one of the main media spread via the internet. The internet music industry has many customers and major influence. The two companies' cooperation is good news to music fans, who can enjoy more music on the internet. This is also good for the authorization and spread of the internet music resources. Meanwhile, it will also play a positive role in maintaining good protection for network music and building a good ecology for internet music. 

In 2015, the National Copyright Administration organized a special campaign on internet music copyright protection. Over the past few years, piracy and copyright infringement have been effectively checked, and the circumstances of network music copyright protection have improved markedly. On this basis, we are thinking about the way to promote a wider spread of works of music while strengthening the internet music copyright protection. This is a very important issue concerning whether the internet music industry can develop faster. 

To do so, the National Copyright Administration has strengthened its supervision and coordination, and has taken some additional measures. First, the administration communicated with the main internet music service providers and the music companies, urging them to promote internet music authorization and wide distribution of music, avoiding exclusive authorization. They are encouraged to explore internet music authorization and operation models that are in line with market laws and internet conventions.

Second, the administration has further strengthened its supervision of the copyright protection of internet music, demanding the music service providers and companies reinforce copyright protection of internet music resources, and actively form a good internet music copyright ecology. Third, relevant internet music service providers are asked to settle their disputes over copyright properly, and actively engage in cooperation in regards to internet music copyright.

The two companies' cooperation is the fruit of the administration's efforts to protect internet music copyrights, and also of the administration's efforts to promote the distribution of internet music. It is also an action of the internet music service providers so as to offer better services to internet users, and an active measure to maintain the healthy development of the internet music industry. There have been a few small setbacks and issues in the cooperation, but this will not influence the overall trend and direction of development.

The administration will continue to urge the relevant parties to abide by the laws and rules on copyright protection as well as market rules and international conventions, to build a developed, orderly, regulated and sustainable models for internet music authorization and operation through quality services, fair competition and differentiated development, so as to promote the prosperous and healthy development of the internet music industry. Thank you. 

People's Daily overseas edition:

The State Intellectual Property Office was restructured as part of China's deepening reform of Party and state institutions. Mr. Shen, could you inform us about the functions of the new agency and the progress of the restructuring? Thank you.

Shen Changyu:

In order to solve long-standing problems caused by the separated administration and overlapping enforcement of patents, trademarks and geographical indications, as well as improve the management mechanisms of IPRs, the CPC Central Committee decided to regroup the State Intellectual Property Office as part of the deepening reform of Party and state institutions.

The new agency has the following functions:

1.Promoting the implementation of the national intellectual property strategy, especially strengthening the creation, protection, and application of intellectual property.

2.Protecting intellectual property, facilitating the construction of an IPR protection system and offering guidance on the administrative law enforcement of patents and trademarks.

3.Conducting registration and administrative adjudication of trademarks, patents and geographical indications.

4.Coordinating foreign-related IP work and conducting foreign-related negotiations in the IP sector according to different categories.

We are making planned, progressive and disciplined efforts to advance the restructuring of the agency in accordance with the requirements of the CPC Central Committee.

Thank you.

Reuters: 

We know that IPR is a sensitive topic when it comes to foreign companies in China. Some foreign companies complain that China does not provide enough protection of IPR or that they are forced to do some related IPR transfer in order to do business in China. Do you think these complaints are reasonable? With the current trade dispute between China and the U.S., IPR is also one of the important topics of discussion. In your view, will China respond to these appeals by the U.S. through relevant negotiations between China and the U.S.? And will China make adjustments to its IPR policies ?

Shen Changyu: 

Thanks for the question, which is indeed a very important issue.

Over recent years, China has continued to strengthen its protection of intellectual property rights. Equal importance has been given to domestic and foreign enterprises. These efforts have won high praise from the international community. Last year, the Anti-Unfair Competition Law was amended, with sections on protecting business secrets further improved. Influential figures and sources in the U.S. intellectual property right industry have agreed that China's protection of intellectual property rights is now among the top-ranked of all middle-income countries. More and more foreign patent-holding entities chose to sue non-Chinese companies in China, because they believe they can receive equal treatment here. 

Additionally, China has continued to pay royalties in accordance with international trade rules. Last year, the royalties paid by Chinese entities to overseas entities reached US$28.6 billion, more than US$20 billion higher than the received. In particular, the royalties paid to U.S. entities increased 14 percent year-over-year. This shows that China has remained a strong defender, important participant and active builder of international trade rules. In recent years, tremendous progress has been made in the intellectual property rights industry, especially in the protection of IPR.

I want to stress an issue here. In the future, China will further strengthen its efforts to protect intellectual property rights. This is not only because of our need to fulfill international responsibilities, but also because of our need to promote self-development. President Xi Jinping has pointed out that China needs to strengthen the protection of intellectual property rights, as it is a requirement of both foreign enterprises and Chinese companies. As a next step, we will follow President Xi's instruction and the government work report to further improve the protection of intellectual property rights, foster a better environment for business and innovation, attract more foreign enterprises to invest in China, and open wider to the outside world.

The Sino-U.S. trade issue you just mentioned concerns intellectual property rights. To be frank, from our perspective, the so-called Section 301 investigation against China failed to see or ignored China's efforts in this field. Many influential figures in the U.S. intellectual property right industry have agreed that China has made remarkable achievements in this regard. I think our efforts have been recognized internationally. Thank you.  

Economic Daily:

I have two questions for Mr. Cui. First, what measures has the Trademark Bureau taken in respect to deepening trademark registration facilitation reform, strengthening the protection of the exclusive use of trademark and cracking down on trademark infringements? Second, this year's government work report has put forward a requirement to substantially shorten the trademark registration cycle; what measures will be taken next to implement this policy, curb malicious trademark registration and strengthen the protection of the exclusive use of trademark? Thank you.

Cui Shoudong:

The first question is about our work on facilitating and supervising trademark registration in recent years. Under trademark law, our bureau's functions include trademark registration and management. We have done a lot of work, especially since 2016, on registration facilitation. Therefore, when we summarized our work from last year, we said 2017 had witnessed our greatest efforts on reform and most effective achievements. We have introduced several documents, including those concerning the deepening reform of trademark registration facilitation, improving the efficiency of trademark examination and implementing trademark brand strategies. 

I think our efforts have generated obvious effects after one year's work.

First, we have broadened the application channels, shortened the investigation period, and optimized the investigation procedures. Currently, there are 123 counters nationwide accepting trademark applications. Almost all major cities, cities at the prefectural level and above, and county-level cities have such offices. This was a reform in 2016. Since the pilot reforms in Ya'an and Taizhou cities in May 2016, we have established 123 such counters, and 58 counters for registration of pledge. Previously, only the trademark hall accepted trademark applications. Now there are more channels, among which the counter is an important one. 

Second, we have founded trademark investigation cooperation centers outside Beijing. There are three such centers in Shanghai, Chongqing and Guangzhou. The Guangzhou center was founded prior to the ones in Shanghai and Chongqing, which has made trademark registration more convenient. We plan to found trademark investigation centers in Henan and Shandong provinces. This is an institutional reform. Furthermore, we have made the internet an important application channel. All applicants have been able to submit their trademark applications on the internet since March 10, 2017, and 23 kinds of businesses related to trademark can be directly submitted and processed via the internet. In 2017, 4.897 million trademark applications were made on the internet, 86 percent of the total, and 23 percentage points higher than five years ago.

Third, the procedures have been optimized. The investigation period of trademark has shortened from nine months in 2014, which is stipulated by the Trademark Law, to eight months due to our efforts last year, and we plan to further shorten it to six months. And it takes two months now to issue the notice of acceptance of trademark instead of six months. Over the past two years, we have unveiled important reform measures almost every one to two months. The procedures, like the international registration and geographical indication applications, have been greatly simplified. We have issued e-notices to 500 agencies and counters. This is an important reform. We issue 19,600 such e-notices every day on average, and the delivery efficiency is much higher than before. 

There is another important reform. By implementing the State Council's reform to streamline administration, delegate powers and improve regulation and services, we have reduced trademark application fees, and helped ease the applicants' financial burdens. From April 1, 2017, the trademark application fee was reduced from 600 yuan to 300 yuan, and the other fees have also been markedly lower. We have done a lot of work to facilitate trademark registration.  

In an effort to better regulate the registration of trademark, we take measures to prevent malicious registering, as well as to further facilitate the registration of trademark, which are two major parts included in the protection of intellectual property rights. During the investigation process, we mainly focus on taking strict measures to fight against trademark registration with outright malicious intentions, and those which do not align with the principles of honesty and credibility. By taking all these measures, we will crack down hard on infringement and counterfeiting. In 2017, we investigated and handled 30,000 violations of laws or regulations, with a total value of 365 million yuan. Great achievements have been made in registration and management. Firstly, we strengthened the management of major cases, accumulating the efforts to fight against trademark infringement. Secondly, we launched projects targeted at the sources of trademark infringement. Thirdly, we made more efforts to protect foreign investment companies. We also stepped up efforts to protect the legal rights of Chinese companies overseas. Fourthly, we made innovations in the method of regulation. With the help of the National Enterprise Credit Information Publicity System, we promoted our classified regulation on risk management.

Starting from April 20, the Trademark Office has been officially included in the State Intellectual Property Office. In past years, the Trademark Office stuck to a problem-oriented direction. Development will not be realized without the reform. In the future, we will deepen the reform to better facilitate trademark registration.

Recently we issued a three-year crucial plan for the reform of trademark registration facilitation. We have reported it to the State Council and also publicly published this plan. The key point of the plan is that the trademark review period has been shortened from seven months last year to six months this year; it will be shortened to five months next year and to four months by the year 2020. How do we see the four-month period? It will be the fastest among the OECD member countries at present and the fastest among countries that implement the relative grounds examination system. This is because China's trademarks application volume is so large; for example, there were 1.52 million entries in the first quarter of this year alone, an increase of more than 80 percent year-over-year. In some developed countries, their annual application volume is only 500,000 to 600,000, while we can reach more than 600,000 within a month. Some other procedures, including trademark changes, transfers, renewals and revocations, need to be simplified. We must reduce fees and charges, and greatly ease the process for applicants. You can check our three-year plan for details, which has already been made public.

With regard to supervision, through this institutional reform, under the direct leadership of the State Intellectual Property Office, we will take more stringent measures to combat infringement of intellectual property rights and counterfeits, in order to protect intellectual property rights.

Lianhe Zaobao:

I have two questions. First, the report on intellectual property rights protection in China 2017 mentioned that there was a decline in the number of intellectual property rights infringement crimes punished in China. Cases dealing with the sale and counterfeiting of registered trademarks and with the illegal manufacturing of trademarks saw year-over-year declines. It may be interpreted as a sign that the intensity of law enforcement was dwindled; what do you think about this? Second, I want to continue the question from Reuters. We have seen efforts from China toward the protection of intellectual property rights. However, by outside impressions, much remains to be done. For instance, a report from the China Chamber of Commerce in the United States mentioned that 94 percent of U.S. enterprises think their intellectual property rights have not been protected in China. How will China change this impression? You have said that Chinese enterprises also have this need, so will China enhance protections in order to serve Chinese enterprises or overseas ones ?

Shen Changyu:

Thank you for your two questions. Just now you found in the white paper that there was a year-over-year decline in the number of cases of dealing with intellectual property rights infringement crimes in China. This reflects, from one angle, that the protection of intellectual property rights has been enhanced in China. This decline gives a concrete expression. In recent years, China has dealt severely with all cases of intellectual property rights infringement, the environment has been improved, efforts have intensified and cases have seen a decline. 

Second, you mentioned intellectual property rights protection for Chinese enterprises or overseas ones. There are four key qualities of intellectual property rights protection: it should provide strict, extensive, rapid and equal protection. This means we will follow a strict system, set up a coordinated blueprint and a rapid, easy, effective and low-cost rights-defending channel especially for small, micro- and medium-sized enterprises, and treat intellectual property rights of domestic and overseas enterprises equally. These are the basic principles. We will treat private and state-owned enterprises the same, large, small and micro-enterprises the same, units and individuals the same. Therefore, intellectual property rights protection for domestic enterprises is no different than for overseas ones. Thank you.  

Nihon Keizai Shimbun:

The draft foreign investment law has been included in the State Council's legislative agenda for the year 2018. Some experts pointed out that the law contains the Regulations on Technology Import and Export Administration, and therefore, the regulations are likely to be abolished. Is this news true? Thank you.

Shen Changyu:

Thank you for your question. I think the question you raised is very important and meaningful. I suggest you contact corresponding departments to find out relevant information about the situation. At the same time, I will further size up the situation and provide feedback on the information in a timely manner. Thank you.

Reuters Video:

Thank you very much for your detailed response to my colleague's question earlier about intellectual property concerns among foreign companies. Could you put it very simply: Do you recognize any of their concerns?

Shen Changyu:

Thank you for your question. China began to establish and develop its intellectual property rights protection system during the implementation of the reform and opening up policies. In no more than four decades, much progress has been achieved in this regard. Intellectual property rights infringement can be seen worldwide, with various forms and levels of severity at different stages of evolution. However, the Chinese government has demonstrated strong resolve and taken effective measures to protect intellectual property in accordance with the law in past years. The improvement in China's environment for intellectual property protection has been widely acknowledged by the international community. In my prior report, I introduced the measures China has taken to crack down on infringement activities, including those measures in administrative law enforcement and judicial protection. I'm convinced that China's environment for intellectual property protection will become increasingly favorable in the future. Thank you. 

Xi Yanchun:

Every year in late April, Mr. Shen and other officials from the Intellectual Property Office will elaborate on the progress China has made in intellectual property protection, as well as China's determination and future plans related to intellectual property protection. We appreciate your continued attention to China's protection of intellectual property. Thanks to our spokesman, and thank you all. That's all for today's press conference.

.

Read in Chinese

Speakers:

Xing Zhihong, director general of Department of Comprehensive Statistics and spokesman of the National Bureau of Statistics

Chairperson:

Xi Yanchun, spokeswoman of the State Council Information Office

Date:

April 17, 2018

Xi Yanchun:

Ladies and gentlemen, good morning. Welcome to this press conference. Today, we invited Mr. Xing Zhihong, director general of the Department of Comprehensive Statistics and spokesman of the National Bureau of Statistics, to introduce China's economic performance in the first quarter of 2018. He will also answer some of your questions.

Now, Mr. Xing will give you a brief introduction.

Xing Zhihong:

Good morning, friends from the press. Glad to meet you. As usual, I will report to you the national economic performance in the first quarter of this year and then take your questions.

The national economy saw a good start in the first quarter.

This year, under the leadership of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core, all localities and departments strived for progress while working to keep performance stable, upheld China's new development philosophy, followed the requirements of promoting high-quality development, focused on establishing a modernized economic system, and implemented relevant policies with great effort. As a result, we maintained steady and sound economic development, promoted the transformation and upgrading of industries, improved quality and efficiency of development, and got off to a good start. 

According to preliminary estimation, the GDP in the first quarter reached 19.8783 trillion yuan, up by 6.8 percent year-on-year in comparable prices. From the perspective of industry, the added value of the primary, secondary and tertiary industries totaled 890.4 billion yuan, 7.7451 trillion yuan and 11.2428 trillion yuan respectively, up by 3.2 percent, 6.3 percent and 7.5 percent year-on-year. 

1. Agricultural production went well.

In the first quarter, the output of pork, beef, mutton and poultry was 23.16 million tons, up 1.8 percent year-on-year; the output of pork was 15.43 million tons, up 2.1 percent. The number of pigs bred was 415.23 million, down 1.2 percent year-on-year; the number of pigs slaughtered was 199.83 million, up 1.9 percent. In March, overall weather conditions in major farming areas were favorable, and sunlight and soil moisture in most of these regions were appropriate. Spring plowing and sowing have been going well. 

2. The overall industrial production was stable.

In the first quarter, the value added of industrial enterprises above the designated size actually increased by 6.8 percent year-over-year, and the growth rate fell by 0.4 percentage point compared with the growth from January to February, which was the same as the figure of the same period of last year. 

In terms of economic types, the value added of state holding enterprises increased by 7.9 percent, and the value added of collective enterprises increased by 0.1 percent, while that of share-holding enterprises rose by 7 percent and that of foreign-invested companies and Hong Kong-, Macao- and Taiwan-invested companies rose by 5.5 percent. 

Looking at the three categories, the value added of the mining industry increased by 0.9 percent year-over-year, that of the manufacturing industry increased by 7.0 percent, while electricity, heat, gas and water production and supply industries increased by 10.8 percent. New products from the new industries have developed rapidly. The value added of high-tech and equipment manufacturing increased by 11.9 percent and 8.8 percent respectively year-over-year, which was faster than that of the industries above the designated size by 5.1 and 2 percentage points, respectively. Integrated circuit production output increased by 15.2 percent year-over-year, new energy vehicles increased by 139.4 percent, and industrial robots increased by 29.6 percent. The output sales ratio of industrial enterprises above the designated size reached 97.9 percent, which was 0.3 percentage point higher than the same period of last year. 

In March, the value added of industries above the designated size increased by 6 percent from the previous year, and increased by 0.33 percent compared with the previous month. In March, the manufacturing industry's purchasing managers' index (PMI) was 51.5 percent, up 1.2 percentage points from the last month.

From January to February, national industrial enterprises above the designated size achieved a total profit of 968.9 billion yuan, a year-over-year increase of 16.1 percent. The profit margin for primary business income of industrial enterprises above the designated size was 6.1 percent, an increase of 0.33 percentage point over the same period of the previous year.

3. Services sector grew at a relatively fast pace. 

In the first quarter, the index of services production increased by 8.1 percent year-on-year, 0.1 percentage point higher than the first two months of this year and 0.2 percentage point lower than the same period last year. 

Information transmission, software and information technology services, and leasing and business services delivered a strong performance. In March, the index of services production grew by 8.3 percent year-on-year, 0.3 percentage point higher than that of the first two months, the same rate as the same period in 2017. In the first two months, the operating revenues of service sector enterprises above the designated size increased by 14.1 percent year-on-year, 0.7 percentage points higher than the same period last year. 

In March, the business activity index for services stood at 53.6 percent, 0.2 percentage points lower than the previous month but still higher than last year's average. The business activity index for sectors such as rail transport, air transport, postal and express delivery services, telecommunications, radio and television broadcasts and satellite transmission, Internet and software information technology services, monetary and financial services, capital market services and insurance stayed within the relatively prosperous range of over 55.0 percent. 

As for market expectations, the business activity expectation index for the service sector stood at 60.1 percent, higher than the 60.0percent for the last ten consecutive months.

4. Private investment increased at a faster rate.

In the first quarter, the national fixed-asset investment (excluding rural households) was 10.0763 trillion yuan, increasing 7.5 percent year-over-year, 0.4 percentage point lower than the growth rate of the first two months of the year, and 1.7 percentage points lower than the same period of last year. In particular, private investments reached 6.2386 trillion yuan, increasing 8.9 percent year-over-year, 0.8 percentage point higher than the growth rate of the first two months, and 1.2 percentage points higher than the same period of last year. 

Specifically, investments in primary industry totaled 290 billion yuan, increasing 24.2 percent. Investments in secondary industry totaled 3.5813 trillion yuan, increasing 2.0 percent. Of those, investments in the manufacturing industry increased 3.8 percent. Investments in tertiary industry totaled 6.2050 trillion yuan, increasing 10.0 percent. Of those, investment in infrastructure increased 13.0 percent. One thing to note is that investments in the high-tech manufacturing industry increased 7.9 percent yearly, 0.4 percentage point higher than the overall investment growth rate. On a monthly basis, the fixed-asset investment (excluding rural households) in March increased 0.57 percent.

5. The floor space of commercial buildings for sale continued to decrease.

In the first quarter of this year, total investment in real estate development was 2.1291 trillion yuan, a 10.4-percent growth year-on-year. The growth rate was 0.5 percentage point higher than that in January and February, exceeding that of last year's same period by 1.3 percentage points. In particular, the investment in residential buildings increased by 13.3 percent. 

The total floor space of houses newly started in the first three months was 346.15 million square meters, up by 9.7 percent year-on-year. The floor space of residential buildings newly started went up by 12.2 percent. The floor space of commercial buildings sold was 300.88 million square meters, up 3.6 percent, of which the floor space of residential buildings sold grew by 2.5 percent. The total sales of commercial buildings were 2.5597 trillion yuan, up 10.4 percent. Specifically, the sales of residential buildings rose 11.4 percent. 

The land space purchased by real estate development enterprises was 38.02 million square meters, up 0.5 percent year-on-year. By the end of March, the total floor space of commercial buildings for sale was 573.29 million square meters, 11.38 million square meters less than at the end of February. The fund in place for real estate development enterprises in the first quarter reached 3.6770 trillion yuan, up by 3.1 percent year-on-year.

6. Market sales remain active.

In the first quarter, the total retail sales of consumer goods reached 9.0275 trillion yuan, an increase of 9.8 percent year on year. The growth rate was 0.1 percentage points higher than that from January to February, and 0.2 percentage points lower than the same period of last year. Analyzed by locations for business units, the retail sales of consumer goods in urban areas reached 7.7096 trillion yuan, up by 9.7 percent, while that of consumer goods in rural areas rose 10.7 percent to 1.3179 trillion yuan. 

Grouped by consumption patterns, the revenues from the catering sector were 971.1 billion yuan, up by 10.3 percent, while commodity retail revenues were 8.0564 trillion yuan, up by 9.8 percent. The sales of goods for consumption upgrade grew faster, and cosmetics above the limitation unit, with household appliances and audio-visual equipment witnessing a year-on-year growth of 16.1 percent and 11.4 percent respectively, 6.2 and 3.4 percentage points faster than the same period of last year respectively. In march, the total retail sales of consumer goods increased 10.1 percent on a year-on-year basis, 0.4 percentage point faster than that from January to February, and up by 0.73 percent from the previous month.

In the first quarter, online retail sales rose 35.4 percent from a year earlier to 1.9318 trillion yuan, an increase of 3.3 percentage points over the same period last year. Among them, online retail sales of physical goods reached 1.4567 trillion yuan, up by 34.4 percent, accounting for 16.1 percent of the total retail sales of consumer goods, and an increase of 3.7 percentage points over the previous year. Online retail sales of non-physical goods reached 475.1 billion yuan, an increase of 38.7 percent.

7. The foreign trade surplus shrank greatly.

In the first quarter, imports and exports reached 6.7516 trillion yuan, up 9.4 percent. China's exports increased 7.4 percent to 3.5389 trillion yuan while imports increased 11.7 percent to 3.2127 trillion yuan. The foreign trade surplus shrank 21.8 percent year-on-year to 326.2 billion yuan. The trade structure has been further improved. The general trade of imports and exports increased by 13.2 percent, accounting for 58.3 percent of the total imports and exports, up 2 percentage points from the previous year. About 59.4 percent of the exports were mechanical and electrical products, with an increase of 9.5 percent. The exports and imports to the three largest trading partners of China have maintained a high growth rate, up 8.2 percent, 6.3 percent and 13.7 percent to the EU, the United States and the ASEAN respectively. In addition, China's exports and imports to some targeted countries involved in the Belt and Road Initiative maintained a sound momentum growth, with an increase of 20.5 percent, 16.6 percent and 16.2 percent to Russia, Poland and Kazakhstan respectively. The total volume of exports and imports reached 2.2453 trillion yuan in March, dropping 2.5 percent. Exports fell 9.8 percent to 1.1078 trillion yuan and imports up 5.9 percent to 1.1375 trillion yuan.

In the first quarter, the delivery value of exports of industrial enterprises above the designated size reached 2.7145 trillion yuan, increasing by 7.6 percent year on year, and it grew 4.0 percent to 1.0016 trillion yuan in March.

8. The Consumer Price Index (CPI) and the Producer Price Index (PPI) registered moderate growth.

In the first quarter of this year, China's CPI rose 2.1 percent year-on-year, 0.1 percent lower than the growth rate of the first two months and 0.7 percent higher than that of the same period last year. The figure comprised increases of 2.2 percent in urban areas and 2.0 percent in rural areas. In view of industrial categories, the price of food, cigarettes and alcohol increased by 1.9 percent year-on-year; wares by 1.2 percent; accommodations by 2.4 percent; daily necessities and services by 1.6 percent; traffic and telecommunication by 0.7 percent; education, culture and entertainment by 2.2 percent; medical and healthcare services by 6.0 percent and other services by 1.4 percent.

Amid the prices of food, cigarettes and alcohol, those of crops went up by 1.1 percent, pork went down 9.9 percent and fresh vegetables went up 6.6 percent. In March of this year, the CPI rose 2.1 percent year-on-year, 0.8 percentage points lower than the growth rate in February, and 1.1 percent lower than the growth generated the previous month.

In the first quarter of this year, the PPI rose by 3.7 percent year-on-year, 0.3 and 3.7 percentage points lower than the growth rate of the first two months of this year and the same period last year, respectively. In March, the PPI cost increased by 3.1 percent, 0.6 percentage points lower than the growth rate in February, and 0.2 percent lower than the growth generated the previous month. In the first three months this year, the purchasing price of PPI rose by 4.4 percent. In March alone, the figure went up by 3.7 percent year-on-year and was down 0.3 percent from one month ago.

9. The employment situation basically remains stable. 

The surveyed urban unemployment rate was 5.0 percent in January, 5.0 percent in February and 5.1 percent in March, 0.2 percentage points, 0.4 percentage points and 0.1 percentage points lower than the same period last year respectively. The surveyed urban unemployment rate in 31 big- and medium-sized cities was 4.9 percent in January, 4.8 percent in February and 4.9 percent in March, 0.1 percentage points, 0.2 percentage points and 0.1 percentage points lower than the same period last year respectively. 

By the end of the first quarter, the number of rural laborers, who work as migrant workers out of their hometowns, had reached 174.41 million, 1.88 million more than the same time last year, up 1.1 percent.  

10. Residents' income increases steadily.

In the first quarter, the national average per capita disposable income was 7, 815 yuan, which means a nominal growth of 8.8 percent year-on-year and an actual growth of 6.8 percent year-on-year after adjusting for inflation. Classified according to residents' permanent residence locations, over the first quarter, the urban residents' average per capita disposable income was 10,781 yuan, an actual growth of 5.7 percent after adjusting for inflation, and it was 4,226 yuan with a 6.8 percent growth rate for rural residents. The average per capita disposable income between urban and rural residents stood at 2.55:1. The income ratio was 2.57 the same period last year. The median of the national average per capita income is 6,580 yuan in the first quarter, nominally up 8.5 percent year-on-year.    

11. The effects of restructuring and upgrading are obvious.

Supply-side structural reform deepens. In the first quarter, the national industrial capacity utilization rate was 76.5 percent, 0.7 percentage points higher than the same period last year. Destocking has made concrete progress. By the end of March, the for-sale area of the commercial residential houses had dropped 16.7 percent year-on-year. The effects of the deleveraging efforts are apparent. By the end of February, the liability-asset ratio of industrial enterprises above designated size is 56.3 percent, down 0.8 percentage points year-on-year. The cost of the real economy continues to drop. The cost of per 100-yuan main business revenue of industrial enterprises above the designated size is 83.98 yuan in January and February, 0.33 yuan less than the same period last year. 

The investment in the deprived fields has increased fast. In the first quarter, the investment in ecological preservation and environmental treatment, public facilities and agriculture grew by 34.2 percent, 13.4 percent, 25.4 percent respectively year-on-year, 26.5, 5.9 and 17.9 percentage points faster respectively than the average growth of the total investment in all fields.    

The economic structure is continuously optimizing. In the first quarter, the contribution rate of the tertiary industry's added value to the growth of gross domestic product was 61.6 percent, 25.5 percentage points higher than that of the secondary industry. The contribution rate of the final consumption spending to economic growth was 77.8 percent, 46.5 percentage points higher than the contribution from gross capital formation. 

The new drivers of growth are developing fast. In the first quarter, the number of newly registered enterprises nationwide reached 1.323 million, up 5.4 percent year-on-year, which translates to 14,700 new enterprises per day on average. The added value of the emerging strategic industries increased 9.6 percent year-on-year, 2.8 percentage points faster than the average of the industrial enterprises above the designated size aforementioned. Green development advances. In the first quarter, the energy consumption per unit of gross domestic product dropped 3.2 percent year-on-year.

Generally speaking, the national economy continued its steady growth and structural optimizing in the first quarter. The favorable conditions supporting high quality growth increased, laying a good foundation for the healthy and steady development of the economy this year. But it is noteworthy that the uncertainties in the international environment increase, and the unbalanced and incomplete development at home remains outstanding, and the reform and development missions are still tough. 

In the next stage, we should follow the guidance of the Xi Jinping Thought of Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for the New Era, implement the spirit and requirements of the Communist Party of China's 19th National Congress and the Central Economic Work Conference, carry out the deployment of the Government Work Report, adhere to the principle to seek progress in stability, realize the new development concepts, deepen the supply-side structural reform, seek innovation-driven growth, further expand reform and opening-up, increase the internally generated driving forces for development, guide and stabilize people's expectations for future growth and push forward the sustainable and healthy development of the economy. 

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CCTV:

The statistics you just released show China's economic performance in the first quarter was stable. How do you understand the situation? You just mentioned that China had made a good start. Can you explain? 

Xing Zhihong:

Thank you for the question. In the first quarter, national economic performance remained stable while making further progress with new growth momentum emerging. We have made a good start, as the transformation and upgrading of industries went further, and the quality and effect of development continued to improve. Generally speaking, national economic performance in the first quarter was stable and sound, with new growth drivers emerging and economic structure improving. 

First, the national economy ran steadily. Major macro-regulation indexes show that in the first quarter, China's economic performance remained stable. A steady rise was seen in the economy, more jobs were created, commodity prices remained basically unchanged, and a general balance was kept in international payments. 

Regarding overall economic development, in the first quarter, the national economy grew 6.8 percent, at the same rate of the fourth quarter of last year. The rate has remained between 6.7 percent and 6.9 percent for 11 consecutive quarters.

Regarding the job market, the urban unemployment rate was around 5 percent in the first three months. In particular, the unemployment rate in 31 big cities remained below 5 percent. The total number of rural workers working outside their hometowns increased 1.88 million, up by 1.1 percent year-over-year. The sound employment situation is a major indicator of stable economic performance.

Regarding commodity prices, in the first quarter, the CPI increased slightly by 2.1 percent year-on-year. Commodities were in sufficient supply, basically able to meet the market demand. Moreover, the PPI growth rate slowed down. In the first quarter, the PPI increased 3.7 percent, with the growth rate down by 3.7 percentage points year-on-year.

Regarding international payments, so far this year, China's imports and exports continued to grow rapidly. In particular, the growth rate of imports continued to outpace exports, leading to a smaller trade surplus. Imports and exports were more balanced, and foreign exchange reserves were basically unchanged.

Second, the economy is driven by new growth drivers. It is mainly reflected by innovation-driven development. Mass entrepreneurship and innovation are booming and have stimulated market vitality and social creativity. New growth drivers continue to increase. Since the beginning of this year, new market players have increased substantially. Statistics by relevant authorities show that China's newly registered enterprises in the first quarter reached 1.32 million, with a daily increase of 14,700 on average. This substantial increment illustrates that mass entrepreneurship and innovation encourage passion for business. New industries, businesses and models are thriving. In the first quarter, the added value of the strategic emerging industries grew by 9.6 percent, registering an increase higher than the average growth rate of the industrial enterprises above designated size. Meanwhile, online retail sales rose 35.4 percent, and the volume of express delivery went up more than 30 percent. Their growth rate continues to accelerate. Now, the "Internet Plus" has reached different industries and sectors and bred many new forms of industries and business models. The digital economy, platform economy and sharing economy continue to grow rapidly, injecting new vitality into China's economic development.

Third, the economic structure has been optimized and coordinated development enhanced. In terms of industrial structure, the service industry continuously played a leading role as it accounted for 56.6 percent of the economy in the first quarter, 0.3 percentage points higher year-on-year. It contributed 61.6 percent to economic growth, 25.5 percentage points higher than that of the secondary industry. The industry continues to move toward mid and high-end manufacturing as the proportions of high-tech manufacturing and equipment manufacturing were improved to 12.7 percent and 32.2 percent respectively among industrial enterprises above designated size. 

In terms of demand structure, the fundamental role of consumption has been enhanced. The final consumption expenditure contributed 77.8 percent to economic growth, 46.5 percentage points higher than that of the gross capital formation. Consumption of goods has been shifted to quality consumption; material consumption shifted to service consumption. This is the new change in terms of consumption.

In terms of investment, the investment also addressed inadequacies, shored up points of weakness and gathered momentum, thus achieving an optimized structure. This year, the investment in agricultural and social sectors both grew by over 20 percent. As for industrial investment, investments in high-tech industries have increased continuously.

The foreign trade structure has also been optimized. In terms of trade modes, the proportion of general trade was improving. In terms of trade subjects, the proportion of exports of private enterprises increased continuously. In terms of region, the imports and exports in central and western China grew remarkably faster than that of the nation as a whole. 

Four, the economic performance is good. The efficiency of enterprises were improved, household income increased, and green development was boosted. Enterprise profits enjoyed rapid growth. From January to February, profits of industrial enterprises above designated size increased by 16.1 percent year-on-year, and profits of service companies above designated size rose by 4.5 percent. It is not easy for enterprises to maintain such a growth rate considering the high profits last year, which indicates their efficiency has been improved. People's income grew 6.6 percent in real terms, still faster than the growth of GDP per capita, which indicates that the growth of household income almost synchronized with the economic growth. Green development was advanced steadily. Energy consumption per 10,000 yuan of GDP fell by 3.2 percent, the share of clean energy consumption increased, and utilization efficiency of energy and resources was improved. Continued improvement in the environment, especially air quality, was achieved.

The conclusion is that stable performance and improvement in quality and efficiency have complemented and promoted each other. Stability, harmony, inclusiveness and sustainability of the economy have been strengthened, which will lay a solid foundation for the sustainable and healthy economic growth of this year. Thank you. 

Phoenix TV:

We are concerned about the situation regarding foreign trade. Although the figures have already been announced, we would still like to ask whether there are preliminary estimates from the National Bureau of Statistics. If the international environment continues to have uncertainties, especially any potential Sino-U.S. trade friction escalation, will it impact on foreign trade in the second quarter or even the second half of the year? And how big will the impact be do you think?

Xing Zhihong:

The issues of foreign trade are everyone's significant concern. Sino-U.S. trade is not only a problem between the two countries, but also an international issue. China has never deliberately pursued a trade surplus. In the past two years, China's trade surplus has been narrowing. The reason why foreign exports continues to grow is because China has comprehensive competitive advantages. At the same time, China's imports have also increased, reflecting the strong growth in domestic demand in China. In our foreign trade, we pursue a trade balance. This kind of balance is also conducive to the development of the domestic economy.

Regarding the issue of Sino-U.S. trade, the Chinese government has already demonstrated its firm stance. The pattern of our opening up to the outside world is further expanding. When one door shuts, another opens. Our trade space is still very large. We can continue to maintain a balance of import and export as the domestic enterprises continuously enhance their competitiveness. Thank you.

China Radio International: 

Statistical indexes of export, investment and industry have gone down. Does this mean growth potential will slow down, while pressure on growth will increase? 

Xing Zhihong:

I have introduced the statistics from the first quarter to you. The operation of the economy is stable. The "slowdown" was probably caused by some indexes' fluctuation in March, which was mainly caused by factors related to the Spring Festival. It is the most important traditional festival in China. Although the statutory holiday is seven days, its influence lasts much longer than that. The Spring Festival fell in the second half of February this year, which was later than usual. March 2 was the Lantern Festival. So the festival's late arrival had obvious influence on production. In our research and investigation, some export enterprises said they would try their best to export before the festival, and increase imports first after the festival with export gradually speeding up. The trade statistics in March showed clear Spring Festival influence. Also, the number of working days in March this year was one day fewer than last year. The two factors overlapped, causing some of the indexes' fluctuations in March. But beyond seasonal factors, we've found that the trend characteristics of the market and the increase of production have remained unchanged. 

As for China's economic development trend in the next stage, it is fair to say that the favorable conditions and factors supporting high quality growth are increasing. China's economy will continue to keep a development trend that features stabilizing growth. As for the supply side, the real economy's vitality is increasing, the quality and efficiency of the supply-side system are improving and the foundation for future growth is becoming more solid. 

The situation of agricultural production is comparatively good, with the implementation of a rural rejuvenation strategy and the deepening of agricultural supply-side structural reform. The improvement of agricultural products and the rise of green agriculture have prompted the adjustment of the crop-husbandry structure, further enhancing the comprehensive benefits and competency of agriculture. The growth trend of industry is stable. The industry grew at 6.8 percent in the first quarter, up 0.6 percentage points from the fourth quarter last year. Among the 41 major industries, 37 (90 percent) saw growth, better than the last year. The industrial capacity utilization rate has increased. The advanced manufacturing industry plays an increasingly important role as a driver for the growth of the whole industry. The service industry has maintained stable and comparatively fast development momentum. The production index of the service sectors remained above 8 percent in the first quarter, reaching 8.3 percent in March, 0.3 percentage points higher than January and February and the highest over the past six months. The emerging service sectors, with the internet as a representative, have grown robustly. The development of service industries, especially those related to people's livelihoods, has sped up.

On the demand side, consumption's foundation role is strengthening. And investment's key role in promoting the optimization of supply-side structure has become increasingly outstanding. Currently, foreign and domestic demands both exert powers, pushing supply-demand relations to develop in the direction of dynamic balance and positive cycle.

On the consumption side, the momentum of final consumption's growth is stable. The upgrading of residents' consumption structure has accelerated. The growth momentum of the upgrade-type of commodities is stable. The merging of online and offline consumptions has been expedited. Not only was online retail growing fast, but also traditional commerce, for instance, department stores', supermarkets' and exclusive shop's growth in the first quarter was faster than the same period of last year, reflecting retail's new positive influence in all consumption fields. 

The consumption in the service industry is growing robustly. The box revenue grew 39.8 percent in the first quarter. The investment structure is optimizing. The most important change is that civil investment is showing stronger vitality, accounting for more than 60 percent of the total investment. The civil investment grew by 8.9 percent in the first quarter, 2.9 percentage points higher than last year. Meanwhile, the fields of civil investment have expanded further, with some key fields strengthened, which has cast positive influence on supply-side structural optimization and the enhancement of supply-side efficiency.

As for projections, the deepening of reform and opening-up, the growth of driving force generated from innovation and the release of the bonus of a series of policies will consolidate the market players' anticipation and confidence in the future. The growth of the purchasing manager index (PMI) of the manufacturing sped up in March and had expanded for 20 months consecutively. Particularly, the PMI of large-, medium- and small-sized manufacturing enterprises all expanded in March. The non-manufacturing commercial activity index has remained at 54 percent, a positive sign, for seven months continuously. The consumer confidence index reached 122.3, a comparatively high level given its history. So judging from the three aspects of supply, demand and projection, internally generated driving force is becoming stronger. This is the most important support for the sustainable and healthy development of the Chinese economy. Thank you.

Die Welt:

You just answered one question about the problems between China and the United States with the impact of trade, but how bad are you evaluating the whole impact on the Chinese economy if the frictions are going to develop to a sort of a trade war. Thank you. 

Xing Zhihong: 

The United States disregarded the rules of international trade and clung obstinately to its own course of provoking trade frictions. The international community has been worried about this classic act of trade protectionism and unilateralism and China strongly opposes such acts. Our government has responded firmly and fiercely. People are concerned about the effect on China's economy if the frictions continue. I want to say that in recent years, China's economy has seen increasingly sustained, steady, and coordinated growth, and it has strong resilience, potential and leeway. China-U.S. trade frictions won't change the positive trend of sustained and sound economic development in China.

First, China's economy is resilient and adaptable. In recent years, the supply-side structural reform and innovation have stimulated China's internal driving force and vitality for economic growth. More importantly, major changes in the structure of economy have been brought about. Since the Party's 18th National Congress, economic growth has moved out of the developmental stage of being mainly propelled by the industrial sector into the stage of being propelled by the industrial and service sectors together, out of the stage of being mainly propelled by investment into the stage of being propelled by investment and consumption together. And China has transformed from a large export country into a country placing equal stress on export and import. These structural changes have enhanced the stability and resilience of China's economy. 

Over the past few years, the global economy has undergone profound adjustments, and the external environment remains relatively complicated, but China's economy has maintained a growth at a medium-high speed, largely thanks to our economic structure that mainly relies on domestic demand. According to the statistics department, the annual contribution rate of domestic demand to China's economic growth between 2008 and 2017 reached 105.7 percent, a figure more than 100 percent. That is to say, we have been able to hedge the impact of external demand with domestic demand. Especially in 2009 when the international financial crisis hit China hardest, the contribution of domestic demand to China's economic growth exceeded 140 percent. 

Last year, the global economy showed an overall recovery, and it was the same case with the external demand. Even under these circumstances, the contribution of domestic demand to China's economic growth remained at 90.9 percent, so this structure is very critical for us to deal with external shocks. Of the domestic demand, final consumer spending is the primary driving force and the biggest engine. I mentioned just now that the contribution rate of final consumer spending, which was 58.8 percent last year, was 77.8 percent in the first quarter this year. The final consumer spending has been the primary engine of China's economic growth for five years in a row. Compared with exports and investment, the volatility of consumption is significantly smaller, and therefore, an economic structural change like this is crucial to the stability of China's economy.

Second, China's economic development has great potential. In an innovation-driven development strategy, development is the top priority, human resources are the primary resources, and innovation is the main driving force. 

The widespread entrepreneurship and innovation campaign has greatly bolstered the public's enthusiasm. Presently, more than 10,000 new businesses are established every day. Last year, annual R&D investments accounted for 2.12 percent of the national GDP, higher than the average level of 15 EU countries. Now, China's R&D investment is the second highest in the world. According to a ranking of international organizations, China's innovation index last year ranked 22nd in the world, which means China is leading all middle-income countries in terms of R&D investment. 

Because of its entrepreneurship and innovation campaign, China has shifted its reliance on demographic dividends to talent dividends. More than 170 million Chinese people have received higher education and possess specialized skills. They have great potential. This is where China's future lies. 

With technological innovation playing an increasingly significant role in promoting development, China's economy has maintained a relatively fast growth rate. Over the past years, China's economic growth rate has remained one of the fastest among major world economies. Last year, China's technological improvements contributed to 57.5 percent of national economic growth and 30 percent of world economic growth. 

China's economy has great vigor, dynamic and potential. These factors have greatly enhanced the innovative and competitive capacity of the Chinese economy, making us more capable of dealing with complex situations.

Third, we have ample room to maneuver. China is a big country. We have ample room to maneuver in terms of development, industrial systems and macro regulation. 

Regarding development, because of its large territory, China sees different development stages in different regions. Therefore, we are working to accelerate the urbanization drive, to promote coordinated development of the eastern, central, western and northeastern parts, and to foster synergy between the Three Initiatives (the Belt and Road Initiative, the coordinated development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, and the development of the Yangtze River Economic Belt), thus to accelerate the balanced development of different regions. The potential of different regions has been further tapped, resulting in new development areas and new development platforms.

Regarding industrial systems, links to all industries can be found in China. This makes us capable of establishing a complete system of industries, promoting the application of scientific and technological advances, and fending off various risks. In this situation, even if some industries are affected, other industries can maintain growth momentum, offset the affected sectors' influence on other industries and on the larger economy, and support and promote the development of the affected sectors. This is a special characteristic of the Chinese economy.

Regarding macro regulation, we also have ample room to maneuver. Presently, China's economy has maintained steady performance; the financial and fiscal systems are running steadily; the foreign exchange reserve is the biggest in the world. As a result, we have plenty of policy tools to use, and they can be used on many occasions. 

To sum up, China is fully capable of handling trade conflicts with the United States, responding to various risks and challenges, and maintaining healthy development of its national economy. Thank you. 

CGTN:

The service industry producer index has maintained fast growth in the first quarter. And the contribution of the service industry to economic growth is bigger than that of secondary industry. What are your thoughts on the future development of the service industry? Thank you.

Xing Zhihong:

In 2012, the service industry in China surpassed the secondary industry, becoming the largest industry in China's economy. It has contributed greatly to economic development, serving as the main driving engine. Last year, the service industry accounted for 51.6 percent of China's GDP, contributing 58.8 percent to growth. And in the first quarter of 2018, it has maintained a fast growth rate, with proportion and contribution both increasing. China has entered a new phase of economic development driven by the service industry, representing the great progress China has achieved in economic transformation and upgrading. It reflects both the law of economics as well as profound adjustments to policy. The fast growth of the service industry in China is due to the following factors: 

First, the upgrading of the consumption structure provides a wider market for the development of the service industry. In accordance with international development experience and economic theory, the growth of the service industry is closely related to residents' income. Currently, China's per capita GDP in last year has reached nearly US$9,000, becoming one of the upper-middle income economies. With the growth of income, people's need for services has made an increasing impact. One of the obvious features of consumption in China is that, in addition to material goods, more and more people are spending money on services such as tourism, culture, education and health care, which injects fresh stimulus and driving force to the development of the service industry.

Second, the division of labor is deepening. The reconstruction of the supply chain, value chain and industrial chain has accelerated China's economic transformation from an industry economy to a service economy. China has now entered the middle and later stages of industrialization, heading toward the mid- and high-end markets. And during the upgrade of the value chain, the manufacturing industry itself creates much need for services with regard to research, design, marketing, management and logistics. It can also be noted from the statistics that technology, business and logistics services have produced new growth highlights.

Third, our efforts to deepen reform and opening-up have further unleashed the growth potential of the service sector. We have been continually expanding market access to the service sector. General Secretary Xi Jinping pledged in his speech at this year's Boao Forum for Asia that China would continue to increase openness, and the service sector is a focus of this endeavor. In fact, we have already set the openness of the service sector as a priority in developing pilot free trade zones. For example, we are easing the cap on foreign ownership in financial services, and the increasing foreign investment and investment from non-government sources in education and health care have given new impetus to the service sector. Additionally, private investment is booming, with a good deal flowing into the social domain.

Four, innovation has boosted the internal forces driving the development of the service sector. New forms and models of business created by the wide application of information technology have made the most salient impact on the service sector. E-health, online sharing and online education services have risen to prominence. Those new forms and models of business have played an important role in maintaining the rapid growth momentum of the service sector. Thank you.

Xi Yanchun:

Due to the time limit, please offer the last question.

Reuters:

You've just mentioned that China's average per capita disposable income grew 6.6 percent in real terms in the first quarter of 2018, lower than the growth rate of 7.3 percent in 2017. Do you think this trend will continue? What's the reason behind it? China's economy performed well in the first quarter. In your opinion, what is the top risk faced by China's economy in realizing steady, sound and high-speed development?

Xing Zhihong:

Let me talk about income first. The nominal growth rate of national resident income in the first quarter of 2018 was 8.8 percent, 0.3 percentage points higher year on year. The growth rates of nominal income for both urban and rural residents are higher than those of the same period in 2017. It shows that people's money bags are fuller this year. Why was there a slowdown in actual growth rate? It is mainly influenced by the factor of prices. In the first quarter of last year, the growth rate of commodity prices was relatively low. Actually, it is not that high this year. It is just 2.1 percent, indeed a mild increase. But compared with that of last year, it's higher and exerts some influence on actual growth of resident income. We can see that the Chinese economy is developing in a steady and sound way and more job opportunities are being created. Mass entrepreneurship and innovation are making progress and the income distribution system is improving. At the same time, our country has placed great emphasis on the growth of resident income and a series of policies have begun to take positive effect. All these will help increase resident income in step with economic growth. The actual growth rate of resident income in the first quarter was 6.6 percent, higher than that of per capita GDP. 

Specifically, the performances of enterprises have continued to improve and their operation is in good condition, which provides strong support for the growth of employees' wages. From the rural perspective, the structural reform of the agricultural supply side, the integrated development of the rural primary, secondary and tertiary industries, and the increase in the output and prices of some agricultural products in particular, have created favorable conditions for the growth of agriculture-related incomes. The land reform in rural areas is still ongoing. Farmers have gained property incomes and expanded their income sources through the transfer of the contractual right of land. Thus, the farmers' income grew faster than that of the urban residents. In the first quarter of this year, the increase of farmers' income continued to be higher than that of urban residents, and the income gap between urban and rural residents was further narrowed, which is a good change. Chinese governments at all levels have implemented the guideline of being people-centered and made more investments in people's livelihood. The social security standards have been continuously improved and the security coverage has been further expanded. Both urban and rural residents have gained more transfer incomes. Therefore, the income of citizens across the nation will continue to keep pace with the economic growth. Particularly, the goal to develop a well-off society with doubled incomes can be realized without any problem from the current point of view.

Currently, the biggest challenges facing China's economic development come down to the uncertainties of the international environment and the problems caused by unbalanced and inadequate domestic development. Rising protectionism, the adverse spillovers of major economies' changing monetary policies, and the fluctuation of the financial market may all have an impact on China's economy. 

For all the challenges, China's economy, with its strength, strong resilience, great potential and ample leeway, will continue to maintain stable performance with good momentum for growth.

Xi Yanchun:

Thank you, Mr. Xing.

Mr. Xing has no other things than a pen and a piece of paper in hand today, as he is thoroughly familiar with the statistics. And he has made a detailed and in-depth interpretation of those statistics for us.

We appreciate your continued attention on China's economic performance, and please contact the information office of the National Bureau of Statistics if you have other questions.

Thank you, Mr. Xing, and all our friends from the press. That's all for today's press conference.

Read in Chinese

Speakers:

Zhu Guangyao, vice minister of Finance

Wang Shouwen, vice minister of Commerce

Chairperson:

Hu Kaihong, spokesperson of the State Council Information Office of China

Date:

April 4, 2018

Hu Kaihong:

Ladies and gentlemen, good afternoon. Welcome to this press conference. The issues related to Sino-U.S. trade have captured great public attention recently. Today, we invite Mr. Zhu Guangyao, vice minister of Finance, and Mr. Wang Shouwen, vice minister of Commerce and deputy China international trade representative, to introduce relevant issues, and answer some of your questions.

Zhu Guangyao:

Good afternoon, everyone. Please allow me to brief you on the latest developments first. On April 4, the U.S. announced a proposed list of products subject to additional tariffs. It covers 1,333 Chinese export items, which are worth US$50 billion. The additional tariff rate is 25 percent. At 3:30 p.m. today, upon the approval of the State Council, the Customs Tariff Commission of the State Council unveiled a list of U.S. imports that will be subject to higher tariffs. It was decided that an additional tariff of 25 percent will be imposed on 106 items of products under 14 categories, including soy beans, automobiles and chemical products. 

Hu Kaihong:

Now the floor is open to questions. Please identify your media outlet before raising any questions.

The Wall Street Journal:

Superficially, the trade conflict between China and the United States now seems to be escalating. We would like to know if the two countries are still keeping up any communication and dialogue. What do you think is the possibility that the two sides will reach an agreement to avoid further escalation of the trade conflict? One more question: With the escalation of the trade conflict, the market is very concerned about whether China will retaliate against the United States by reducing U.S. treasuries or devaluing the RMB exchange rate. How would you respond to this issue, Mr. Zhu?

Zhu Guangyao:

Thank you for your questions. First of all, China has always stressed that China-U.S. economic relations are based on the mutually beneficial win-win principle, which is the essence of China-U.S. economic relations.

At the beginning of the establishment of diplomatic relations in 1979, the trade volume between China and the United States was only US$2.5 billion. That number hit US$580 billion in 2017, an increase of more than 232 times. Such rapid development reflects the essence of China-U.S. economic relations, that is, mutual benefit or win-win. It is the common aspiration of the peoples of China and the United States and it has brought advantages to the peoples of the two countries.

Such rapidly growing economic ties and such a large volume of trade inevitably result in trade frictions. Regarding trade frictions, we have always reiterated the principle of mutual respect and encouraged resolution through policy negotiations as well as the rules of the WTO, which is the principle that China and the U.S. should abide by as key members of the treaty. With this as the premise, our cooperation and constructive methods have successfully addressed many trade frictions in the past. Frankly speaking, the challenges facing us today are truly daunting, because we have seen such a large volume involved. Yet, China's position is very clear. We don't want a trade war, because it is doomed to produce a lose-lose outcome that will hurt both China's and the U.S.' interests, and also undermine the prospect of the world economy. In this crucial moment, we hope China and the U.S. can take a constructive, wise and mutually respectful approach to the issue and challenges, thus putting the Sino-U.S. economic relationship back on the right track. 

As for the second question, if the conflict continues to escalate, you journalists can review Chinese history since the founding of People's Republic of China in 1949, and you will find that China never succumbs to any external pressure and the pressure will only make the Chinese people become more perseverant and focused on our own economic development. It can be a kind of impetus to promote innovation and progress. 

However, we certainly hope that both sides can start from a foundation of bilateral interests and resolve problems and challenges in a constructive way, rather than treating China-U.S. economic ties, which is of vital importance to the interests of both people, in such a random and reckless way. 

Your third question concerns the issue of U.S. government bonds. I know that this issue is a concern of the international community, and the international capital market is now paying close attention to it. Here I would like to remind the reporter with the Wall Street Journal that Chinese Premier Li Keqiang expounded on this issue at the press conference held after this year's National People's Congress session concluded. Premier Li Keqiang emphasized that China makes diversified investments of its foreign exchange reserves on the basis of market principles, and China will remain a responsible long-term investor. This is the solemn announcement made by Premier Li Keqiang at the press conference following China's "two sessions."

To understand Premier Li Keqiang's expression — "a responsible investor," I would like to share with you a basic principle of the operation of China's foreign exchange reserves. First, China does have more than US$3 trillion of foreign exchange reserves, which is the assets of the people. The primary principle of the operation of China's foreign exchange reserves is security, which means to ensure the safety of our investments. The second is liquidity, and the third is modest profitability. China has operated its foreign exchange reserves in accordance with these principles over the years to secure people's property, if we see it from a domestic perspective. As for the international perspective, China is a responsible investor in the international capital market, which is shown in our respect for the rules of operation of the international capital market. We have carried out precise operations under this principle as well. I think this expression of Premier Li Keqiang is a very clear and authoritative answer to the question of the Wall Street Journal today. Thank you. 

China National Radio (CNR):

I noticed that Minister Zhu sill used the term "friction" to describe the current trade problem between China and the United States. But we know that China announced to impose tariffs on US$3 billion worth of US imports on April 2, and the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) announced tariffs on about US$50 billion worth of Chinese goods on April 3 (EST), leading China to then unveil a list of products worth about US$50 billion imported from the U.S. that will be subject to higher tariffs today. With all those measures on both sides, does it mean that a trade war has already started between the two countries? Is it still possible to solve the problem through negotiation? Are the channels for negotiation still open? What measures do you think will be taken by both sides?

Wang Shouwen:

You have followed the trade frictions between China and the United States in great detail. Thank you for your interests in the trade issues between China and the U.S. On April 2, China announced tariffs of 15 and 25 percent on 128 items of U.S. products. This was in response to the move by the U.S. to impose import restrictions on Chinese steel and aluminum products. The measures taken by the U.S. under Section 232, citing national security concerns, are untenable and unfounded. Moreover, the restrictive measures target only a few countries while many other countries are excluded. It can be seen, therefore, that the U.S. move is not based on security  concerns and is discriminatory. This is a flagrant violation of the multilateral trading system and hurts China's interests, so China has already filed a request for consultations on the Section 232 investigation at the WTO. Meanwhile, in order to safeguard our legitimate interests, we also adopted the US$3 billion worth of countermeasures that you just mentioned on April 2. We have noticed that, in response to the Section 232 measures, the EU and other members of the WTO are also considering taking measures.

The United States announced on April 3 a proposed list of products imported from China worth US$50 billion that will be subject to additional tariffs under Section 301. We believe the move fundamentally violates the international obligations of the United States and has no factual basis at all. The move has impaired China's interests, threatened China's economic security and jeopardized the recovery and stability of the global economy. Therefore, according to international law and the Article Seven of the foreign trade law of China, if any country or region adopts discriminatory measures or other similar measures to ban or limit China in trade, we must respond with corresponding measures. So, as just mentioned by Mr. Zhu, we released our list worth nearly US$50 billion. I have to say, we refrained but were forced to make such a move. 

You also mentioned the question of a trade war. China has no intention for a "trade war," because there is no winner in a "trade war." However, we are not afraid of it. If there is someone who insists on a "trade war, " we will fight to the end. You asked if there was a channel for dialogue and communication. Our stance has always been that the door is open for resolving the problems through negotiation, dialogue and communication. If the U.S. side has the intention to hold talks, we will certainly agree to negotiate and resolve the differences on the basis of equal negotiation and mutual respect. To make it simple, if somebody wants to have a "trade war," we will not retreat, if they want to talk, the door is always open. Thank you.

CNN:

While publishing the list, the U.S. said it would minimize its influence on domestic enterprises and citizens. What are China's considerations on its list? As you said, among the more than 100 products of 14 categories, the first two are soybeans from the United States. These agricultural products are very important to the big agricultural states in the Midwest. These states are core supporters of Donald Trump in his presidential election. So my question is whether China intended to shake President Trump's political base and initiate a precise strike to force him not to start a "trade war," or to come back to the negotiation table?

Zhu Guangyao:

The CNN reporter analyses challenges in the Sino-U.S. economic relations from the angle of politics. I think business is business, and we should analyze the challenges and how to respond to them from the economic perspective. Because, as China has reiterated, the essence of Sino-U.S. ties is mutual benefit and win-win results. And Sino-U.S. economic ties are the ballast and propeller for Sino-U.S. relations. President Xi Jinping has devoted tremendous energy to maintain the healthy and stable development of China-U.S. economic relations. It is under this precondition that we have lodged serious representations to the United States, reminding it that if it uses the so-called Section 301 and national interests as an excuse to solve economic issues, it will harm its national interests, China's interests, as well as the whole world's interests. Under these circumstances, we are compelled to take the countermeasures, publishing the product list, and its content and order are all well grounded. 

Frankly speaking, China accounts for 62 percent of U.S. soybean exports. We all know that the U.S. soybean farmers hope China and the United States have sound economic ties, because they can benefit from the healthy development of the relations. The United States exported 32.854 million tons of soybeans to China last year, 34.39 percent of China's soybean imports. This size of imports is too big. Some Chinese soybean farmers have appealed to the relevant associations, saying that the U.S. government's subsidies have affected their interests. The Chinese government respects the farmers' requirements, and the policy appeals of the Chinese Soybean Association. Thus, soybean has become part of our countermeasures. But this goods list has not yet taken effect. The two sides have laid the problems open on the table. It is time for negotiation and cooperation. The precondition for negotiation and cooperation is mutual respect. No one side should enforce conditions on the other side at its will. 

We don't think that reckless and wild actions can resolve problems, and divergences can only be resolved through constructive talks and pragmatic negotiations. The preconditions for negotiation are mutual understanding and mutual accommodation, not pricing oneself out of the market. China has long-term friendly exchanges with the United States in this regard. Frankly speaking, I have engaged in works related to the United States for many years. I have had many quarrels with my U.S. colleagues. But we all know the national interests of our respective countries, and we will finally come back to the negotiation table. In accordance with the consensus reached in the two leaders' meeting in Mar-a-Lago, Hamburg and Beijing, we should resolve the trade disputes through pragmatic and constructive attitudes, and consolidate the mutual beneficial and win-win economic ties between the two countries to benefit our two peoples, including the soybean farmers in both countries. I appreciate that the U.S. soybean farmers and the American Soybean Association, for I know that they are pressing President Trump and the U.S. government to maintain the hard-won economic ties with China through various means, including paying out of their own pockets to air their voices in the U.S. media. Of course, they have benefited tremendously from the sound Sino-U.S. economic ties. Thanks.

CCTV/CGTN:

My question is, as President Trump said he hopes that China will reduce its annual trade surplus with the United States by US$100 billion. What's China's attitude on this issue?

Wang Shouwen:

Thank you for your question. First of all, we must understand how the trade surplus was formed. Trade happens between companies and consumers from two countries on a voluntary basis. Sometimes, a country wants to buy, and another country wants to sell. It is not decided by the governments, but by the economic structure and industrial competitiveness of the two countries.

Why does trade between China and the United States appear to be imbalanced? In my opinion, first of all, it is a problem with the structure of the U.S. economy. The U.S. economy is driven by over-consumption and under-saving. Its savings are less than its investments. This determines that it must have a deficit in global trade. The United States has a trade deficit not only with China but also with many other countries. Secondly, in order to maintain the status of the U.S. dollar as an international payment currency, the United States must maintain a relatively large trade deficit.

Third, an important cause of the Sino-U.S. trade imbalance is that although the United States has many advantageous industries, the U.S. government imposes many restrictions on U.S. companies, forbidding them to sell products to China. Therefore, the U.S. exports to China were affected, and the trade deficit emerged. The U.S. high-tech industry is a typical example. And there are many other U.S. industries that are highly competitive, but are not allowed to export to China. When those that can sell goods in China are not permitted to do so, it's natural that U.S. exports to China are low, and that the United States is seeing a trade deficit.

We are delighted to see that after President Trump took office, the restrictions on energy products, crude oil, liquefied natural gas and some other goods were loosened. Previously, these products were totally forbidden to be sold to China. In response, we increased the import of U.S. oil and gas substantially. These are positive measures, and can help solve the problem.

Now, let's look at the specific figures. If we take a closer look at the surplus and deficit figures, we will find the gap is not very large in actuality. Taking into account statistical variations, and the impacts of entrepot trade and service trade, China's trade surplus is only one third of the trade deficit announced by Washington. In the United States, the current account deficit was 4.9 percent of GDP during the financial crisis in 2007. Now, the figure is 2.3 percent. This means the proportion is declining. In China, the current account surplus was 9.9 percent of GDP in 2007, and the figure dropped to less than 2 percent today. Therefore, China and the United States both achieved progress in maintaining trade balance. This is a result that we are all glad to see.

You mentioned that China should reduce the US$100 billion surplus, which is absolutely unacceptable. The first reason is that we are unable to do it. As I analyzed just now, the trade surplus and deficit is determined by market forces as well as the overall economic policies and structure of the U.S., so China cannot reduce the surplus on its own. 

Second, we cannot accept it, because it requires efforts of both sides to reduce the surplus, and no one can reduce the surplus on its own. China wants to buy U.S. products, but the U.S. does not sell and even continues to restrict its exports, then how can the surplus be reduced? Therefore, we hope that the U.S. can relax its export controls of high-tech products to China, increase its domestic saving rate, and actively respond to the measures taken by the Chinese government to expand our import. For example, China will hold the China International Import Expo in Shanghai from November 5 to 10 this year, and we hope that U.S. industries and businesses can take this opportunity to display their products and services to Chinese consumers and importers. We believe that only through the joint efforts of both sides can the trade surplus or deficit be eased gradually. It is not feasible in both theory and practice to set a number and work for it through government intervention. Thank you.

NPR:

In the investigation report of Section 301 made by the United States Trade Representative, the "Made in China 2025" program seemed to be riddled with criticism. It put forward the following concerns: First, how can China acquire advanced technologies? Is it through appropriate channels? Second, "Made in China 2025" clarified that Chinese enterprises will account for a certain market share. Will excludability exist? Finally, does the fact that domestic enterprises receive a lot of funding from the government conform to international economic rules? What are your comments on these points? Will "Made in China 2025" adjust itself to conform to international economic rules more strictly?

Wang Shouwen:

Thank you for your question. You speak better Mandarin than I do. As for "Made in China 2025," China proposed it on the basis of open development and win-win cooperation. You have a clear understanding of it, as the initiative itself is open and transparent. It aims to offer some strategic guidance and information for the upgrading of Chinese manufacturing sector. It is transparent, open and does not discriminate. Both Chinese and foreign enterprises, state-owned and private ones, can all take part in it. So we welcome U.S.-funded enterprises to join it, too. In its roll out process, we made stringent examinations to guarantee that it conforms to WTO rules. The Ministry of Commerce fulfilled the duty on the basis of our commitment to the WTO to ensure that we perform our duties as a WTO member. So we maintain that "Made in China 2025" meets the obligations of the WTO framework.

If you think that "Made in China 2025" is inconsistent with WTO obligations and goes against China's commitment in any respect, we can come together to negotiate with the WTO, or we can further bring a lawsuit. But we don't want anyone to artificially create excuses and then unilaterally take steps. Perhaps we have different opinions, but we hope to solve problems in the framework of WTO international rules.

"Made in China 2025" does have some targets, and these goals are predictive, directive and not mandatory. In fact, many countries have also made similar guidance targets and guidance plans. If you don't agree with me, I look forward to receiving your comments and criticism.

The Clinton administration developed a national infrastructure plan which took the information superhighway as an important approach to revitalizing the U.S. economy. We believe that our "Made in China 2025" is similar to that. The Obama administration also launched a national plan aimed at doubling the U.S. exports in five years. That was a guidance plan, too. The European Union also made its "industrial revival" program.

So, I suggest you read the "Made in China 2025" carefully again and don't take it as a terrible thing. I would like to emphasize that it is transparent, open and non-discriminatory. Some of the targets it sets are guiding and leading ones, which only provide some guidance information rather than mandatory tasks. And this practice has been adopted by many countries, including the United States.

Zhu Guangyao:

Shouwen's response to this journalist's question is put in a historical and global perspective and is very objective. The USTR criticised "Made in China 2025," accusing China of infringing on or stealing U.S. intellectual property rights, and saying that is why China boasts such rapid growth. 

Indeed, China's per capita GNP was US$220 in 1980, and the figure surpassed US$8,820 in 2017, according to the latest statistics. This is a tremendous change. How has the unprecedented rise in China's comprehensive strength come about? I think, the underlying reason lies in reform and opening-up under the leadership of the Communist Party of China. President Xi Jinping stressed that reform and opening-up plays the decisive role in determining the destiny of contemporary China.  

As for intellectual property rights, how has China realized such fast growth? We have our recipe for success. We prioritize development, regard talent as the top resource and  see innovation as the most powerful driving force. We adopt the new concept of innovative, coordinated, green and open development that is for everyone to realize sustained growth of the national economy and continuous improvement of people's lives. At the same time, we follow the principle of mutual respect, fairness and justice, cooperation and win-win results to positively handle international relations, in which the Sino-U.S. economic relationship comes to the fore. 

At this critical moment for China-U.S. economic ties, I think the two sides should calm down and engage in consultation based on facts and in the spirit of mutual understanding and mutual respect. The at-fault party should examine its mistakes. The two countries should not criticize each other. We should not consider that the other country is developing at the expense of our own development. In a pluralistic world, the cooperation between China and the United States is crucial to world peace and development as well as the interests of the two peoples. Therefore, it is the expectation of all people around the world, not just the people of our two countries, that we can properly manage the trade friction between us. A reporter asked a question about "trade friction" and "trade war" just now. I think the two countries are putting forward requirements for each other. Based on the requirements, we'll properly settle relevant disputes through consultation on an equal footing. We'll also pay attention to the protection of intellectual property rights, which is a top priority for making China a country of innovators. Thank you.

CCTV:

In the face of such an immense trade challenge from the United States, will China have the ability to deal with it? If this continues and evolves into a trade war, will China be able to afford it, and win it?

Zhu Guangyao:

Your questions are on how to face and deal with the challenges. Regarding relations between China and the world, especially economic relations, President Xi Jinping made a very clear statement in the report at the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC). President Xi emphasized that China will never pursue development at the expense of others' interests, but nor will China ever give up its legitimate rights and interests. No one should expect China to swallow anything that undermines its interests. President Xi's words are a guideline for us to handle China-U.S. trade disputes and even severe trade frictions. We deal with this relationship according to President Xi's instructions. We have repeatedly communicated with them, but the U.S. side is still obstinately walking on its own path alone and has introduced a high-tariff list of items worth US$50 billion. We must act in defense of China's own interests. 

Under the circumstance that both sides have laid out their conditions, we hope that both sides can treat each other candidly and with mutual respect and conduct consultations based on the principle of cooperation and win-win. As I just said, China has never given in to external pressure since the founding of the People's Republic of China. This is the history of the development of our country and the history of the Chinese people's struggle. China will not yield to any external pressure. On the contrary, under the guidance of the Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, through innovation and development, the Chinese economy will rise to a higher level, China's per capita GNP will continue increasing from the current US$8,820, and China's market will become broader and more attractive. We open up to the whole world and hope that every foreign investor can benefit from China. As we all know, State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi has already announced that President Xi Jinping will attend the Boao Forum for Asia and deliver an important speech on China's reform and opening up policy. Under President Xi's leadership, China will embark on a broader and more ambitious road that will not only benefit the Chinese people but also make our contribution to the peace and development of the world.

Phoenix TV:

Some media outlets have recently said that the current "trade war" between China and the U.S. was incited by China, because China undertook actions like forced technology transfer, which threatens the protection of intellectual property rights. How would you comment on this? 

Wang Shouwen:

Thank you for your question, Phoenix TV. I think it would be appropriate to respond to the media report you quoted with what President Trump gets used to say, that it's "fake news".

The U.S. investigated this so-called matter of "China's theft of intellectual property rights" and proposed a specific tax list yesterday based on its domestic law. First, the U.S. violates its own commitments. When the U.S. passed the WTO Agreement in 1994, the President submitted a Statement of Administrative Action to the Congress, and the U.S. promised not to decide whether other countries' practices are against the WTO rules or not unilaterally through the Section 301 Investigation. So the U.S. must handle disputes related to the WTO according to the WTO rules and the final decisions of dispute settlement bodies. Without the WTO's mandate, the U.S. government has no right to terminate its obligations under the WTO, nor can it conduct cross sector retaliation. The U.S. violated its own commitments first. Then, in 1998, the E.U. sued the U.S. for its Section 301 Investigation into the WTO. The case was called DS152. The U.S. made another international commitment to the process of the litigation, saying that it would handle relevant trade disputes in strict accordance with WTO dispute settlement procedures, rather than adopting the Section 301 Investigation and its conclusions unilaterally. Therefore, the U.S. has violated its commitments to its domestic law and international law, so who would you say has incited this "war"?

Second, the U.S. accused China of its "forced technology transfer" in the Section 301 Investigation, which was completely baseless because China has no law stating that foreign companies must transfer their technology to their Chinese partners. There is no law making such requirements either. There are certain industries in China where joint ventures are required for foreign investment, which is in line with WTO rules. As a developing country, China hopes that foreign investment and Chinese companies can make joint ventures, which is completely in line with WTO rules as well. So in this circumstance, it is baseless for the U.S. to say that the Chinese government has forced technology transfer. Technology transfer between companies is completely based on contracts. One company is willing to transfer, and another is willing to accept and pay an appropriate amount, which is a voluntary action that the government should not intervene in. In fact, some U.S. companies have realized huge gains in China by means of joint ventures. For example, a well-known American automobile company established a joint venture in China, and now the automobile production of the company in China is more than its automobile production in any other place in the world, including the U.S. The profits the joint venture obtained exceed those obtained in the U.S. or any other country in the world. These are the benefits of joint ventures, which benefit both China and the U.S. How could such practices be regarded as forced technology transfer?

Third, China is committed to the protection of intellectual property. General Secretary Xi put forward a new development philosophy in his report delivered at the 19th CPC National Congress. The first principle of which is development driven by innovation. Without the protection of intellectual property, there is no space for innovation-driven development. We have improved the IP protection system through legislation and established a series of mechanisms for administrative enforcement and judiciary. We have set up trans-provincial IP courts. An American transnational corporation told me that one of its companies in China won 28 out of 31 cases here. You can search for the judgments of IP disputes. More than 80 percent of lawsuits filed by American clients were ruled in their favor. This shows that China's court system and administrative enforcement provide strong protection for IP rights.

China is a developing country. We are not perfect regarding IP protection. But we must admit the progress has been made in this regard. When China entered the WTO in 2001, China forked out only US$1.9 billion to foreign IP owners, but the amount had risen to $28.6 billion by 2017. Certainly, we should intensify IP protection. President Xi said property protection, especially IP protection, is important in building a good business environment. We should introduce harsher punishments for IP infringements and make the violators pay a higher price. Despite the progress we have made, we will endeavor to improve our protection of intellectual property. China cannot accept the practices of some countries that adopt discriminatory measures against China that breach the WTO commitment and its own domestic laws, based on nothing more than groundless reports, accusations and complaints from corporations. It's self-evident who started the "trade war." Thank you.   

China Radio International:

My question is for Mr. Zhu. At the G20 Meeting of Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors recently concluded in Argentina, the U.S. representative said that China's transition to a market economy is regressing. You were at the meeting. Could you tell us how the Chinese side responded to this view at the meeting? I also heard that the Under Secretary of the Treasury of the United States said the two countries won't have any more comprehensive economic dialogue. Do you accept this view? 

Zhu Guangyao:  

The G20 Meeting of Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors was held in Buenos Aires on March 19 and 20. Before that, a meeting of their deputies was held. It's true that the U.S. representative mentioned a regression in China's reform. He made the remark when discussing the global economic crisis. As the deputy finance minister of China, I made a speech immediately after him.

In my speech, I first made clear China's perception of the world economy. China believes that after the outbreak of the global financial crisis, the year 2018 has seen the best performance of the world economy. Therefore, it's important for the G20 countries to remain united and to coordinate their policies with each other.  

Then, I mentioned the success China has made after it adopted the reform and opening up policy. When the policy was introduced, China's per capita GNP was US$220. Last year, this figure exceeded US$8,820. The change is remarkable. This is the result of the reform and opening up policy and of the hard work of the Chinese people. When improving their life, the Chinese people have also made great contributions to the world. In the past decades, China accounts for more than 70 percent of poverty reduction worldwide. For many years, China's economic growth accounted for more than 30 percent of the world's total economic growth. These are the achievements of China's reform and opening up policy and the contributions China has made to the world. 

China is going to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the introduction of the reform and opening up policy. New reform and opening up measures will be announced. China will surely become more and more open. We want to have more policy communication with other countries. We welcome more foreign investment in China. We will also increase investment overseas. Our aim is to further integrate the Chinese economy into the world economy. In this context, it's crucial for G20 to enhance policy coordination among member countries, including China and the United States. 

This is generally what I said at the meeting.

The second question pertains to the China-U.S. comprehensive economic dialogue mechanism, which was one of the four important China-U.S. dialogue mechanisms that Chinese President Xi Jinping and his counterpart Donald Trump initiated during their meeting at Mar-a-Lago on April 6, 2017. It is actually a continuation of the China-U.S. Strategic Economic Dialogue and the China-U.S. Strategic and Economic Dialogue, but bears the hallmark of the Trump administration. The dialogue mechanism has led to very productive cooperation, including the early-stage outcomes achieved under the China-U.S. 100-day economic cooperation plan. I remember, in May last year, in this room, I answered questions from the press, including a CNN journalist. In this situation, we should cherish the cooperative relationship already established between the two countries. Coincidently, on that very day, after the press conference, the U.S. Deputy Treasury Secretary said in an email to me that it was wrong to say that China-U.S. comprehensive economic dialogue was dead and that the U.S. cherished high-level dialogue with China, referring to a report. You can verify this. Since the two parties keep close policy communication, important information may need to be exchanged at any time. I can tell you that my reply to his email was, "I also value your message and will report this message to my superiors."

The divide on China-U.S. economic ties, in my opinion, is partly a reflection of the expectation for a more open market as well as a better business environment from each other, and partly a reflection of the aspiration for cooperation in the market. Otherwise, we can just go our own way and ignore the issues on the agenda. The challenges facing us are real, but I think the two countries have the wisdom and capabilities to solve these issues, because we have shared interests that derive from one another's interests. China and the U.S. have more shared than divergent interests, and that is the reason for this. The two countries have US$580 billion worth of trade volume and 230 billion worth of direct investment, in addition to the U.S bonds held by the Chinese government (valued at US$1.1-1.2 trillion according to the U.S. Treasury) as mentioned by the Wall Street Journal. Beyond that, the two countries enjoy the friendship between their people and build up mutual trust. China and the U.S. are two great countries and the people of the two countries are great people. Win-win cooperation is what we both desire. Thank you. 

China Business Network：

I have a question for Vice Minister Wang Shouwen. WTO Director-General Roberto Azevêdo said recently that a trade war between China and the U.S. would have a grave impact on the global economy and that the WTO was facing a most difficult moment. Some other experts believe that third countries would suffer most from the trade war. Has China assessed the effects of the trade war on both itself and the world? Faced with the current external environment, will China push ahead with further opening up? Thank you.

Wang Shouwen: 

Thank you for your question. Indeed, Director-General Azevêdo's words are very reasonable. No one will emerge a winner from a trade war. This is why China, as a responsible country and WTO member, doesn't want a trade war. China is willing to discuss and settle all disputes with the U.S. based on equality, consultation and mutual respect in line with WTO rules, which are widely agreed on. However, if China's interests are hurt and its economic security is endangered, we will take all necessary measures to defend our legitimate interests in accordance with the spirit of international law and the stipulation of China's Foreign Trade Law. Of course, we hope all the so-called disputes can be settled within the WTO framework, so that we can minimize damage to the WTO system and to the interests of all parties. But if someone is determined to wage a trade war, China will not be afraid. As I mentioned just now, China will fight to the end if a trade war is initiated, while also keeping the door to dialogue and consultation open. China is willing to openly exchange views with the U.S. on handling differences within the WTO or bilateral framework for mutual benefit and win-win results. Thank you.

Reuters:

Are the U.S. trade measures beyond China's initial expectation? Will the RMB exchange rate be a topic during the negotiations between China and the U.S.? Thank you.

Zhu Guangyao:

China and the United States keep close communication; even facing severe differences, we still maintain policy communication. China has made its principle clear. The Chinese Ministry of Commerce, representing the position of the Chinese government, clearly stated that we will not negotiate under the Section 301 framework. This is a basic principle, because the U.S. action is a unilateral one. We hope that the two sides can clearly put forward their policy requirements  and seek new ways to solve the problem based on the principle of mutual respect. The most important thing is mutual respect, and then we can achieve win-win cooperation. 

Both of us have the responsibilities and obligations to manage our expectations, because China and the United States are the two largest economies in the world, and their policies not only have a major impact on their respective economies, but also have a major impact on the global economy. The global multilateral system must be maintained by all WTO members. In this process, both China and the United States have significant responsibilities. In this process, all countries must realize that hegemonism and unilateralism are unpopular. In safeguarding the multilateral system, we must work together because the United States has always played a leading role in the global economic system that has been established since World War II. China is an important participant, builder, and contributor to this system, and of course, it is also a beneficiary. We are willing to work with all of you to maintain this multilateral system through cooperation – constructive cooperation – so that our global economy can move forward and develop in a healthy and stable manner.

Regarding the exchange rate issue, the IMF recently made a very clear definition of the exchange rate, including the fundamentals of the economy, sound macroeconomic policies and sound mechanisms. Under this premise, the determination of exchange rates reflects the strength of the market. I think that China and the U.S., as important members of the International Monetary Fund and important participants and defenders of the international financial market, both shoulder common responsibilities. Cooperation in this area is conducive to the stability of the financial market, helps prevent possible systemic financial risks and contributes to the healthy and sustainable development of the world economy. Thank you.

CRNTT:

My question is for Mr. Zhu. Will this round of trade friction between China and the United States impact China's GDP growth target this year? If yes, how big will the influence be? 

Zhu Guangyao:

The Chinese economy has maintained stable growth in recent years. Both the 19th CPC National Congress and the government work report delivered by Premier Li Keqiang at this year's two sessions made clear that the Chinese economy has shifted from fast growth to high quality development. This is in accordance with the principle of pursuing progress while ensuring stability. It's very important for China to upgrade its economy, give priority to performance and therefore maintain sound and sustainable development. 

The Central Committee of the CPC and the State Council have made it clear that guided by this basic principle, we must unswervingly implement the supply-side structural reforms, focusing on the supply-side structural reform to push the three major tasks. 

The three major tasks, also tasks for the next three years, are preventing systemic financial risks, reducing poverty and controlling pollution. These three major tasks are related to the stability of our economic system and quality of our people's lives. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has made consecutive upward revisions of its forecast for China's economic growth. The fund expects China's economy to expand by 6.6 percent this year, higher than the 6.5 percent target announced by Premier Li Keqiang during his government work report presentation at the opening meeting of the first session of the 13th National People's Congress.

The IMF had an overall assessment. According to its 6.6 percent forecast, if China maintains a three-year average growth rate of 6.3 percent in 2018, 2019, and 2020, China will double its 2010 GDP by 2020. Therefore, we are fully confident that we will achieve our goal of doubling the size of China's economy by 2020. In 2017, China's per capita GNP reached US$ 8,820. The World Bank's middle-income standard is US$12,700. We can certainly cross the middle-income line if China develops at this speed.

Therefore, we do not want China and the United States to have a "trade war," yet now we are indeed threatened by serious trade frictions. Both sides should calm down and explore a new path through cooperation and mutual respect, and we must gradually come up with a way to mitigate the imbalance in Sino-U.S. trade during the process of cooperation. China has made clear that we do not pursue a trade surplus and we hope bilateral trade will gradually come to a balance in the process of cooperation. At the same time, in a win-win situation, China and the United States can realize the harmonious coexistence of their economies, work together to improve people's well being, and jointly promote the peaceful development of the world. Thank you.

Hu Kaihong:

This concludes today's briefing. Thank you, Mr. Zhu and Mr. Wang. Thank you, friends from the press.

Read in Chinese

Speakers:

Chen Zongrong, former vice administrator of State Administration for Religious Affairs

Xiao Hong, former spokeswoman of State Administration for Religious Affairs

Chairperson:

Xi Yanchun, spokeswoman of the State Council Information Office

Date:

April 3, 2018

Xi Yanchun:

Ladies and gentlemen, good morning. Welcome to this press conference. Today, the State Council Information Office released the white paper "China's Policy and Practice in Protecting the Freedom of Religious Belief."

We are delighted to invite Mr. Chen Zongrong, former vice administrator of the State Administration for Religious Affairs, and Ms. Xiao Hong, former spokesperson of the administration, to attend this press conference. Now, I'll give a brief introduction to the white paper.

This is China's second white paper on the protection of the freedom of religious belief since 1997. It provides sufficient information and data on the efforts and progress China has made in the past four decades, especially after the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China. The white paper contains approximately 8,000 words. The main content is divided into five parts: I. Basic Policies in Protecting Freedom of Religious Belief; II. Legal Guarantees for Freedom of Religious Belief; III. Conducting Religious Activities in an Orderly Manner; IV. The Role of Religious Groups Has Been Fully Developed; V. Active and Healthy Religious Relations

The white paper says that religion is an integral part of human civilization. It remains a common problem for all countries of the world on how to protect the freedom of religious belief, how to properly handle the relations between different religions, how to help religions cope with changing time, and how to curb religious extremism. Based on the development of religions and on the practical works related to religions, by reviewing positive and negative experiences in China and other countries, China has found a proper way to protect the freedom of religious belief, promote harmonious development of different religions, and give full play to the role of the religious circle in compliance with law. We will continue to respect and protect the freedom of religious belief of Chinese citizens, and unite religious believers and non-believers.

The white paper is available in multiple languages, including Chinese, English, French, Russian, Spanish and Arabic. 

Now, I'll give the floor to Mr. Chen.

Chen Zongrong:

Ladies and gentlemen, friends:

Good morning!

It's a pleasure to meet you all here, and thanks for paying attention to the conditions of religion in China and China's policies for religious affairs.

The State Council Information Office published "Freedom of Religious Belief in China" in October, 1997, which introduced China's basic policies and legal guarantees for freedom of religious belief for the first time. For over 20 years, China has made great strides in policies and practices on protecting the freedom of religious belief. With all of the experiences gathered from practice, we have developed policies on protecting the freedom of religious belief with Chinese characteristics. Before answering the questions, I would like to brief you on the four aspects of the characteristics:

Firstly, freedom of religious belief in China is deeply rooted in China's long history.

China is a country with a great diversity of religious beliefs since ancient times. Besides the main religions that are well organized and systematically developed, there are also plenty of local beliefs. Religions in China, except for Taoism and local beliefs, were introduced into China from overseas. Due to the influence of Chinese traditional culture, religions in China have developed unique characteristics featuring patriotism, reason, humanism, tolerance and others, which are presented in a different way compared to the religions developed under the background of western culture. Compared to some other countries and regions in the world, there are no religious wars or chaos caused by religious problems in China's history. 

Secondly, freedom of religious belief in China benefits from legal protection.

China's policies and legal protections for religious affairs is unique in four aspects. The first word to summarize is objective. The nature of religious beliefs is fully respected. We treat religious affairs with an objective attitude and see it as a common social phenomenon. We respect and protect citizen's religious feelings and needs, instead of setting standards with one's individual will. 

The second word to summarize is fair. All religious beliefs are treated as equals in China. No religion will be given special treatment with regard to policies and law. As for people, no matter if they have a religious belief or not, they are ensured the same rights and obligations. 

The third word is balance. Chinese people have the right to have a religious belief or not, and also the rights to choose what kind of religions to believe. We protect people who don't have religious belief before and now who are choosing to have one, and also the people who have religious beliefs before and now no longer have any beliefs. We respect and protect the freedom of religious belief of people who live in the regions where most people don't have religious beliefs, and also the freedom of religious belief of people who live in the regions where most people have religious beliefs. 

The last word to describe the characteristics is comprehensive. We protect the legal religious activities and take measures to stop the illegal religious activities. We take measures against the propagation and spread of religious extremism, and crack down on crimes.  

China's policies and legal protections for religious affairs is unique in four aspects. The first word to summarize is objective. The nature of religious beliefs is fully respected. We treat religious affairs with an objective attitude and see it as a common social phenomenon. We respect and protect citizen's religious feelings and needs, instead of setting standards with one's individual will. 

The second word to summarize is fair. All religious beliefs are treated as equals in China. No religion will be given special treatment with regard to policies and law. As for people, no matter if they have a religious belief or not, they are ensured the same rights and obligations. 

The third word is balance. Chinese people have the right to have a religious belief or not, and also the rights to choose what kind of religions to believe. We protect people who don't have religious belief before and now who are choosing to have one, and also the people who have religious beliefs before and now no longer have any beliefs. We respect and protect the freedom of religious belief of people who live in the regions where most people don't have religious beliefs, and also the freedom of religious belief of people who live in the regions where most people have religious beliefs. 

The last word to describe the characteristics is comprehensive. We protect the legal religious activities and take measures to stop the illegal religious activities. We take measures against the propagation and spread of religious extremism, and crack down on crimes.  

Thirdly, freedom of religious belief in China develops from the practice of religious affairs.

The Communist Party of China (CPC) and the Chinese government attach great importance to religious affairs and see it as a significant issue facing China. In an effort to protect freedom of religious belief, China has mulled over policies, laws and regulations, and established professional institutions to properly handle religious affairs, in a bid to adapt to the times. Especially since the 18th CPC National Congress, under the leadership of the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core, religious affairs have been put high on the agenda.

China has held the national conference on religious affairs, revised the Regulation on Religious Affairs and optimized the working system, building an orderly, free, stable and harmonious community. China will uphold the principle that religions in China must be Chinese in orientation. China will build active and healthy religious relationships, and maintain religious and social harmony. All these will lay solid foundations for handling the religious affairs and protecting the freedom of religious belief in the new era.

Fourth, China's gains in protecting freedom of religious belief are a result of the self-reflection, self-reliance and self-improvement of the religious community.

With the implementation of the policies on freedom of religious belief, China's religious community has stepped up efforts in community building, the awareness of citizenship, laws and politics among religious personages and believers have increased substantially, the self-management of religious organizations has further improved, the adaptation between religions and socialist society continues to get deeper, different religions respect and learn from each other, and a new realm of "five religions (Buddhism, Taoism, Islam, Catholicism and Protestantism) working together to achieve harmony" has taken shape. 

First, speaking overall, religions in China are turning from the pursuit of quantity to the pursuit of quality, focusing on developing in the Chinese context, and working hard to strengthen theories, culture, institutions, organizations and talent cultivation. 

Second, they serve society, engage in public welfare and charity activities, and do lots of work in helping those in need and distress, winning wide praise from society. 

Third, they assume social responsibilities, conscientiously maintain harmony among religions and society, safeguard national security and ethnic solidarity, take a clear stand and draw a line against religious extremists, fight against illegal and criminal activities under the guise of religion, and serve as an important force to promote economic and social development. 

Fourth, they carry out extensive international exchanges, take an active part in exchanges among people with different beliefs and different civilizations, promote closer ties between people, the linking up of cultures and mutual learning among civilizations, and contribute strength and wisdom to maintaining world peace and building a community with a shared future for mankind.

In short, China's policies on freedom of religious belief are sincere, conform to its national conditions and are effective. We have our own experience in protecting freedom of religious belief.

Xi Yanchun:

Thanks for the introduction of Mr. Chen. Now let's move on to the Q&A session. 

CCTV: 

What are the considerations behind the publishing of the white paper? Thank you.

Chen Zongrong:

Our first white paper on freedom of religious belief was released in October 1997, and now, over 20 years have passed. The 1997 white paper gave a comprehensive introduction to China's respect for and protection of freedom of religious belief with a large number of facts, including full and accurate data, and thus served as an authoritative source of information for the international community to know about China's religions and religious policies.

China has undergone fast and considerable changes over the past 20 years in its economic and social development and religious situation. The five main religions in China have also undergone great changes, and as I mentioned, are turning from a pursuit of quantity to a pursuit of quality. Therefore, we think it is necessary to publish another white paper to introduce the development and changes of religions in China over the past 20 years, especially to introduce the protection of freedom of religious belief, promotion of harmonious religious relationships, and self-improvement of the five main religions in recent years, and also, to elaborate some of our viewpoints. 

Publishing the white paper also shows that the Communist Party of China and the Chinese government attach great importance to protecting and promoting human rights, and that it has the sincere wish to advocate dialogue and oppose confrontation in the field of international human rights.

Thank you. 

Reuters:

My question is about the potential deal with the Vatican. There has been a lot of discussions regarding the deal over the appointment of bishops. I want to know if that's likely to be signed and released any time soon. If it isn't, what is the largest obstacle at the moment to reach such a deal? Thank you.

Chen Zongrong:

My colleague Ms. Xiao will answer this question.

Xiao Hong:

China and the Vatican have maintained contact and the two sides have actively engaged in profound discussions about certain issues. China has always been sincere in wanting to improve relations with the Vatican and has continued to make efforts. We are willing to work in the same direction with the Vatican in pushing forward constructive dialogue to improve relations with the Vatican.

People's Daily:

There have been some concern that China has been tightening its religious policy after the conference on religion in 2016. What is your response? Are there any changes in China's policy toward religion?

Chen Zongrong:

As I said earlier, the National Work Conference on Religion in 2016 is an important event on religious affairs 15 years after the 2001 meeting. While addressing the conference, Xi Jinping, general secretary of the CPC Central Committee, put forward a series of new thoughts and requirements. After the conference, we have heard some concerns questioning if China is tightening its religious policy. I would like to take this opportunity to make my points in the following two aspects.

First, China's religious policy is stable and consistent. Since the reform and opening up in 1978 when China resumed to implement its policy of freedom of religious belief, China's religious policy has been sticking to some core values as well as basic values, ideas, and principles, which is to protect people's freedom of religious belief and safeguard their rights to freedom of religious belief. The Communist Party of China (CPC) has been following this basic policy of protecting the people's rights to freedom of religious belief. The country has also included it into the Constitution, which can be seen in the 36th article. This core value, basic principle and the basic policy have been stable and consistent.

Second, China's religious policy as well as laws and regulations regarding to religious affairs is also gradually improving and innovating, which is exemplified by Xi's important speech during the 2016 conference and the revised Regulations on Religious Affairs. The revision of policies and laws regarding religious affairs is to meet new situations and address new problems. We should protect, regulate, guide and serve religious development but never aim to control it. Moreover, we should uphold the principle that religions in China must be Chinese in orientation and work to ensure that the five major religions (Buddhism, Taoism, Islam, Catholicism and Protestantism) can better adapt themselves to the socialist society.

We also aim to build a positive and healthy religious relation. The five major religions are already working in harmony, but some new situations and problems occurred under certain international and domestic contexts. 

It also mentioned that the rule of law shall be enhanced in addressing religious affairs. The newly-revised Regulations on Religious Affairs have included many parts to protect people's rights to freedom of religious belief and the lawful rights and interests of the religious circles. For example, it stipulates that governments of all levels should provide public services for religious circles including making road links, electricity, water, radio and TV broadcasting available for religious sites. 

The regulation also said that religious workers enjoy social security benefits like old-age insurance and healthcare insurance equal to other Chinese citizens. They can also enjoy subsistence allowances (if eligible).

The regulation stipulated that religious sites and institutions can obtain legal person status. In the past, the lawful rights and interests of religious sites was not well-protected and were sometimes infringed because their property could not be registered under their names without a legal person status. 

The construction of religious sites is also included into the master plan of land use in urban and rural areas. This move makes sure that the construction of religious sites will be considered during preliminary planning of land use and that religious believers can have adequate space for religious activities.

Therefore, China's religious policy is not only stable and consistent, but also keeps adjusting for new practices and requirements. In explaining its religious policies, the CPC Central Committee and the Chinese government are more explicit in attitude, more powerful in its measures, and more adapted to requirements of the new era.

Thank you.

Second German Television (ZDF):

Is it to be expected that there will be a solution on the negotiations between the Vatican and Chinese government to be more concrete on who's going to decide on the bishops and what's going to happen with the so-called "underground church"? 

Chen Zongrong:

Please let Ms. Xiao Hong answer this question for you.

Xiao Hong:

It seems that everyone is very concerned about Sino-Vatican relations. I can understand that your attention actually represents the concern of the broader audience behind you. I also thank you very much for your attention to Chinese religions and Sino-Vatican relations. However, regarding these specific aspects of the content of Sino-Vatican relations, I have nothing to add. But as you are a reporter from a German television station, I can tell you something about the exchanges between China and Germany. In 2016, we conducted a dialogue on different religions and civilizations with the German Christian community. The results were very good. We have reached an agreement that we will continue to hold such dialogues, the next of which will be in Shanghai in May this year, and we welcome you to attend. Thank you.

China News Service:

According to the white paper, there are nearly 200 million religious citizens in China, which is a great increase from the 100 million people in the 1997 white paper. Why and how did this happen? Thank you.

Chen Zongrong:

The figure of 100 million people in the 1997 white paper was actually from the estimates by the late Premier Zhou Enlai when he met with Pakistani and Indonesian Islamic delegations in the 1950s. He said at the time that there were several tens of millions of religious followers in China, and if they added those who held beliefs in their hearts instead of going to temples, all of them could make up almost 100 million people. From that time until the publication of the white paper in 1997, we all cited the saying of Premier Zhou. I want to explain two points on this issue:

First, the statement itself is an estimated statistic. It is an approximate figure. At that time, China's total population was more than 600 million. From the 1950s to the present, the total population of China has more than doubled. With more than 1.3 billion people, the population has grown substantially. For various reasons, after so many years of development, coupled with population growth, it is natural for the number of religious believers to grow.

Second, especially after reform and opening up was implemented, China has restored its policy of freedom of religion. As the breadth and depth of opening up to the outside world have been enlarging, all religions have had some growth respectively. It is very natural. Therefore, to still use the saying from the 1950s is not in line with the development in reality. Now the number of nearly 200 million people in the white paper is the number offered by the five major religions in China, which conducted statistics on their own, while we had data from the academic research institutions, statistical agencies, and sample surveys. The number was agreed on and recognized by various parties after we compared data from the two main sources (religions' own math and civil survey data). The nearly 200 million people are the number of religious followers who basically often go to religious sites and participate in religious activities.

That's all for this question. Thank you.

The Wall Street Journal:

I would like to add to the question regarding the relations between China and the Vatican. Currently, many experts have pointed out that the opportunity to solve the problem is in the hands of the Chinese side, and the Vatican is waiting for the final confirmation to be made by the Chinese side. So, why hasn't the Chinese side made a final confirmation about the settlement of the issue? And what is the reason? Thanks.

Chen Zongrong:

Ms. Xiao has been asked twice about the issue of China-Vatican relations. Here, I would like to explain it again, aiming to answer the question you have just raised.

To improve China-Vatican relations is the common aim of both sides. From the government perspective, we always maintain a sincere hope to improve bilateral relations, and the Chinese government has made specific efforts in this regard. Presently, China and the Vatican have an effective channel for dialogue, and all the issues will be negotiated and discussed through this channel.

So, here we also hope that the Vatican will be able to work together with the Chinese government to further improve bilateral relations. And this is also the point I want to stress about China-Vatican relations. Thanks.

Hong Kong Wen Wei Po:

The behavior of some Buddhists who obtain wealth by unfair means has generated negative influence. I'm wondering what measures you have taken to address the situation of the commercialization of Buddhism and Taoism. Thank you.

Chen Zongrong:

The commercialization of Buddhism and Taoism is an issue which attracts wide attention. The increasing commercialization is reflected in the following four aspects:

First, accumulating money by investing in construction of large-scale open air religious statues and temples. Second, contracting Buddhist and Taoist temples to the capital market and even planning to list them in the stock market. Third, conducting religious services in places other than Buddhist or Taoist temples in order to make money by collecting admission tickets and alms, establishing boxes of merits, and conducting unregulated activities like burning incense and freeing captive animals. Fourth, some Buddhist monks and Taoist priests have a loose sense in discipline and chase after fame and wealth under the influence of commercialization. They try to gain money through any possible means.

Criticized by the whole of society, these commercialized activities also hurt the development of religions. First, they damage the legitimate interests of Buddhism and Taoism by drawing in believers who offer alms to false monks and priests or those who make money from the temples. Second, they taint the image of the religions, because seeking fame and fortune goes against religious ethics. Third, they hinder the sound development of the religions. If such activities continue, the religions will lose believers and eventually imperil their existence and development. Therefore, to answer the calls of the religious circles as well as the whole of society, the Communist Party of China (CPC) and Chinese government have attached great importance to tackling the commercialization of Buddhism and Taoism. 

We have taken the following measures. First, the State Administration of Religious Affairs has released several documents jointly with other central departments, specifying the limits of commercialization and defining wrongdoings. Second, we have stepped up supervision. We have supervised the investigation of major cases and exposed them to the public. Also, we have cooperated with related departments to carry out inspections and ordered the violators to rectify offenses. Third, we have carried out dedicated initiatives to deal with illegal activities. For example, we have intensified efforts to tackle illegal Buddhist statues. As we know, there are many substandard Buddhist statues built without approval. They are not in accordance with religious rites and only built to make money. We have dealt with the issue of illegal merit boxes established in non-religious places. Fourth, we have published the information of Buddhist and Taoist temples on the internet. Meanwhile, registered temples will put up a sign, enabling the public to differentiate them from fake ones. We have guided believers and followers to conduct religious practices in a proper way and develop a healthy atmosphere for practicing. All those efforts have to some extent curbed the commercialization trend. However, there is still a long way to go to entirely curtail such activities, but hopefully with the cooperation of society as a whole, and media as well, we can get this work done. Thank you.

CRNTT:

According to the plan on deepening reform of Party and state institutions released by the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, the United Front Work Department of the CPC Central Committee administrates religious affairs. I would like to ask why such reforms have been made. What kind of influence will this have on the freedom of religious belief and religious activities of citizens after the reform? Thank you.

Chen Zongrong:

I am attending today's press conference as former vice administrator of the State Administration for Religious Affairs. The State Administration for Religious Affairs has been incorporated into the United Front Work Department of the CPC Central Committee. We are in a process of adjustment. Officials at the director level and above from the United Front Work Department of the CPC Central Committee, the State Administration for Religious Affairs and the Overseas Chinese Affairs Office of the State Council assembled on the morning of April 1 to announce the formation of the new department. The integration of the State Administration for Religious Affairs and the Overseas Chinese Affairs Office of the State Council into the United Front Work Department of the CPC Central Committee and the formation of the new leadership of the United Front Work Department of the CPC Central Committee mark the formation of the new department. My original title has expired, and the new title has yet to be announced. That's the reason I am attending the press conference as former vice administrator of the State Administration for Religious Affairs.

According to the institutional reform plan, the State Administration for Religious Affairs was incorporated into the United Front Work Department of the CPC Central Committee, which demonstrates the strengthening of the Party's centralized, unified leadership over religious work. The aim is to fully implement the Party's basic policy on religious affairs, uphold the principle that religions in China must be Chinese in orientation, and coordinate the United Front and religious resources. The reform will actively guide religions to adapt to China's socialist society. These words I just said are quoted from the plan on deepening reform of Party and state institutions. They are also the purpose and significance of the reform. I think this reform can produce the following benefits:

The reform is conducive to optimizing the institutional mechanisms for religious work, raising the level of religious work, and increasing the work force in religious work. Before the integration, the domain of the functions of the United Front Work Department of the CPC Central Committee overlapped with that of the State Administration for Religious Affairs. The reform will help streamline the regulatory system and better coordinate the strengths of the two. With an optimized institutional mechanism, improved governance level, and strengthened workforce of religious work, we will be able to better safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of the religious community, guarantee citizens' freedom of religious belief, standardize the management of religious affairs, and promote social and religious harmony. Therefore, the reform will only benefit religious work without affecting it.

For the Communist Party of China, advocating atheism and guaranteeing freedom of religious belief are both part of the Party's claims and work requirements. The CPC advocates atheism and advocates the promotion of atheism, but it does not mean that the freedom of religious belief of citizens cannot be guaranteed, nor does it mean that citizens' freedom of religious belief cannot be respected. The relationship between the CPC and the religious community is solidarity and cooperation on politics and mutual respect of beliefs. No matter how the religious institutions change, the CPC's policy of guaranteeing freedom of religious belief will not change. I think the reform will be more and more beneficial to religious work, and better protect the freedom of religious belief of the citizens. Thanks.

Xi Yanchun:

We moved from talking about the white paper to the China-Vatican relationship to institutional reforms. Do you have any questions about the white paper?

Hong Kong Cable Television:

The white paper has a newly added part that religions in China must be Chinese in orientation. The religious circles will make efforts to expound doctrine to conform to China's situation and times. If there are conflicts between the newly added part and doctrine, what will you do? Catholic community encourages the running of its religious work in a democratic manner. How is this done?

Chen Zongrong:

What do you mean by the conflicts you just mentioned?

Hong Kong Cable Television:

There is the explanation of being Chinese. However, many religions have their own explanation on principles. For example, Catholicism has its own doctrine for electing new bishops. What will be done in case of conflicts? 

Chen Zongrong:

Religions in China must be Chinese in orientation, which is a policy first presented by Chinese President Xi Jinping at the Central United Front Work Conference in 2015. It was further stressed at the national religious work conference in 2016 and later included in Party documents as a basic policy of the Party on religious work. Why do we specify that religions in China must be Chinese in orientation? It is the rule every religion follows that religions are adapted to context. All religions, without exception, follow this rule. If not, the religion can't live or develop. I think numerous examples have demonstrated this, whether in China or in the rest of the world.

The Party was not the first to propose that religions in China must be Chinese in orientation. Before President Xi presented this, the Catholic community had expressed that Christianity must be Chinese in orientation and made positive contributions. I was in charge of the Christian work before. The Christians held a workshop on Christianity for a Chinese context in Shanghai sometime before 2015, which produced great results. Therefore, the policy follows the objective law of religious development in line with development of the times. It has received enthusiastic response and support in religious circles. Jointly or on their own, they have hosted series of seminars and forums to explore the connotation and direction of being Chinese, with the goal of solving issues including the one you mentioned just now.

I would like to point out that we uphold the principle that religions in China must be Chinese in orientation, but this will not change the basic religious doctrine and can never conflict with it, because the policy cannot change the core religious doctrine, manner or system. On the premise that all of these core elements remain the same, the policy provides guidance to religions in adapting to the Chinese context politically, socially and culturally. In the political field, religious circles will be provided guidance to support the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party and socialist system. These are the prerequisite for building up our country with secular people and realizing the Chinese Dream of national rejuvenation. In the social field, religious circles will be provided guidance to follow and serve society and fulfill responsibilities to the society. Religions are organic parts of society, so they should serve the society and be in harmony. In the cultural field, the expression of religious thought, manner, architectural style and art should be Chinese. I think no religion is exactly the same in different countries, regions and ethnicities. They all have their own characters. This is the case in the three worldwide religions of Christianity, Islam and Buddhism. Therefore, the policy is an effective measure to provide better guidance for the adaptation of religions to a socialist society, and it is widely accepted and there is little opposition.

In addition, you mentioned that Catholic community encourages the running of its religious work in a democratic manner. This is an important aspect of Catholicism being Chinese. However, it is the tradition of Catholicism historically. It does not change the core doctrine and system, but opposes the practice of "only one man's words count," making democratic decisions through the collective. I think this is also the tradition of Catholicism in other countries and throughout its history.

This is my answer, thank you! 

China Radio International (CRI): 

Revised regulations on religious affairs went into effect in February this year. Why was the old document revised, and what are the features of the new one? Thank you.

Chen Zongrong:

The revised regulations on religious affairs were released on Sept. 7 last year. The original document was released on Nov. 30, 2004.

Since March 1, 2005 when the old regulations went in to effect, great changes have taken place in China's religious conditions as well as its international and domestic environments in over a decade. But the document was no longer in keeping with the changing situation and failed to solve new problems. For example, it didn't address online religious affairs, legal-entity status of a religious community based on its religious venue or other new issues.

In addition, since the 18th CPC National Congress, the CPC Central Committee has attached greater importance to work related to religious affairs and made new requirements based on new situations and tasks. Those new requirements and duties needed to be included in the regulations to align them with the will of our country. 

What's more, China has been advancing law-based governance, which requires sound lawmaking in all fields. Thus, the old regulations, which had some defects, needed to be revised.

The revised document has three distinct features. First, it better reflects the principle of protecting citizens' right to freedom of religious belief in accordance with law. For example, as I mentioned just now, it stipulates that governments at all levels should provide public services for religious groups and include the construction of religious sites into general plans for land utilization, as well as plans for urban and rural development. The list of such examples is long, and today I don't have time to talk more about them. You can refer to the document for more information. 

Second, the revisions better reflect the principle of promoting religious harmony as well as maintaining national security, social stability and ethnic unity. Some people in certain regions are making use of religion to undermine ethnic unity, social stability and national security. In this context, the revised document offers better approaches to promoting religious harmony. For example, it has made clear that religious affairs should be managed in compliance with the principles of "protecting the legal, stopping the illegal, containing the extreme, resisting infiltration and combating crimes." This means that we will resolutely protect legality, and take tough measures to punish those activities that undermine social stability and ethnic unity.

Third, the new regulations better reflect the principle of promoting law-based government administration and building a rule of law government. Advancing law-based governance in all fields requires building a government and a society based on the rule of law. In managing religious affairs, we also should observe the law, and must not act beyond the law and its regulations. The revised document has prescribed more appropriate measures and legal procedures in this regard, and clearly defined functions, duties, obligations and powers for relevant government institutions in managing religious affairs. 

Therefore, the revised regulations can protect a wider range of legal religious activities with more intensive efforts and stop illegal activities through more targeted and effective measures. I think this is the most prominent feature.

Phoenix Satellite Television:

My question is for Mr. Chen. We have noted the issue that for various reasons, there are some underground churches and family churches in China, and many analysts describe them as a gray elephant in Chinese religion. However, we actually haven't seen any related information in this white paper. We would like to ask about how the Chinese government considers this issue. Is there any related information? How will the issue be addressed in the future? Thanks.

Chen Zongrong:

I need to make one point clear here. There are neither underground churches nor family churches in China. My understanding is that, the family churches you spoke of refer to the venues for religious activities privately set up by the Christian churches. From this perspective, the number is not small indeed, because it is related to the characteristics of Christianity itself. 

Regarding the venues for religious activities privately set up by the Christian churches, the measures we have taken is to use the influence of a church to guide a number of nearby venues for religious activities. In this way, we can provide effective religious services and religious guidance for the people who gather in these venues to live a religious life, and thus to meet their reasonable needs for religion.

Second, Article 35 of the Regulations on Religious Affairs amended this time has made one point clear over the question of: if presently there are no conditions for the establishment of venues for religious activities while religious believers have a need for a religious life? Here is the solution. Religious believers can select representatives who will apply to the religious affairs department of the people's government at the county level for the establishment of a temporary venue for religious activities, therefore to meet these religious believers' need for a venue to live a religious life.

The Regulations also make it clear that local religious groups, such as the China Christian Council and the National Committee of the Three-Self Patriotic Movement of the Protestant Churches in China, provide all possible services for religious believers who gather in the temporary venues for religious activities.

Lianhe Zaobao:

My question is regarding the appointment of bishops. Some Catholics feel their freedom of religious belief is being hampered because the government won't allow the Pope to appoint bishops in China. What's your opinion on this view? Why does the Chinese government think that it should have the right to appoint bishops? Thank you.

Chen Zongrong:

China's Constitution has clear stipulations in this regard. China's religious organizations and affairs are not subject to any foreign domination. This means no foreign entities should interfere in China's religious affairs by any means. Chinese religious circles adhere to the principle of independence and self-management of religious affairs. I can't agree with the view you just mentioned. The freedom of religious belief is not hampered in the religious activities of Catholics in China.

Thank you.

Xi Yanchun:

Thank you all. This is the end of the press conference. 

.

Read in Chinese

Speaker:

Kong Xuanyou, vice minister of foreign affairs

Chairperson:

Hu Kaihong, spokesperson of the State Council Information Office of China

Date:

Jan. 26, 2018

Hu Kaihong:

Ladies and gentlemen, good morning. Welcome to this press conference.

Today, the State Council Information Office (SCIO) released a white paper on China's Arctic policy. We are taking this opportunity to hold a press conference to introduce the white paper's main content and China's Arctic policy.

Present at today's press conference is Mr. Kong Xuanyou, the vice minister of foreign affairs. I'm Hu Kaihong, the spokesperson of the SCIO.

Now, I'd like to make a brief introduction to the white paper. The white paper is the first one introducing China's Arctic policy, underscoring the region's significance in world affairs.

China is a major stakeholder in affairs related to the Arctic. The white paper explains our stance on this issue, and makes a thorough introduction of our policy goals, basic principles, and policies and positions on participating in Arctic affairs.

The white paper contains approximately 9,000 words, which are divided into three parts – the foreword, main content and conclusion. It advocates active participation by all relevant parties so as to promote sound governance in the Arctic.

As far as regional affairs are concerned, China has been a participant, builder and contributor. As a responsible major country, in accordance with the principle of "respect, cooperation, win-win result and sustainability," China is ready to cooperate with all relevant parties to seize the historic opportunity in the development of the Arctic, to address the challenges brought by the changes in the region.

China would like to jointly understand, protect, develop and participate in the governance of the Arctic, and advance Arctic-related cooperation under the Belt and Road Initiative, thus promoting the building of a community of shared future for mankind, and making a greater contribution to the peaceful, stable and sustainable development of the Arctic.

The white paper is available in eight languages, including Chinese, English, French, Russian, German, Spanish, Arabic and Japanese. The Chinese version is published by the People's Press, and the others by the Foreign Languages Press. You can find a copy in any branch of the Xinhua Bookstore nationwide.

That's all for my part. Now, I'll give the floor to Mr. Kong.

Kong Xuanyou:

First of all, welcome to today's press conference. There are so many friends from the media present here today, which is both expected and unexpected for me. I know that you must be very concerned about the publication of the white paper, because it is the Chinese government's first document on the policies on this region. But I didn't expect that that you show such great concern. Now, I would like to give a brief account of the relevant situations.

The Arctic covers both land and oceanic territories. Its special geographical location and ecological environment dictate that the Arctic has an irreplaceable role in scientific research, environmental protection, resource utilization and coping with climate change.

The issue of the Arctic not only involves the states inside the Arctic, but also has global implications and international impact. As a state outside the region, China is an active participant, builder and contributor in Arctic affairs, and is working hard to contribute its wisdom and strength to the development of the region.

The release of the white paper "The Arctic Policy of China," actually demonstrates China's standpoint and policy proposals in regard to polar affairs. It shows the country's willingness to maintain the sound, sustainable and peaceful development in the North Pole region, with concerted efforts from all parties. We hope the white paper could contribute relevant expeditions and cooperation from the various national parties on the rails, arousing local awareness of polar issues. On the other hand, we hope it will facilitate interaction between China and other international parties whose interests in the North Pole are critical. As a consequence, we anticipate a bright future for the entire Arctic region.

To better understand the white paper, I will summarize the publication as follows: defining the position, setting goals, adhering to principles and detailing proposals.

"Defining the position" means that China is a key shareholder in Arctic affairs, which constitutes the starting point for China to participate in Arctic affairs. This is demonstrated in two aspects:

First, China, as one of the countries on the Eurasia Continent, is geographically close to the North Pole, whose environment has a direct impact on the country's meteorological conditions, ecological systems as well as agricultural, forestry, fishing and ocean-based industries.

Second, China has been a participant and important player involved in the cross-regional and global issues concerning polar affairs. Its problems, particularly, climate change, ecological protection, the exploration and sustainable use of resources, peace, security and development, are challenging the future course of the world, where the efforts from foreign countries, like China, are indispensable. As a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, a signatory of international treaties concerning the Arctic and a big country in trade and energy consumption, China will assume its responsibilities, share interests with Arctic States and a shared future with the rest of the world in the Arctic.

Policy Goals. China's policy goals on the Arctic are: to understand, protect, develop and participate in the governance of the Arctic.

The goals are interrelated to each other and should be considered as an integral whole. Understanding the Arctic provides guidance for China to carry out activities in the region. Protecting and developing the Arctic are the two main forms of China's activities in the region. Law-based governance is the major way for China to participation in the standardized management of Arctic affairs. Through all the above efforts to understand, protect, develop and participate in the governance of the Arctic, China will work with all other countries to promote the sustainable development of the region.

Basic Principles. China will participate in Arctic affairs in accordance with the basic principles of "respect, cooperation, win-win result and sustainability".

Respect should be reciprocal. It means all States should respect the sovereignty, sovereign rights, and jurisdiction enjoyed by the Arctic States in this region, respect the tradition and culture of the indigenous peoples, as well as respect the rights and freedom of non-Arctic States to carry out activities in this region in accordance with the law, and respect the overall interests of the international community in the Arctic.

Cooperation means establishing a relationship of multi-level, omni-dimensional and wide-ranging cooperation in this area.

Win-win result means all stakeholders in this area should pursue mutual benefit and common progress in all fields of activities.

Sustainability means promoting the sustainable development of the Arctic by ensuring the sustainability of environmental protection, resource utilization and human activities in the area.

"Respect, cooperation, win-win result and sustainability" are the fundamental principles guiding China's activities in the Arctic, and the specific measures concerning Arctic affairs under China's foreign policies.

Expounding China's policies and positions. China has mainly five policies and positions on its participation in Arctic affairs. First, deepening the exploration and understanding of the Arctic; second, protecting the eco-environment of the Arctic and addressing climate change in the region; third, utilizing Arctic resources in a lawful and rational manner, including participation in the development of Arctic shipping routes, the exploration for and exploitation of non-living resources, the conservation and utilization of fisheries and other living resources and the development of tourism resources; fourth, participating actively in Arctic governance and international cooperation; fifth, promoting peace and stability in the region.

The five points of policies and positions embody China's policy goals and basic principles on the Arctic and guide China in its participation in Arctic affairs in various fields.

I'd like to point out that this white paper is the Chinese government's first published document on its Arctic policies and will serve as an important policy ground for China's participation in Arctic affairs at present and in the next period to come. Going forward, as China deepens its exploration and understanding of the Arctic, it will update its policy document to make it in keeping with the times. China will strictly follow the document and make a greater contribution to the peace, stability and sustainable development of the Arctic.

Hu Kaihong:

Thank you, Mr. Kong. Now begins the Q&A session. Please identify the media organization you represent before raising your question.

China Central Television (CCTV):

I have two questions. First, as a non-Arctic country, what role would China like to play in Arctic affairs? Second, China is very concerned about Arctic affairs, so what is the ultimate goal as China is continuing to carry out the Arctic-related activities?

Kong Xuanyou:

Thanks for your questions. I mentioned just now in my introduction that China participates in Arctic affairs as an important stakeholder. Based on this basic position, two points are emphasized on the role China plays in Arctic affairs: China will not overstep or be absent.

"Not overstepping" means that China, as a non-Arctic country, will not intervene in the affairs between the Arctic countries and within the Arctic region. We will participate in Arctic affairs in accordance with international law, and guide Chinese entities and individuals to carry out Arctic activities and Arctic-related cooperation based on international law and the domestic laws of Arctic countries.

"Not being absent" means that China, as an important stakeholder in Arctic affairs, will play a constructive role in the cross-regional and global issues of the Arctic.

China's participation and contribution will bring opportunities to the development of the Arctic. We are willing to share responsibility to promote development with Arctic countries and people through mutually beneficial cooperation, and share the benefits of Arctic development.

We pay close attention to Arctic affairs and our activities in the Arctic are aimed at understanding, protecting, developing and participating in the governance of the Arctic. The ultimate goal is to achieve win-win cooperation and sustainable development in the Arctic to benefit all mankind. This is our goal. Thank you.

Nihon Keizai Shimbun:

You mentioned earlier that the Arctic should be properly used according to the law. My question is about the Arctic shipping routes. There are various opinions on its advantages and disadvantages. What expectations does China have for the Arctic routes? What role can China play in order to solve the shortcomings of the Arctic routes?

Kong Xuanyou:

As a result of global warming, Arctic shipping routes are likely to become important transport routes for international trade. As a big maritime trading nation, China also pays close attention to the development and utilization of Arctic routes. Apart from China, major trading nations, including Japan and South Korea, are also very much concerned about the utilization of Arctic shipping routes. China is willing to carry out mutually beneficial cooperation with other countries, especially Arctic countries, in the economic development of the Arctic routes, infrastructure construction and marine scientific research.

At the same time, I would like to emphasize that China respects the legislative enforcement and adjudicatory powers of the Arctic states in the waters subject to their jurisdiction. We note that the Arctic countries have made a lot of preparations in the areas of legislation, infrastructure, sea charting and oil pollution prevention and response, in order to make the waterway navigable. We hold that Arctic countries should administer the Arctic shipping routes in accordance with international law and fully guarantee the rights and freedoms of all countries to use the Arctic shipping routes.

We hope that the controversy concerning Arctic shipping routes can also be properly resolved in accordance with international law through friendly consultations among the countries concerned. Thank you.

China News Service:

What is China's attitude towards international governance in Arctic? And what is the expectation in this regard? Thanks.

Kong Xuanyou:

China has always taken the governance of Arctic issues as a major goal in participating in cooperation. In recent years, along with relevant parties, we have been exploring ways to realize win-win results through engaging in Arctic governance. There are three key words underlined with regard to international governance: protection, respect and development.

The first key word represents protecting the basic legal framework concerning international governance in regard to the Arctic. There is, as yet, no international treaty to regulate activities in arctic regions, but the UN Charter, UN Convention on the Law of the Sea and the Spitsbergen Treaty all provide a basic legal framework for international governance of the Arctic to follow; they have proved to be effective and have been accepted by relevant countries, ensuring fair and reasonable order in the Arctic region. To look ahead, international governance in the Arctic should continue to uphold the basic legal framework.

The second key word refers to respecting the cooperative mechanism regarding international governance in the Arctic. Over the years, we have seen a diversified cooperation mechanism at the global, regional and national levels with the participation of many stakeholders. The mechanism is now proceeding well in general, and has contributed significantly to Arctic cooperation in different areas. Looking ahead, international governance in Arctic should fully respect the existing cooperation mechanism, accommodate the interests of different parties in a balanced way and achieve win-win results.

The last key word means achieving orderly development of international governance in the Arctic in keeping with the times. Recently, we have seen many new rules regarding Arctic rescue, research and navigation. And negotiations on the Fishery Treaty on the High Sea of the Arctic Ocean have been completed, becoming the latest development of international governance in Arctic. We expect the relevant parties to continue upholding the spirit of mutual respect and win-win cooperation, realize steady and orderly development of international governance in the Arctic. Thanks.

CNN:

Just now, you mentioned the objectives of China's Arctic policy. However, there are also media reports on China becoming a power in the polar regions, so in international society there is question if Chinese policy carries any strategic and military intention, and if China's increased influence in some countries resulting from increased investment will eventually transform into strategic power. Could you give any direct response in this regard?

Kong Xuanyou:

China attaches great importance to the development and utilization of the Arctic, and encourages and supports its enterprises and organizations to participate in development and utilization in accordance with the following principles.

First, to carry out any utilization in strict accordance with the law. China requires its enterprises and organizations to carry out any development and utilization in strict accordance with the domestic laws of Arctic States, relevant international laws, commercial laws and labor standards, while shouldering due social responsibility and respecting the legitimate interests and concerns of the indigenous peoples.

Second, to carry out green utilization. China requires its enterprises and organizations to carry out development and utilization in strict accordance with environmental standards of Arctic States, so as to protect the unique ecological environment of the Arctic region against destructive development and ensure sustainable development.

Third, to carry out cooperative utilization. China encourages its enterprises and organizations to make use of their advantages in capital, technology and domestic market and carry out development and utilization through international cooperation.

Fourth, to carry out utilization by following commercial principles. China encourages its enterprises to participate in cooperation concerning the Arctic region, and share any dividends of Arctic economic and social development with local people based on abiding by market rules and sound business practices.

In short, the fundamental objective of our participation in the development and utilization of the Arctic is to achieve win-win results for all stakeholders and to promote sustainable regional development.

I would like to emphasize that China's participation in the development and utilization of the Arctic is designed to be a contribution to the Arctic region, which will bring about opportunities for development that benefits local people. The doubts about the intentions related to Chinese involvement in Arctic development, like exploiting resources and destroying the fragile environment, are unnecessary. Arctic countries have sound legal systems, and have set high standards for environmental protection, labor and commercial use of the Arctic. I believe we will make positive contributions to the economic development of the Arctic society and the wellbeing of Arctic residents including the indigenous peoples in accordance with relevant standards and laws. Thank you.

Rossiya Segodnya:

According to Russian statistics, the ice-breaking pilotage number for the Northern Sea Route increased by 20 percent in 2017. The issue just raised by the Japanese reporter was about the Arctic route. May I ask whether Chinese companies would cooperate with Russian counterparts, and whether they would be prepared to conduct consultations in this regard. According to the Global Times, the number of Chinese tourists in the Arctic area of Russia has increased nine-fold in the past decade. As the number of Chinese tourists increases, does China plan to establish a cooperative relationship with Russia or other relevant departments to handle this growth?

Kong Xuanyou:

Over the years, China and Russia have had very good cooperation in Arctic affairs. We know that Russia is a great Arctic country with an important influence on Arctic affairs. Therefore, we are willing to strengthen our cooperation with Russia in various fields related to Arctic affairs from the perspective of deepening the all-round strategic partnership between the two countries.

As you mentioned, the number of Chinese tourists traveling to the Arctic region is increasing. As I said just now, for us, the priority is to understand the Arctic, the other is to protect the region and ensure its sustainable development. Under this premise, in order to promote economic and social development in the Arctic, citizens are encouraged to travel and to undertake scientific expeditions in the Arctic according to the principles mentioned above. In the meantime, we will always maintain close communication and cooperation with Russia and other relevant countries in the process of implementing this cause and ensure that the goal of Arctic cooperation can be effectively achieved. Thank you.

People's Daily:

China has carried out a lot of Arctic-related activities in recent years, which have also attracted widespread attention from the international community. What are the prioritized points in China's Arctic-related activities? What new activities is China ready to carry out in the future? And what new measures will China take in this regard?

Kong Xuanyou:

Just now I have said that China's participation in Arctic affairs has a long history. Consulting historical documents, we can see that China's earliest participation in the Arctic can be traced back to 1925 when the country joined the Spitsbergen Treaty. Since the 1990s, China has taken a substantial step in participation in Arctic affairs. Presently, China has prioritized its activities in three aspects, namely in Arctic scientific research, Arctic protection and Arctic international cooperation.

First, China continues to carry out Arctic scientific research. We prioritize the exploration and understanding of the Arctic in our Arctic-related activities. In 2004, China built the Arctic Yellow River Station. Since 1990, China's research vessel Xue Long (Snow Dragon) has carried out eight scientific expeditions in the Arctic Ocean, and conducted scientific research for 14 years with the Yellow River Station as the base. China has gradually established a multi-discipline observation system covering the sea, ice and snow, atmosphere, biological, and geological system of the Arctic.

Second, China continues to strengthen the protection of the Arctic. The protection of the Arctic mainly involves coping with climate change in the Arctic, protecting its unique natural environment and ecological system, and respecting its diverse social culture and the historical traditions of the indigenous people. China conscientiously follows the principles of the Paris Agreement, takes emission reduction measures to protect the Arctic ecological system, continuously participates in the research on the migration patterns of Arctic migratory birds, and advances international cooperation in the protection of Arctic species of fauna and flora.

Third, China has been actively promoting cooperation in the Arctic. Carrying out cooperation with all relevant parties is an effective way for China to participate in Arctic affairs. The China-Nordic Arctic Cooperation Symposium, so far held five times, has become an important platform for the two sides to discuss cooperation in the Arctic. In 2013, China hosted the 5th World Reindeer Herders Congress, reflecting our close cooperation with indigenous Arctic-based organizations. China participated in Russia's Yamal LNG project, setting an example of international Arctic cooperation. Since 2016, the Trilateral High-Level Dialogue on the Arctic involving China, Japan and South Korea has facilitated exchanges and cooperation in the Arctic region among the three counties. As far as I know, the annual event will again be held this year.

Looking forward, China will pursue steady progress in Arctic-related activities in accordance with the policy goals and basic principles set out in the white paper. Our new icebreaker for scientific research is currently under construction and is scheduled to go into service in 2019. Thank you.

Die Welt:

Last year, President Xi Jinping used the term "Ice Silk Road" in his speech in Moscow. However, the "Polar Silk Road" is what mentioned in this White paper. So can you please further elaborate on the term used for the Silk Road?

Kong Xuanyou:

In 2013, President Xi Jinping proposed the building of the Belt and Road Initiative. And I believe all of you are pretty familiar with the principal of the Belt and Road Initiative, which is extensive consultation, joint contribution and shared benefits. And this is an open and inclusive initiative for development.

Currently, the Belt and Road Initiative has been making great progress in the process of international cooperation, among which is the steady development of alignment between the Belt and Road Initiative and the Eurasian Economic Union. Under the cooperation framework, China and Russia are carrying out discussions regarding the joint development and utilization of the shipping routes in the Arctic, including the building of the "Ice Silk Road" as one of the important endeavors.

China hopes to work with Russia and countries in this region to build a "Polar Silk Road" through developing the Arctic shipping routes. Thanks.

Reuters:

It's a rare opportunity to meet Mr. Kong, so I'd like to ask some questions about the situation on the Korean Peninsula. What’s your opinion of the recent development on the peninsula? Since being appointed China's new special envoy for Korean Peninsula affairs, you haven't paid a visit to North Korea. Why not? Do you have a plan to go there in the future? If not, why?

Kong Xuanyou:

China's position on the issue is consistent and clear-cut. We are committed to achieving the denuclearization of the peninsula, upholding peace and stability on the peninsula, and settling relevant issues peacefully through dialogue and consultation.

You may have noticed recently that, especially after New Year's Day, some positive changes took place on the peninsula, with the dialogue between the two sides restarted. Even though the current contact is only related to the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, we are confident that the resumption of dialogue will be a boon to stabilizing the regional situation.

China welcomes dialogue between the two sides. Their efforts have also been recognized and welcomed by the international community. We hope that through contact and dialogue, the two sides can enhance mutual understanding and trust. We also hope that the two countries can play a positive and constructive role in promoting peace and stability on the peninsula, and in solving regional issues through political dialogue.

The reason that I've not been to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea since being appointed China's special envoy for Korean Peninsula affairs is very complex. However, I need to stress that whether or not I go there, China's position on the issue remains unchanged, and we are working proactively to solve the issue through diplomatic means.

We hope that the current talks between the two countries can continue, and that more topics can be included in their future talks. We also hope that through the joint efforts of the two sides, the current talks can turn into political dialogue that can actually solve the problems on the peninsula.

We call on other concerned parties to give the two countries more support in this regard, and to help promote more contact between them. Nothing should be done to obstruct this process.

Macao and Asia Satellite TV:

You just mentioned that the white paper explains the important goals regarding the Arctic are to protect its resources and environment and to participate in regional governance . Can you give us a brief introduction regarding the next step China will take? Where, specifically, can China offer its wisdom?

Kong Xuanyou:

It is China's basic goal that through our participation in Arctic governance, we can understand, protect and develop the Arctic in a sustainable manner. At the same time, I would like to emphasize that Arctic protection concerns not only China. It is a common cause for all the countries concerned, and the international community in general.

China, as a major developing country, has a strong responsibility in this regard. We are close to the Arctic. Therefore, whether the region can achieve sustainable development, and whether the unique natural ecosystem there can be effectively protected, has direct bearing on our own interests and environmental protection. That's why we have already been participating in Arctic governance in a positive manner.

I believe Chinese scientists and various related parties in China has always worked in this way. I also believe in the future, they will adopt a more positive attitude to participate in the governance of the Arctic, including its protection, in strict accordance with the white paper we issued today. As for the specific programs to which China plans to offer its wisdom, I believe Chinese scientists and relevant parties have enough ability and wisdom to make their own contribution to the basic goal on participating in Arctic affairs. Thank you.

NHK:

Would you please introduce the concept and key content of the "Polar Silk Road"?

Kong Xuanyou:

As I mentioned just now, China and Russia are both willing to realize an effective alignment of the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative and the Russia-led construction of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU), which involves the jointly building of a "Polar Silk Road". Now, the two sides are discussing how to realize more effective connection and give a more concrete shape to the vision, so as to accommodate each other's actual needs in development, as well as construction of the Belt and Road for the coming period. China, Russia, and other stakeholders still need further discussions to solidify their ideas.

Hu Kaihong:

Today's press conference ends here. Thanks for Mr. Kong, and thank you all.

Read in Chinese

Speakers:

Ning Jizhe, head of the National Bureau of Statistics

Xing Zhihong, spokesperson of the National Bureau of Statistics and director general of the Department of Comprehensive Statistics of the National Bureau of Statistics

Chairperson:

Hu Kaihong, spokesperson of the State Council Information Office of China

Date:

Jan. 18, 2018

Hu Kaihong:

Ladies and gentlemen, good afternoon. Welcome to this press conference. China's economic development has always drawn great public attention. Many people are keen to know how China's economy was last year. 

Today, we are delighted to invite Mr. Ning Jizhe, head of the National Bureau of Statistics, to introduce China's economic performance in 2017, and answer some of your questions. Also present at the conference is Mr. Xing Zhihong, spokesperson of the National Bureau of Statistics and director general of the Department of Comprehensive Statistics of the bureau.

Now, I'll give the floor to Mr. Ning.

Ning Jizhe:

Good afternoon. Now, I'll make a brief introduction of China's economic performance in 2017.

Last year, the national economy remained stable and saw a growth momentum beyond our expectations.

In 2017, under the strong leadership of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core, all regions and departments implemented the decisions and arrangements made by the CPC Central Committee and the State Council, adhered to the general working guideline of making progress while maintaining stability, adopted the new development philosophy, focused on supply-side structural reform, and pushed forward works in structural optimization, the shifting of driving forces and quality improvement. 

As a result, the national economy has maintained stable and sound momentum, which exceeded our expectations. Economic development has become more dynamic, with more driving forces for growth emerging and greater growth potentials shown. Economic development has become more stable, coordinated and sustainable. A stable and healthy economic development was achieved.

According to a preliminary estimation, the gross domestic product (GDP) of China was 82.7122 trillion yuan in 2017, an increase of 6.9 percent at constant price compared with last year. In terms of quarterly data, the year-on-year growth of GDP was 6.9 percent, 6.9 percent, 6.8 percent, and 6.8 percent for the four quarters respectively. The value added of the primary industry was 6.5468 trillion yuan, up by 3.9 percent over the previous year; that of the secondary industry was 33.4623 trillion yuan, up by 6.1 percent; and that of the tertiary industry was 42.7032 trillion yuan, up by 8.0 percent.

1. Agricultural production enjoyed another harvest, and the production of animal husbandry grew stably.

The total grain output in 2017 was 617.91 million tons, an increase of 1.66 million tons compared with last year, up by 0.3 percent. The total output of summer grain was 140.31 million tons, up by 0.8 percent; the total output of early rice was 31.74 million tons, down by 3.2 percent; the total output of autumn grain was 445.85 million tons, up by 0.4 percent. The total output of cotton was 5.49 million tons, up by 2.7 percent. 

The total output of pork, beef, mutton and poultry was 84.31 million tons, up by 0.8 percent over last year, among which the total output of pork was 53.4 million tons, up by 0.8 percent; the beef 7.26 million tons, up by 1.3 percent; the mutton 4.68 million tons, up by 1.8 percent; the poultry 18.97 million tons, up by 0.5 percent. There were 433.25 million live pigs, a year-on-year decrease of 0.4 percent, while 688.61 million pigs were slaughtered, a year-on-year increase of 0.5 percent.

2. Industrial production grew faster with rising profit for enterprises.

The real growth of the total value added of industrial enterprises above the designated size in 2017 was 6.6 percent, 0.6 percentage point faster than last year. 

An analysis by types of ownership showed that the value added of the state holding enterprises was up by 6.5 percent; that of the collective enterprises, up by 0.6 percent; share-holding enterprises, up by 6.6 percent; and enterprises funded by foreign investors or investors from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan, up by 6.9 percent. 

In terms of sectors, the value added of the mining industry dropped by 1.5 percent, manufacturing increased by 7.2 percent, and the production and supply of electricity, thermal power, gas and water increased by 8.1 percent. The value added of the high-tech industry and equipment manufacturing increased by 13.4 percent and 11.3 percent year-on-year, 6.8 percentage points and 4.7 percentage points faster than that of the industries above the designated size. 

In 2017, the sales-output ratio of the industrial enterprises above the designated size reached 98.1 percent. The export delivery value of these enterprises reached 12.323 trillion yuan, up by 10.7 percent over last year. In December, the total value added of the industrial enterprises above the designated size was up by 6.2 percent year-on-year or up by 0.52 percent month-on-month.

From January to November, the profits made by industrial enterprises above the designated size stood at 6.875 trillion yuan, up by 21.9 percent year-on-year, 12.5 percentage points faster than the same period last year. The profit rate of the principal activities of the industrial enterprises above the designated size was 6.36 percent, up by 0.54 percentage point compared with the same period last year.

3. The service sector maintained fast growth, and business activity indexes maintained within the range of expansion.

In 2017, the Index of Services Production increased by 8.2 percent over last year, 0.1 percentage point faster than last year. In December, the Index of Services Production increased by 7.9 percent year-on-year, 0.1 percentage point faster than last month. 

From January to November, the business revenue of service enterprises above the designated size increased by 13.9 percent year-on-year, 2.5 percentage points faster than the same period last year; the operating profit of service enterprises above the designated size increased by 30.4 percent, 28.2 percentage points faster; the business revenue of strategic emerging services, producer services and science and technology services increased by 18.0 percent, 15.0 percent and 15.1 percent year-on-year respectively.

In December, the Business Activity Index for services was 53.4 percent. Specifically, the Business Activity Index kept within the expansion range of 57.0 percent and above in sectors like postal services, telecommunication, broadcasting, television and satellite transmission services, internet, software and information technology services, banking and insurance. 

From the perspective of market demand, the New Order Index for the service industry was 50.9 percent, remaining within the expansion range for eight months in a row. From the perspective of market expectations, the Business Activities Expectation Index was 60.3 percent, remaining within the expansion range for seven months in a row.

4. The investment structure continued to improve, and the floor space of commercial buildings for sale decreased.

In 2017, the investment in fixed assets (hereafter excluding rural households) was 63.1684 trillion yuan, growing by 7.2 percent over last year, 0.9 percentage point slower than last year. 

Specifically, the investment by the state holding enterprises reached 23.2887 trillion yuan, a rise of 10.1 percent; private investment reached 38.1510 trillion yuan, up by 6.0 percent, 2.8 percentage points faster than last year, accounting for 60.4 percent of the total investment. 

The investment in the primary industry was 2.0892 trillion yuan, up by 11.8 percent; the secondary industry 23.5751 trillion yuan, up by 3.2 percent, among which the investment in manufacturing was 19.3616 trillion yuan, an increase of 4.8 percent; and the tertiary industry 37.5040 trillion yuan, an increase of 9.5 percent. The investment in infrastructure was 14.0005 trillion yuan, up by 19.0 percent, 1.6 percentage points faster than last year. The investment in the high-tech industry and equipment manufacturing went up by 17.0 percent and 8.6 percent year-on-year, 2.8 percentage points and 4.2 percentage points faster; the investment in energy-intensive manufacturing decreased by 1.8 percent compared with last year. 

The funds in place for investment in fixed assets in 2017 were 62.9815 trillion yuan, up by 4.8 percent compared with last year. The planned total investment in newly-started projects was 51.9093 trillion yuan, up by 6.2 percent. The year-on-year growth of investment in fixed assets from January to December was the same as that from January to November. In December, the investment in fixed assets grew by 0.53 percent month-on-month.

The total investment in real estate development in 2017 was 10.9799 trillion yuan, an increase of 7.0 percent, 0.1 percentage point faster than last year, among which the investment in residential buildings went up by 9.4 percent. New housing construction soared 7.0 percent in terms of floor space, which totaled 1.78654 billion square meters. Specifically, new housing construction soared 10.5 percent in terms of the floor space of residential buildings. 

The floor space of commercial buildings sold was 1.69408 trillion square meters, up by 7.7 percent. Specifically, the floor space of residential buildings sold was up by 5.3 percent. The total sales of commercial buildings were 13.3701 trillion yuan, up by 13.7 percent, among which the sales of residential buildings were up by 11.3 percent. 

The land space purchased for real estate development was 255.08 million square meters, up by 15.8 percent. By the end of December, the floor space of commercial buildings for sale was 589.23 million square meters, down by 15.3 percent over the end of the previous year. The funds in place for real estate development enterprises reached 15.6053 trillion yuan, up by 8.2 percent.

5. Market sales witnessed steady and comparatively fast growth, and consumption upgrade showed remarkable momentum.

In 2017, the total retail sales of consumer goods reached 36.6262 trillion yuan, up by 10.2 percent, 0.2 percentage point slower than last year. Specifically, the retail sales of consumer goods by enterprises above the designated size stood at 16.0613 trillion yuan, up by 8.1 percent. 

Analyzed by different areas, the retail sales in urban areas reached 31.4290 trillion yuan, up by 10.0 percent; the retail sales in rural areas stood at 5.1972 trillion yuan, up by 11.8 percent. 

Grouped by consumption patterns, the income of the catering industry was 3.9644 trillion yuan, up by 10.7 percent; the retail sales of goods were 32.6618 trillion yuan, up by 10.2 percent. In particular, the retail sales of the enterprises above the designated size reached 15.0861 trillion yuan, up by 8.2 percent. 

The sales of upgraded consumer goods witnessed fast growth. Specifically, the sales of telecommunication equipment, sports and recreational articles, and cosmetics increased by 11.7 percent, 15.6 percent and 13.5 percent respectively. 

In December, the growth of total retail sales of consumer goods was 9.4 percent year-on-year, or 0.7 percent month-on-month.

In 2017, online retail sales reached 7.1751 trillion yuan, an increase of 32.2 percent compared with last year, 6.0 percentage points faster than last year. Specifically, the retail sales of physical goods was 5.4806 trillion yuan, up by 28.0 percent, accounting for 15.0 percent of the total retail sales of consumer goods, or 2.4 percentage points higher than last year. The online retail sales of non-physical goods were 1.6945 trillion yuan, up by 48.1 percent.

6. Import and export further increased, and the trade structure continued to improve.

The total value of imports and exports in 2017 was 27.7921 trillion yuan, up by 14.2 percent over last year, putting an end to the continuous decrease in the past two years. The total value of exports was 15.3318 trillion yuan, up by 10.8 percent; the total value of imports was 12.4603 trillion yuan, up by 18.7 percent. The trade balance was 2.8716 trillion yuan in surplus. 

The value of general trade increased by 16.8 percent, accounting for 56.4 percent of the total value of imports and exports, 1.3 percentage points higher than last year. The export of electrical and mechanical products increased by 12.1 percent, accounting for 58.4 percent of the total value of imports and exports, 0.7 percentage point higher than last year. 

In December, the total value of imports and exports was 2.7065 trillion yuan, up by 4.5 percent year-on-year. Of this total, the value of exports was 1.5342 trillion yuan, up by 7.4 percent; and the value of imports was 1.1722 trillion yuan, up by 0.9 percent.

7. Consumer prices rose mildly and the PPI shifted from a decrease to an increase.

In 2017, consumer prices went up by 1.6 percent year-on-year, 0.4 percentage point slower than the previous year. Specifically, the price went up by 1.7 percent in urban areas and up by 1.3 percent in rural areas. Grouped by commodity categories, prices for food, tobacco and liquor went down by 0.4 percent; clothing up by 1.3 percent; residences up by 2.6 percent; household facilities, articles and services up by 1.1 percent; transportation and communications up by 1.1 percent; education, culture and recreation up by 2.4 percent; health care and medical services up by 6.0 percent; and miscellaneous goods and services up by 2.4 percent. In terms of food, tobacco and liquor prices, grain rose by 1.5 percent, pork fell by 8.8 percent and fresh vegetables fell by 8.1 percent. In December, consumer prices went up by 1.8 percent year-on-year, or up by 0.3 percent month-on-month. In 2017, the PPI went up by 6.3 percent compared with the previous year, putting an end to the five-year decrease since 2012; the year-on-year growth in December was 4.9 percent and the month-on-month growth was 0.8 percent. In 2017, the purchasing prices for industrial producers were up by 8.1 percent over the previous year and in December, it was up by 5.9 percent year-on-year and up by 0.8 percent month-on-month. 

8. The growth of resident income accelerated and the income of rural residents grew faster than that of urban ones. 

In 2017, the nationwide per capita disposable income of residents was 25,974 yuan, a nominal growth of 9 percent over the previous year, or a real increase of 7.3 percent after deducting price factors, 1 percentage point faster than the previous year. In terms of permanent residence, the per capita disposable income of urban households was 36,396 yuan, a real growth of 6.5 percent after deducting price factors. The per capita disposable income of rural households was 13,432 yuan, up by 7.3 percent in real terms after deducting price factors. The per capita income of urban households was 2.71 times that of the rural households, 0.01 less than the previous year. The median of the nationwide per capita disposable income was 22,408 yuan, a nominal increase of 7.3 percent. Taking the per capita disposable income of nationwide households by income quintiles, that of the low-income group reached 5,958 yuan, the lower-middle-income group 13,843 yuan, the middle-income group 22,495 yuan, the upper-middle-income group 34,547 yuan, and the high-income group 64,934 yuan. In 2017, the nationwide per capita consumption expenditure was 18,322 yuan, a nominal increase of 7.1 percent, or a real increase of 5.4 percent after deducting price factors. The number of rural migrant workers in 2017 totaled 286.52 million, which was 4.81 million more than the previous year, up by 1.7 percent. Specifically, the number of migrant workers working in the places where they hold household registration was 114.67 million and the number of migrant workers working in the places where they don't hold household registration was 171.85 million, up by 2 and 1.5 percent respectively. The average monthly income of migrant workers was 3,485 yuan, up by 6.4 percent over the previous year.

9. The supply-side structural reform was further pushed forward and the transformation and upgrading made new achievements.

The efforts of cutting overcapacity, reducing inventory, deleveraging, lowering costs and strengthening weak areas were enhanced firmly. The industries of steel and coal have successfully fulfilled the annual task of cutting overcapacity. The national industrial capacity utilization rate reached 77 percent, the highest over the past five years. The inventories of commercial buildings continued to decrease, and at the end of December, the floor space of commercial buildings for sale was 106.16 million square meters less than that at the end of 2016. The leverage ratio of industrial enterprises continued to decrease. At the end of November, the asset-liability ratio of industrial enterprises above the designated size was 55.8 percent, 0.5 percentage points lower than the same period of the previous year. The cost of enterprises continued to decrease. For the first eleven months, the cost for per-hundred-yuan turnover of principal activities of the industrial enterprises above the designated size was 85.26 yuan, 0.28 yuan less compared with the same period of the previous year. Investment in weak areas grew rapidly. In 2017, investment in ecological protection and treatment of environmental pollution, management of water conservancy and agriculture went up by 23.9 percent, 16.4 percent and 16.4 percent respectively over the previous year, or 16.7, 9.2 and 9.2 percentage points faster than the total investment. 

Innovation-driven development continued to gain momentum and new driving forces grew rapidly. In 2017, the number of newly registered enterprises nationwide was 6.074 million, up by 9.9 percent over the previous year, an average of 16.6 thousand each day. A number of major achievements were scored in science and technology, such as aerospace, artificial intelligence, deep sea exploration and biological medicine. New industries and products were booming. The value added of industrial strategic emerging industries grew by 11 percent compared with the previous year, 4.4 percentage points faster than the industries above the designated size; the production of industrial robots grew by 68.1 percent compared with the previous year, and that of new energy vehicles by 51.1 percent. The economic structure continued to be optimized. In 2017, the contribution of the value added of the tertiary industry to GDP accounted for 58.8 percent, 1.3 percentage points higher than the previous year. Consumption became the major driving force for economic growth. The contribution of the final consumption expenditure to GDP accounted for 58.8 percent, 26.7 percentage points higher than the gross capital formation. Green development was solidly promoted. The energy consumption per 10,000 yuan worth of GDP went down by 3.7 percent over the previous year. 

10. The population increased steadily with a continuous increase of the urbanization rate 

By the end of 2017, the total population of the Chinese mainland was 1.39008 billion (including the population of 31 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities, and servicemen in the PLA; but not including residents in Hong Kong SAR, Macao SAR and Taiwan and overseas Chinese), an increase of 7.37 million over that at the end of 2016. In 2017, the number of births was 17.23 million and the birth rate was 12.43 in a thousand; the number of deaths was 9.86 million with a death rate of 7.11 in a thousand; the natural growth rate was 5.32 in a thousand. In terms of gender, the male population was 711.37 million, and female population was 678.71 million; the sex ratio of the total population was 104.81 (the female is 100). The population at the working age of 16-59 was 901.99 million, accounting for 64.9 percent of the total population; the population aged 60 and over was 240.90 million, which was 17.3 percent of the total population; the population aged 65 and over was 158.31 million, accounting for 11.4 percent of the total population. In terms of urban-rural structure, the permanent residents in urban areas was 813.47 million, an increase of 20.49 million over the end of the previous year; and the usual residents in rural areas was 576.61 million, a decrease of 13.12 million. The proportion of the urban population to the total population (urbanization rate) was 58.52 percent, 1.17 percentage points higher than that at the end of 2016. The population who reside in areas other than their household registration and have been away from there for over 6 months reached 291 million, which was 0.98 million less than the previous year. Specifically, the floating population was 244 million, or 0.82 million less than that at the end of 2016. At the end of 2017, the total number of employed persons was 776.40 million and the number of urban employed persons was 424.62 million.

Generally speaking, in 2017 the national economy maintained the momentum of stable and sound development and exceeded expectations with firm steps taken to secure a decisive victory in building a moderately prosperous society in all respects. We should also be aware that there are still difficulties and challenges confronting the economy, and the improvement of quality and efficiency remains a daunting task. At the next stage, we should rally closer around the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core, take Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era as the guideline, deeply implement the spirit of the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China and the Central Economic Work Conference, adhere to the general working guideline of making progress while maintaining stability, stick to the new development philosophy and grasp the evolution of the principal contradiction facing Chinese society. We should comply with the requirements for high quality development, promote balanced economic, political, cultural, social and ecological progress, coordinate the implementation of the four-pronged comprehensive strategy, deepen the supply-side structural reform, coordinate the efforts in stabilizing growth, stimulating reform, adjusting the structure, benefiting people’s livelihood and fending off risks, take solid steps to forestall and defuse major risks, carry out targeted poverty alleviation and prevent and control pollution, and promote sustained and sound development of the economy and society.  

Thank you.

Hu Kaihong:

Now, the floor is open for questions. Please identify yourself before asking your question.

China Central Television: 

China's economy has registered a stable performance and moved in a positive direction. In which aspect is this trend reflected? How do you see the overall economic performance in 2017?

Ning Jizhe:

The economy has registered a stable performance and moved in a positive direction, which is better than expected. This can be seen in the following four aspects.

First, the economy performed within an appropriate range. Four major macroeconomic indicators remained stable with a good momentum and surpassed expectations. China's GDP in 2017 grew 6.9 percent year-on-year in real terms. More than 13 million new urban jobs were created. The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) will officially release the surveyed urban unemployment rate later this year. By the end of December, the surveyed urban unemployment rate fell below 5 percent to 4.98 percent. China's CPI rose 1.6 percent year-on-year, also beating the expectation. By the end of 2017, China's foreign exchange reserve approached US$3.1400 trillion. 

Second, major progress was achieved in supply-side structural reform, with the five priority tasks accomplished. We have met the targets of cutting overcapacity set in the 2017 government report, namely reducing steel production capacity by around 50 million metric tons, shutting down at least 150 million metric tons of coal production facilities, and eliminating no less than 50 million kilowatts of coal-fired power generation capacity. 

In terms of deleveraging, at the end of November 2017, the debt-to-asset ratio of nationwide industrial enterprises above the designated size decreased 0.5 percentage point year-on-year. 

In terms of reducing inventory, at the end of 2017, the floor space of commercial buildings for sale was 1.1 trillion square meters less than that at the end of 2016, and 1.3 trillion square meters less than that at the end of 2015. Notable progress was also made in reducing grain inventory. 

In terms of lowering costs, taxes and fees were reduced by an additional 1 trillion yuan in 2017, the same amount as that in 2016. According to our statistics, in the first 11 months of 2017, industrial enterprises above the designated size reduced their costs by 0.28 yuan per 100 yuan of income from their main business operations. 

In terms of strengthening weak areas, investment in agriculture and water conservancy, as well as in ecological protection and pollution treatment, went up by 16.4 percent and 23.9 percent.

Third, efforts were accelerated to replace old growth drivers with new ones. New technologies, industries, forms of business, models, products and growth drivers flourished in 2017. 

New technologies -- a number of significant scientific and technological advances were achieved, including C919 large jetliner, Fuxing bullet train, quantum communications, and deep-water exploration. 

New products -- the production of robots and new energy vehicles, which are in considerable demand, grew by more than 50 percent. 

New industries -- the value added of strategic emerging industries, high-tech industries and equipment manufacturing industry all rose by more than 10 percent. 

New forms of business -- the online retail sales of physical goods went up by 28 percent; the online retail sales of non-physical goods grew even faster; and the growth of express delivery services registered at nearly 30 percent.

New models and new growth drivers -- the sharing economy, digital economy and platform economy have been developing rapidly as new growth drivers. The campaign of entrepreneurship and innovation, as well as the reform to streamline administration, delegate powers and improve regulation and services, have enhanced the motivation of enterprises and other market entities. In 2017, an average of 16,600 enterprises were registered nationwide each day, strongly bolstering employment and innovation.

Fourth, the quality and efficiency of economic growth were improved, as evidenced by the following facts. 

From January to November, the profits made by industrial enterprises above the designated size went up by 21.9 percent year-on-year, and the corporate profit of service enterprises above the designated size increased by 30.4 percent. The growth showed a recovery from the previous year. It should also be attributed to enhanced performance of these enterprises.

Fiscal revenue increased by 8 percent, faster than the goal set at early 2017. 

The quality of economic growth at the micro level, such as the quality of products, services and engineering projects, has been improving.

The quality of economic growth is not only measured by how many jobs and how much income it has created for the people, but also by how the environment has been protected. With the concerted efforts of all parties, PM2.5 density in 338 prefecture-level-and-above cities dropped, and that in Beijing decreased more significantly. In 2017, energy consumption per unit of GDP, an indicator of energy conservation and emission reductions, fell by 3.7 percent, above the target of 3.4 percent. Therefore, the quality and efficiency of economic growth have been improved.

Fifth, with the rapid growth of the Chinese economy, people's livelihoods continued to improve. China's per capita disposable income increased by 7.3 percent in real terms in 2017, exceeding the growth of per capita GDP. There was a very important change in the consumption structure, that is, the Engel coefficient dropped from 30.1 percent in 2016 to 29.3 percent in 2017, reflecting improvements in household consumption. The country funded the rebuilding of 6 million housing units in rundown urban areas, and nearly half of the resettled families received monetary housing compensation rather than housing.

In tourism, outbound visits by the Chinese nationals reached 129 million. In culture, China's culture and related industries grew by 15 percent in terms of business income, with box-office values topping 5 million yuan. In sports, the Fitness-for-All programs covered 50 percent of the total population, with marathon running becoming a popular sports event throughout the country. In education, more than 7.95 million people graduated from college in the country in 2017, and more than 20 percent of the college students all over the world studied in China. As for healthcare, China had the world's largest medical insurance network.

Compared to the previous years, another very important characteristic was that China witnessed an improved economic structure in 2017. In terms of industrial structure, China has moved from an old model of an industry-driven economy to an industry- and service-driven one. In 2017, the value added created by the service sector accounted for 51.6 percent of the country's GDP, contributing 58.8 percent to its economic growth. Hence, the service sector has become the main driving force of economic growth together with the industrial sector, making joint efforts in supporting the development of China's economy.

Sixth, from the perspective of demand structure, China has moved from its old model of an investment-driven economy to an investment- and consumption-driven one. In 2017, the final consumption expenditure contributed 58.8 percent to its economic growth, 26.7 percentage points higher than that of gross capital formation. Hence, consumption and investment have been jointly supporting China's economic development, recording a major change in 2017.

Last year also witnessed another noticeable change, that is, the country's economy has moved from its old model of export-driven growth to an export- and import-driven one. In 2017, China's exports grew by 10.8 percent, and imports by nearly 20 percent. China's development has not only benefited the Chinese people, but is also making greater contributions to the world's economic growth. According to calculations, China's contribution to world economic growth is around 30 percent. In 2017, China's economic aggregate reached 82.7 trillion yuan (US$12 trillion), with an economic increase of over 8 trillion yuan (US$1.2 trillion) in a year, equivalent to the economic aggregate of a country ranking 14th in the world's largest economies in 2016.

Bloomberg:

There were reports the Tianjin Binhai New Area had some inaccuracies in the submission of local GDP data. In addition, Inner Mongolia also provided inaccurate figures in its industry report. I would like to ask if there are any other similar incidents as this. How will China punish these local governments for not accurately reporting economic data? On the issue of local debt, what measures does the Chinese government plan to take? Thank you.

Ning Jizhe:

This issue is not only one of media concern, but also a matter of great concern to the National Bureau of Statistics. In recent years, various regions and departments have done a great deal of work in implementing the "Instructions on Deepening the Reform of Statistical Management System and Improving the Authenticity of Statistical Data" passed by the Leading Group for Deepening Overall Reform of the Central Committee of the CPC and the "Regulations for the Enforcement of Statistical Law" issued by the State Council, with emphasis on improving the quality of statistical data. I should say, the quality of Chinese statistics in general, and that of local statistics, are constantly improving. 

Of course, the specific situations you mentioned are a different issue, which have been reported by the media. China's statistical data and statistical accounting system will not be affected by the existence of some problems in data credibility in a handful of places, or in some enterprises and some institutions. 

During the 1990s, China's accounting system was transformed from the material product system (MPS) to the national account system (NAS) and accounting was done at different levels. In the process of accounting for national data by the National Bureau of Statistics, the industrial survey adopts the direct network reporting system, agricultural surveys use the sample survey, and the service industry surveys have been increasingly using e-government and e-commerce data in recent years. Meanwhile, local governments also account data according to the measures adopted by the national statistical system. 

The addition of local data exceeds the national total, which is the result of the accounting at different levels. However, after years of hard work this gap has narrowed, although there is still a gap. For example, the total local GDP in 2016 was 3.6 trillion yuan higher than the national figure. The Central Committee of the CPC and the State Council have clear minds about the important direction for the accounting system reform: to implement unified accounting of regional GDP, and they have already determined a timetable and the tasks, according to which unified accounting will be implemented by 2019. Therefore, we must redouble our efforts to complete the task of statistical accounting reform on schedule. We think the gap has narrowed in the past one or two years. What you mentioned involve local data in some places, which doesn't affect the credibility of national statistics.

On the other hand, statistics in China are conducted in accordance with laws and regulations. For local governments, enterprises and institutions that are alleged to be providing inaccurate figures, we will find out, verify and solve the problems according to laws and regulations. This also includes revision and publication of data. At the same time, for a handful of local governments, enterprises and institutions that commit fraud and other violations of statistical laws and regulations, no matter whether they drew up false statistics, or concealed data, or refused to report required data, they all must be dealt with according to laws and regulations. You mentioned some specific circumstances, and we are verifying them. The final revision and publication of the data must be conducted in accordance with the laws and regulations related to statistics. Some of the data may relate to finance, such as the local debt issue you just mentioned, and I'd suggest that you seek answers from the Ministry of Finance. Thank you.

Phoenix TV:

I would like to ask a question about the economic situation in 2018. We have noticed that some people think this year may be the beginning of a new cycle for China's economy. Others think it is a crucial period for China's economic restructuring and the economy may face some downward pressure. What are your thoughts on the overall economic situation for 2018?

Ning Jizhe:

This issue has caused heated discussion among Chinese economists in the second half of last year. It should be said that China's economy has maintained the momentum of stable and sound development. China's economy has undergone phased development, structural adjustments and cyclical changes. Therefore, we must make comprehensive judgments both in analyzing the economic situation in the past and in studying the economic situation for 2018. 

In terms of phased development, China's economy has shifted from a period of rapid growth to a period of high-quality development. The entire national economy is very large, so is the total economic output in various regions. And the economic output of several provinces and regions is now comparable with that of G20 countries. Take Guangdong and Jiangsu for example, the total economic output of each province exceeds 8 trillion yuan. We should comply with the requirements for high quality development. In order to push the economy toward high-quality development, the Central Government has also made explicit the promotion of high-quality development as a fundamental requirement in 2018, formulated a series of policies and measures, and specified this year's key tasks.

Let's talk about structural adjustments. In the past few years, historic changes have taken place in China's economic structure. This is true for both the industrial structure, the demand structure and the factors structure. The supply-side structural reforms are also fueling these changes. This year, all localities and departments should further deepen the supply-side structural reforms, adhere to efforts of cutting overcapacity, reducing inventory, deleveraging, lowering costs and strengthening weak areas. In the meantime, we must eliminate ineffective supply, increase effective supply, and reduce production and operation costs. These structural adjustments will continue to exert a positive influence.

Cyclical changes also exist to some extent. The overall situation of the world economy is positive and the three major economies are all growing. Although many uncertainties and instabilities still exist, as long as we seize the opportunity and overcome the challenges, the domestic economy will continue to maintain the momentum of stable and sound development while highly integrated with the world economy. At the same time, there are many favorable opportunities for development in our country. Therefore, the cyclical factors should also be observed in the context of phased development and structural adjustments. This will help us to make better judgments on the economic situation in 2018.

At present, the fundamentals of China's economy are good. Structural adjustment, optimization and upgrading are being carried out at an accelerated pace. The phased changes brought by quality and efficiency improvements will become more obvious.

China National Radio:

Mr. Ning, we noticed the Central Economic Work Conference proposed to accelerate the establishment of an indexing and a statistical system to promote high-quality development. What detailed plans have the statistics authority made? Will such a statistical system contribute to the fourth national economic census and the statistics of the urban unemployment rate?

Ning Jizhe:

This is exactly the main topic for discussion at the National Statistical Work Conference held by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) last week. The NBS will promote six systems closely related to statistical work. These are the index, policy, standards, statistical performance, and performance assessment systems, designed to promote high-quality development under the guidance of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era put forward at the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and on the instruction of the Central Economic Work Conference. In the coming years, we will fulfill the following tasks to promote high-quality development.

First, establish and improve an index system endorsed by new development philosophy. Since 2016, the NBS has been working to establish a system to assess the construction of an ecological civilization with the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Environmental Protection and the Organization Department of the CPC Central Committee under the requirements of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council. We launched an index system for green development, conducted studies and measurements, and released the results for 2016 last December. Apart from green development, we will also study and work out index systems for innovative, coordinated, open and shared development. We have required some regional statistical departments to take one step ahead in this regard, and we will also come up with a preliminary plan for a comprehensive index system endorsed by new development philosophy at the national level based on in-depth study of the realities. 

Second, establish an index system and a research and assessment method to enhance quality and efficiency and promote transformation and upgrading. The NBS has carried out some basic work in the past few years, and will improve the index system in order to pursue high-quality and highly-efficient development. The Central Economic Work Conference also touched upon total factor productivity, which is something to consider in establishing the system and method. 

Third, further improve the statistical monitoring system to collect data reflecting the progress of supply-side structural reform. After the start of the reform a few years ago, we have measured the achievements of the five priority tasks on a monthly, quarterly, semi-annual and annual basis with related indexes, and will further step up the display of the achievements in deepening reform. 

Fourth, provide more data on economic changes in national economic accounting. The Third Plenary Session of the 18th CPC National Congress put forward the requirements for reforming the three major accounting methods. One is the unified accounting of regional GDP; one is national and local balance sheets, which shows the liabilities of local governments as mentioned by the Bloomberg reporter; finally, the natural resources balance sheet. 

Last year, the Central Leading Group for Comprehensively Deepening Reforms and the executive meetings of the State Council both established clear requirements for the reform. Unified accounting of regional GDP will start officially with the fourth economic census in 2019. Despite a tight schedule, this move will help dispel doubts about any inconsistency between the data of China's regional accounting and those of national accounting. The institutional change will be conducive to regional and international comparisons. 

The State Council also specified that, in documents, to start working on 2015 and 2016 national balance sheets, and this is one of our urgent tasks this year. 

The natural resources balance sheet displays the inventory of natural resources as well as profits and losses in green development. The NBS has already conducted pilot programs on this work in eight prefectures, cities and counties, and a number of cities and counties have carried out their own trials in accordance with unified requirements. We will also further promote the pilot programs this year. 

Actually, this is also an international problem. I introduced China's practices at an international conference on statistical work last year, and received wide attention. This issue also relates to the world's efforts towards the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals. 

Thus, the reform is critical to the statistical system for high-quality development.

Fifth, we should improve the unified monitoring index system according to the requirements of securing a decisive victory in building a moderately prosperous society in all respects. The system must stand the test of time, and be acknowledged by the people. We are also working on the statistics and monitoring of the development of industries boon to boosting public happiness, and have established a preliminary monitoring system.

In addition, it is critical to implement the reform to streamline administration and delegate powers and improve regulation and services, so as to improve the business environment. The World Bank has already made a comparison on the assessment of different countries' business environment. According to the requirements of the State Council, the NBS should cooperate with the National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Finance in monitoring, analyzing and evaluating the business environment. The index system should be compatible with international practices and be related to Chinese reality. The central task of the statistics department this year is to implement the basic requirements for new development philosophy and high-quality development, and promote the reform by seeking for progress in stability.

CCTV and CGTN:

The economic performance in 2017 was better than expected. And the economic growth owes much to the contribution of foreign trade - the greatest contribution comparing to those in the past few years. However, as we have noted, imports and exports may encounter severer challenges in 2018, so will that put the economy under greater stress this year? And, if the impact of trade weakens, will the consumption be strong enough to sustain economic development?

Ning Jizhe:

Last year, the contribution rate of net imports and exports in regard to both commodities and services reached 9.1 percent. Even so, domestic demand remained the most powerful engine promoting the economy, contributing 91 percent to the growth. Among internal demand, consumption accounted for 60 percent, while investment also played an important role.

The world economy is indeed facing both challenges and opportunities. The Economic Work Conference of the CPC Central Committee asked for making new ground in pursuing opening up on all fronts. According to the 19th CPC National Congress, China will expand foreign trade , not only in size, but also in terms of quality, efficiency and structural improvements. Last year, exports achieved double-digit growth, which, optimistically, involved structural improvements, such as a surging proportion of electromechanical exports and an increasingly important role for high-tech exports. Therefore, in order to sustain sound trade development, China should continue to improve its trade structure so it can give full play to advantageous sectors while doing business with the rest of the world based on its win-win and mutually-benefited framework. The opening-up policies should not be restricted to commodity trade; instead, it should also work for investments and services. Just now I talked about commodity trade. The service trade in general is still in deficit, but is making big strides. Offshore investments and the use of foreign investments are integral parts of international balance of payment. In a press conference a few days ago, the Ministry of Commerce gave us a panoramic view of openness in full details. With the concerted efforts between trade in commodities and services, the openness can definitely speed up reforms, boost development and drive the China's economy with a stronger engine. They will not only benefit the Chinese people, but also bring mutual benefit and win-win results to the entire world.

Market News International:

We have noticed the recent large appreciation of RMB. The Chinese government once said that the appreciation of RMB was a double-edged sword for the economy. Do you have a new explanation (for the recent appreciation)? As China's economy is transitioning towards relying more on domestic demand, is a stronger RMB an advantage or disadvantage for economic development?

Ning Jizhe:

The basic balance of international payments, while being a trade issue, is more of an issue concerning the balance of the macroeconomy. Last year, the Chinese economy delivered a steady and sound performance and beat expectations, and this can be reflected in part by the balance of international payments. Whether international payments are balanced is an important indicator of a country's macroeconomy. Last year, China's international payments were basically balanced, and this has helped guarantee and promote economic growth. When the international payments are balanced, the RMB's exchange rate remains stable and a stable RMB not only helps trade develop steadily but also helps the macroeconomy achieve steady and sound growth. Maintaining a balance of international payments is an important responsibility of the government departments in charge of the macroeconomy. Our statistical department, as a producer of comprehensive and fundamental data, will closely follow the changes in international payments. In fact, the national economy accounting involves five tables, and the GDP table is only one of them.  The other four are the input-output table, the flows-of-funds table, the balance sheet and the balance of international payments. While the People's Bank of China takes the lead in compiling the balance of international payments, our statistical departments will also pay close attention. I believe that by following the guiding principles of the Central Economic Work Conference and with the efforts of relevant government departments, China can maintain and further improve the balance of international payments in 2018. 

Reuters:

As China may ramp up efforts to deleverage, reduce risks and prevent and control pollution in 2018, will these actions exert influences on the macroeconomy? Last year, capital formation and net exports contributed 32.1% and 9.1% to economic growth respectively, is that right?

Ning Jizhe:

Yes. The contribution of the final consumption expenditure to GDP accounted for 58.8 percent. And gross capital formation contributed 32.1 percent. The net exports of goods and service contributed 9.1 percent. As the statistical department, we will make efforts to provide statistical service for major tasks, such as forestalling and defusing major risks, carrying out targeted poverty alleviation, and preventing and controlling pollution. As for the deleveraging you mentioned, the leverage ratio of the microeconomy has seen a continued improvement for two years. As for the macroeconomy, the ratio of M2 to GDP is stable with a slight decline. The year-on-year growth of GDP is 6.9 percent, a nominal rate of 11 percent if taking the deflator into consideration. The M2 in 2017 grew by 8.2 percent from the previous year. Of course, what we mentioned is only one of the various indicators to measure the leverage ratio of the macroeconomy. In the future, we will continue to thoroughly inspect the leverage ratio of the macroeconomy as well as the microeconomy.

As the statistical department, to support the poverty alleviation department in monitoring the poor population is one of our key tasks. Under the current standards made in 2010, the national population in poverty was reduced by 12.4 million in 2016. And the statistics of 2017, through the sampling survey, will be released by the end of this month. The number of people lifted out poverty is expected to be larger than in 2016.

Last year, China's GDP growth of 6.9 percent was realized under enhancing the prevention and control of pollution. Now we pursue green development, the coordinated development of economic growth and ecological progress. The prevention and control of pollution is in accordance with law, presenting a positive influence on the adjustment of the economic structure and development. The economy has stayed within the proper range, with marked improvement not only in economic growth, but also in the employment rate, income, environment as well as stable consumer prices. That's the original intention for developing the economy.

Hu Kaihong:

Today's press conference is over. Thank you, Mr. Ning and Mr. Xing.

Ning Jizhe:

Thanks for your support. We look forward to the continued cooperation between us in the coming year. Thanks!

Read in Chinese

Speaker:

Wang Chunying, spokeswoman of State Administration of Foreign Exchange

Chairperson:

Xi Yanchun, vice director-general of Press Bureau, State Council Information Office

Date:

Jan. 18, 2018

Wang Chunying (R), spokesperson of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE), speaks at a press conference held by the State Council Information Office of China in Beijing, capital of China, Jan. 18, 2018. [Photo/Xinhua]

Xi Yanchun:

Ladies and gentlemen, good morning. Welcome to this press conference. Today, we are delighted to invite Ms. Wang Chunying, spokeswoman of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange, to introduce China's foreign exchange receipts and payments in 2017. She will also answer some of your questions.

Now, I'll give the floor to Ms. Wang.

Wang Chunying:

Good morning. Welcome to this press conference. I'll first introduce China's foreign exchange receipts and payments in 2017, and then answer some of your questions.

In 2017, amid moderate recovery of the world economy and steady performance of the global financial market, China achieved stronger momentum in its economic growth, with further progress in supply-side structural reform, improvement in the quality of economic development, and no major fluctuations in the RMB exchange rate index. 

The State Administration of Foreign Exchange has paid equal emphasis on reform and risk prevention. We have worked hard to contribute to the country's reform and opening up efforts by improving cross-border trade and investment facilitation, promoting two-way openness of the financial market, and providing better services to the real economy. We have also strengthened our works in fending off risks in the cross-border financial flow, and cracking down on law-breaking activities involving foreign exchange, thus to safeguard the country's economic and financial safety. 

Generally speaking, improvements were seen in cross-border financial flows, and overall balance was achieved between demand and supply in the foreign exchange market. 

Last year, foreign currency bought and sold by Chinese banks totaled 11.0884 trillion yuan (US$1.6441 trillion) and 11.8532 trillion yuan (US$1.7557 trillion) respectively, creating a deficit of 764.8 billion yuan (US$111.6 billion). 

Foreign-related receipts and payments by banks on behalf of clients were worth 20.2081 trillion yuan (US$2.9969 trillion) and 21.0561 trillion yuan (US$3.1213 trillion) respectively, with a deficit of 848.0 billion yuan (US$124.5 billion).

China's foreign exchange receipts and payments presented the following characteristics in 2017:

First, the deficit of foreign exchange settlement and sales by banks and that of foreign-related receipts and payments declined noticeably, and some months even came up with a surplus. 

In 2017, in dollar terms, foreign exchange settlement by banks increased by 14 percent year-on-year, and foreign exchange sales by banks decreased by 1 percent year-on-year. The deficit of foreign exchange settlement and sales stood at US$111.6 billion, down 67 percent year-on-year, and significantly, there were a surplus of foreign exchange settlement and sales in September, October and December respectively. 

Foreign-related receipts by banks on behalf of clients increased by 7 percent year-on-year, and foreign-related payments by banks on behalf of clients increased by 1 percent. The deficit of foreign-related receipts and payments by banks on behalf of clients stood at US$124.5 billion, down 59 percent year-on-year.

Second, the balance between supply and demand in the foreign exchange market tended to be more stable. 

In terms of quarterly data, the deficits of foreign exchange settlement and sales by banks were US$40.9 billion and US$53.0 billion respectively in the first quarter and in the second quarter, and the figure declined to US$19 billion in the third quarter, and turned to a surplus of US$1.2 billion in the fourth quarter. 

It is necessary to explain that foreign exchange settlement and sales by banks are the main factors affecting the supply and demand of foreign exchange in China, but not the only one. If comprehensive consideration is given to factors such as spot transactions, forward transactions, and options, the supply and demand of foreign exchange in China has turned to a state of basic balance since February 2017.

Third, the demand from market entities to purchase foreign currencies cooled down, and the financing of foreign exchange grew slightly from a sound basis. 

The ratio between forex purchased by clients from banks and their overseas expenditures, a variable that gauges the demand of forex transactions, declined nine percentage points to 65 percent year on year. On a quarterly basis, the proportion was 68 percent, 67 percent, 63 percent and 62 percent respectively. These figures indicate the waning demand of enterprises in terms of forex financing and payback. 

Meanwhile, the surplus of forex loans in the domestic market increased US$300 million in accumulation, a contrast to the cumulative decrease of US$85.8 billion by 2016. The outstanding loans in cross-border forex financing activities, such as overseas refinancing and the usance letter of credit, conducted by domestic import enterprises, rose to US$28.4 billion.

Fourth, the settlement of forex incomes from market participants showed signs of growth, and individual demand for foreign currencies abated. 

In 2017, the ratio of forex settlement, a yardstick of market demand measured between foreign currencies sold by clients to banks and the forex incomes received by clients from overseas transactions, reached 63 percent, up three percentage points year on year. On a quarterly basis, the ratio was respectively 62 percent, 63 percent, 64 percent and 62 percent, showing the stable demand of market entities. 

Besides, in 2017, personal forex deposits in China dropped by US$700 million in accumulation, while in 2016, it increased US$36.3 billion in accumulation.

Wang Chunying:

Fifth, the deficit of forward foreign exchange purchases and sales of banks generally decreased. In 2017, the contracted amount of forward foreign exchange purchases increased by 111 percent year-on-year, and that of forward foreign exchange sales rose 12 percent, recording a deficit of US$26 billion. This was 69 percent less than the figure in 2016. It shows that, in 2017, the expectations in regard to the RMB exchange rate were generally more stable.

Sixth, the foreign exchange reserves continued to rise. By the end of last December, China's foreign exchange reserves was US$3.14 trillion, or US$129.4 billion more than the end of 2016. Notably, from February to December, the reserves kept increasing for 11 consecutive months. 

That is all I want to say in this briefing. Now, I'm glad to take your questions.

Xi Yanchun:

Thank you, Ms. Wang. Now the floor is open to you journalists. As usual, we kindly remind you to identify the media outlet you represent before asking your questions. 

CCTV:

I'm concerned with the issue of cross-border capital flow you just mentioned. I would like to hear your comment on the situation in 2017 and your prediction for the new year. 

Wang Chunying:

China's cross-border capital flow showed a trend towards achieving a basic balance in 2017. I believe you have all felt the changes long since. The data released also reflect some of the changes. Since you've raised this question, I'd like to share some of my perceptions with all of you. 

First, 2017 was a turning point for China's cross-border capital flow as the country saw a change from net capital outflow to a basic balance between inflow and outflow this year. Over the past three or four years, affected by both internal and external factors, China had experienced a change from long-standing net inflow to net outflow. The net outflow had continued for a time. However, new changes have taken place since 2017 began. First, China's forex reserves reversed the falls of 2015 (512.7 billion US dollars) and 2016 (319.8 billion US dollars) and rose by 129.4 billion US dollars in 2017. Second, China has achieved a basic balance of international payments. The current account surplus remains in a reasonable range and there was the change to a net capital inflow. According to the most recent statistics, China's current account surplus was equivalent to 1.3 percent of China's GDP in the first three quarters of 2017. The ratio was 2.7 and 1.8 percent respectively in 2015 and 2016. The fall in the ratio indicates that China's current account is more balanced and this should be seen as a contribution to the rebalancing of the global economy. As for non-reserve financial accounts, they registered a deficit of 434.5 billion and 417 billion U.S. dollars respectively in 2015 and 2016, and a surplus of 112.7 billion U.S. dollars in the first three quarters of 2017. This also reflects the change from net capital outflow to net inflow. Last, expectations for RMB's exchange rates and market entities' international transactions have become more stable. In a market where RMB can both appreciate and depreciate, both enterprises and individuals prefer to diversify their international forex transactions instead of making only one-way transactions. This has contributed to a balance in the supply and demand of forex. Currently, market entities are relying more on their actual needs to make decisions on cross-border earnings and payments as well as on forex purchases and sales. In 2017, the forex surplus from trade in goods and the forex capital settlement of foreign-invested enterprises both displayed an upward trend. Cross-border financings continue to grow at steadier rates. Outbound investment and individual forex purchases both fell in an orderly way.

Wang Chunying:

Second, the market environment both at home and abroad has become more stable, pushing the supply and demand of foreign exchange in our country to a basic balance. First of all, the domestic economy has been further consolidated with a steady course of improvement. In the first three quarters of 2017, China's GDP grew by 6.9 percent year-on-year, 0.2 percentage point higher than the growth rate in 2016. The economic structure was continuously optimized, and the economic efficiency and corporate profitability continued to improve. The official purchasing managers' index (PMI) in 2017 continued to be in an expansion range, with the monthly average reaching 51.6 percent. All of these are essential and fundamental factors for stabilizing cross-border capital flows in our country. And the reform and opening up has gradually deepened. A series of policies to further improve the RMB exchange rate formation mechanism and promote the growth of foreign investment were introduced. The bond market continued to expand and Bond Connect was launched. The A shares will be included in the MSCI index. Finally, the external environment is showing signs of stabilizing. World economic growth is showing indications of snapping a two-year downtrend. The International Monetary Fund estimates that the global economic growth in 2017 was 3.6 percent, which is 0.4 percentage point higher than the global growth in 2016. International political risk eased. "Black Swan" incidents decreased remarkably. Despite the interest rate rise and portfolio drawdown by the U.S. Federal Reserve, the overall U.S. dollar index fell by 9.9 percent in 2017, and the currencies of emerging economies generally appreciated against the U.S. dollar. Thanks to a more stable market environment both at home and abroad, we can strike a balance between the supply and demand of foreign exchange in our country.

Wang Chunying:

Third, China's cross-border capital flows will remain generally stable in 2018. From a domestic perspective, economic development has entered a new era when the internal foundations will become more stable.

On the one hand, a high-quality development model helps to strengthen long-term market confidence. This year is the first for implementing the spirit of the 19th CPC National Congress. China will adhere to supply-side structural reform as the main feature of its economic roadmap, and will comprehensively push forward various tasks such as ensuring steady growth, advancing reform, making structural adjustments, improving living standards, and guarding against risks, and promoting sustained and healthy economic and social development. All of these activities will reinforce the willingness of domestic and foreign investors to invest and operate in our country on a long-term basis. 

On the other hand, a fully-opened new pattern will help the equilibrium flows of cross-border capital. This year marks the 40th anniversary of the launch of China's reform and opening up. We will attract more long-term capital inflows by further expanding the scope and level of opening up, relaxing market access in an orderly manner, continuing to improve relevant laws and regulations, and strengthening intellectual property rights protection. At the same time, we will continue guiding and supporting outbound investments, in order to form a situation where capital inflows and outflows will be more convenient and balanced. 

From an external perspective, international economic and financial operations remain stable, and the external environment will generally continue to be favorable. The global economy will continue to recover. The International Monetary Fund's forecast for global economic growth is 3.7 percent, 0.1 percentage point higher than 2017. At the same time, the normalization of monetary policies in the major economies continues moving forward steadily, which will have a relatively modest impact on the international financial market. 

Therefore, under these conditions, China's cross-border capital flows in 2018 is expected to continue steady operation.

China News Service:

What do you think about the fluctuations in the balance of foreign exchange settlement and sales by banks in recent months? Will the trend continue?

Wang Chunying:

Thank you for your question. Recent months have indeed witnessed fluctuations in the balance of foreign exchange settlement and sales by banks, but the overall scale is not large. These fluctuations indicate the minor differences between the performance of the real economy and the financial sector in different months. But they do not change the balance of China's forex supply and demand.

On the one hand, from a statistical point of view, given China's enormous scale of foreign trade, it's normal that small fluctuations in the real economy will lead to surplus or deficit in foreign exchange when there tends to be a balance between forex supply and demand. Even in the past several years, when China faced pressure on forex inflows, there were also fluctuations.

On the other hand, banks will adjust their positions independently according to the balance of foreign exchange settlement and sales. Therefore, despite minor surpluses or deficits, there has been a balance between forex supply and demand in recent months.

When we talked to the media friends a while ago, a lot of friends were concerned about the question you mentioned. I would like to take this opportunity to communicate with you on the use of the data on cross-border capital flows in China. We are monitoring three types of data: forex settlement and sales, foreign-related receipts and payments by banks on behalf of clients, and international balance of payments. The first two are released monthly, and the latter is announced quarterly. Each set of data has its own specific meaning, and we should be careful when using and assessing them. 

When Chinese enterprises and individuals and other market players receive foreign exchange funds, they can choose their own accounts according to their needs, or sell them to banks. If they sell them to banks, it will count as a foreign currency exchange, and they will be included in the statistics of foreign exchange settlement and sale. Therefore, bank purchasing and selling is the main body of foreign exchange supply and demand in China, but not all. The factors that affect the supply and demand of foreign exchange include the increase and decrease of foreign exchange positions in banks, and the sale of some overseas institutions in the foreign exchange market between domestic banks.

Wang Chunying:

The banks' foreign-related receipts and payments on behalf of clients refer to the cross-border money collection and payment that enterprises and individuals make through banks. The data cover only the clients' cross-border payments and receipts rather than the banks' foreign assets and liabilities. The Balance of Payments is a record that summarizes all transactions made between our country's residents and non-residents according to the international standard, and also a comprehensive indicator to measure our country's foreign-related transactions and cross-border capital flows. Currently, the statement is drawn up and published as per the international standard, but in a quarterly frequency instead of monthly or higher. We are making efforts to further shorten the interval. These three sets of data have different focuses and complement each other, and so should be differentiated when being put to use. 

The data of foreign exchange reserves in the statement presents changes of foreign exchange reserves after ruling out changes of the exchange rate and the price of assets, which is the optimal indicator in general for the overall supply and demand in the foreign exchange market. The foreign exchange reserves of our country have been increasing since the second quarter of 2017 after a continuous decrease of nearly three years in the past, which indicates that China's foreign exchange market has basically realized the supply-demand balance. The banks' purchase and sale of foreign exchange as well as their foreign-related receipts and payments on behalf of clients also reflect the supply and demand of foreign exchange in different terms and perspectives. The slight surplus and deficit marked by fluctuations around the balance line do not affect the perceptions on the overall supply-demand balance of foreign exchange. 

CGTN:

How do you see the change of China's outbound investment in 2017? And what's the government's attitude toward China's outbound direct investment? What kind of policies will it take as the next step?

Wang Chunying:

Thanks for your questions. Last year, the overall growth of China's outbound direct investment (ODI) is slower than before, with an improved structure and steady use of foreign exchange. On the one hand, we believe that domestic companies' ODI has returned to rationality. According to the statistics, the ODI that China's non-financial business made in 2017 dropped by 29.4 percent to US$120.1 billion, equivalent to that of 2015, demonstrating that the growth in 2016 was irrational. And it registered positive growth in November and December. The statistics also showed that ODI capital used in foreign exchange purchasing decreased 12 percent from 2016.

Furthermore, the ODI structure has further improved. According to the Ministry of Commerce, the main sectors of China's ODI were rental and commercial services, retail and sales, manufacturing and information transmission, as well as software and IT services. The proportion of ODI in these sectors was 29.1 percent, 20.8 percent, 15.9 percent and 8.6 percent. No new investment projects were made in the real estate, sports and entertainment sectors. New investments in countries along the "Belt and Road" accounted for 12 percent of the total, rising 3.5 percentage points from 2016.

In conclusion, China's investments overseas slowed with steady growth last year, and the momentum will be maintained in 2018.

Wang Chunying:

The Chinese government has a clear management principle regarding the policies of direct outbound investment. In August 2017, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), the Ministry of Commerce, the People's Bank of China and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs jointly issued a Notice on Further Guidance and Regulation of Outbound Investment, clarifying the categories of outbound investments which are encouraged, restricted and banned. Last December, the NDRC released the Management Methods of Enterprises' Outbound Investments, which will come into effect in March. The institutional framework for regularized management has taken shape.

The SAFE will act in accordance with the latest policies and requirements of the authorities in charge of outbound investment to guide enterprises' "going out" in a stable and orderly manner. We remain committed to encourage enterprises to participate in international economic competition and cooperation, and integrate themselves into the global industrial and value chain. We have insisted on the principle of market-oriented operation following the international convention in which enterprises serve as the main player and government as the guide. We have continued with the reform to streamline administration, delegate powers, enhance regulation where necessary and provide better services. 

In detail, we support capable domestic enterprises to conduct authentic and qualified outbound investments, and to participate in the "Belt and Road" construction and international industrial-capacity cooperation, thus, to promote the transformation and upgrading of the domestic economy and deepen the win-win cooperation between China and other countries. In addition, we remain committed to deepening reform while guarding against risks. We have kept a close eye on irrational outbound investments in some sectors and potential risks during the investment process, urged banks to strictly follow operational principles, and strengthened the examination of investment authenticity and its compliance with relevant regulations, so as to promote the sustainable and sound development of direct outbound investment and safeguard national economic and financial security. All in all, the SAFE has worked consistently with relevant policies. 

CNR: 

In 2018, the Fed will raise interest rates and shrink its balance sheet. The United States tax reform will also be implemented. How do you think these factors will affect China's cross-border flow of funds? And how will the State Administration of Foreign Exchange respond to it?

Wang Chunying:

We have also paid close attention to this issue. In 2017, the Federal Reserve raised interest rates three times and started downsizing its balance sheet. The Trump administration passed the tax reform act. Despite this, the situation of China's cross-border capital flows improved markedly. The supply and demand of the foreign exchange market has recently been more balanced. This shows that the development and changes in cross-border capital flows in China are actually the result of a combination of factors, both external and internal. 

The external factors have many aspects. Taken together, the current external environment for cross-border capital flows in China is relatively stable. The influence of external factors, with the normalization of the monetary policy of the US Federal Reserve, are gradually weakened. Or, we may say, the market has quickly adapted to the changes. The domestic economy has stabilized steadily. The overall stability of cross-border capital flows in China is expected to remain stable. Here I would like to share with you how we look at this issue.

First, factors such as a rate hike by the Federal Reserve and tax reform by the U.S. government have not magnified the external market volatility, and the prospect of a relatively stable external environment is expected to continue. Previously, the normalization of the Fed's currency policy had led to relatively faster appreciation of the U.S. dollar and outflow of international capital from emerging economies. However, the related influences are gradually weakened with more restrictive factors. In 2017, the Federal Reserve raised interest rates three times and started downsizing its balance sheet. In theory, this helps to increase the U.S. interest rate and the exchange rate. However, in fact, the U.S. dollar index fell by 9.9 percent in 2017. The dollar index rose slightly, supported by optimism over U.S. tax reform, but fell again recently. The short-term federal funds rate increased by 75 base points year-on-year, but the long-term interest rates did not change much. 

At the end of 2017, the yield on a U.S. 10 Year Treasury Note was basically the same as that at the end of 2016. This reflects the impact of many constraints. From the United States domestic situation, the inflation rate remained low. The Core Personal Consumption Expenditure Index (core- PCE), which is the preferred measure of the Fed, dropped from 1.9 percent in early 2017 to 1.5 percent at the end of the year. Also, judging from the long-run potential growth of the United States, Fed policymakers forecasted a rate of 1.8 percent, well below the rate during the economic boom. In addition, the U.S. government has said that it does not want the U.S. dollar to be too strong. All these factors will constrain the U.S. dollar exchange rate and interest rate increases. Judging from the external situation of the United States, we can see the economic recovery of other developed economies, especially the euro area, is relatively fast. Recently, the ECB raised its forecast for economic growth in 2018 and began to reduce the scale of its quantitative easing monetary policy. The improved political stability of Europe is also good news for the euro to gain strength while putting pressure on the dollar.

Second, the sound performance of the domestic economy played a fundamental role in ensuring steady cross-border capital flows, and I'm sure it will play a bigger role in this field in the future. 

Above all, China's economic growth is faster than many other countries'. Continuous improvement has been made in industry chains and infrastructure. The domestic labor force's skills can meet the demands of enterprises. As a result, Chinese enterprises can operate smoothly and make comparatively high profits. In the first 11 months of 2017, the profits made by industrial enterprises above the designated size rose 22 percent as compared with the same period of the previous year. 

Furthermore, individual income increased continuously, and consumer spending was further upgraded. This means the domestic market has great potential, and it's very important to investors. 

Also, China has clear overall objectives and flexible mechanisms. The financial market is running smoothly with sufficient foreign exchange reserves. We are thus capable of responding to risks. 

China is working hard to open up on all fronts. The business environment has been optimized. The domestic market is becoming more open. The market-based mechanism for setting the RMB exchange rate has been continuously improved. All these factors are a boon to stabilizing market expectations and attracting foreign investments. 

China also adopted many measures to reduce taxes and fees. Given the fact that the United States and European countries have strengthened supervision to ensure investment safety, I'm sure Chinese and overseas investors will make investments in a rational and cautious manner after considering all factors. 

Regarding how to respond to the problem you mentioned, we will keep a close eye on all exterior factors, follow all changes, and make sound analyses so as to find proper solutions. 

We will improve data collection and oversight of the cross-border capital flows, make a timely analysis, and make predictions of possible changes. We will continue to carry out reforms and fend off risks. We will improve trade and investment facilitation, promote capital account convertibility at a steady pace, and provide better services to the real economy, thus making a contribution to the new opening up campaign of the country. To safeguard the country's economic and financial safety, we will fend off risks in the cross-border capital flows, improve the macroprudential regulation system and micro-regulation system, and clamp down on law-breaking activities. 

Reuters:

Since last year, the RMB has appreciated rapidly against the US dollar. Will it influence exports and the economy? Last week, media reports said that China may slow down or stop purchasing U.S. government bonds. Statistics from the U.S. Department of the Treasury last November showed that China slightly cut its holdings in U.S. treasuries. What's your comment on this? 

Wang Chunying:

I would like to first answer your questions regarding U.S. government bonds. We also learned the information from the news report. The management of foreign exchange reserves in China always holds the principle of diversification and decentralization. One of our major tasks is to ensure that foreign capital is under security, maintain and increase its value. As for the specific type, such as the U.S. government bonds you mentioned, we believe the actual performance of these foreign exchange reserves is objectively decided by the market, professionally operated in accordance with the market requirements. Those who pay attention to the global market and China's foreign exchange reserves should notice that, no matter which foreign exchange is or who the market player is, the Chinese department in charge of operating foreign exchange reserves is a quite responsible investor. The measures they took not only stabilized the international financial market, but also ensured that China's foreign exchange reserves maintain and increase their value. And as you mentioned just now, China slightly cut back on its holdings of U.S. government bonds last November. Actually, the report named other investors besides China.

With regard to the RMB exchange rate, the recent growth of it resulted from the Chinese economy achieving sustained sound growth and the depreciation of the U.S. dollar. Currently, the Chinese economy sustains a steady and robust growth rate, a balanced supply and demand, providing a very strong impetus for economic growth. All of these will keep the RMB's stable position in the global monetary system. At the same time, there still are uncertainties brought by the recovery of the world economy and the normalization of the currency policies in major economies. 

The RMB exchange rate will more likely move in both directions in the future. As for its influence on exports and the economy, the statistics I just released, as well as the data published by the Customs and Ministry of Commerce earlier will give you the detailed introduction. We believe that, acting in accordance with the decisions and plans of the 19th CPC National Congress and the Central Economic Work Conference, China will continue to deepen the reform on the market-based mechanism for setting the RMB exchange rate, improving RMB exchange rate flexibility, in a bid to maintain its general stability at an adaptive and equilibrium level.

China Daily:

Did companies make any change to manage risks after the stronger fluctuations of the RMB exchange rate in 2017? Will the State Administration of Foreign Exchange work out any plan in 2018 to guide companies to manage risk? 

Wang Chunying:

I would really like to convey more information on risk management in exchange rate to the market players through the media. Since 2017, Chinese companies have further improved their risk management to adapt to market changes. In fact, the risk tolerance of the companies is directly related with their awareness and management of the risks. After the fluctuations, we are pleased to have seen that most companies no longer simply gamble on the appreciation or depreciation of the RMB exchange rate, and there are less irrational behaviors or responses out of panic. The State Administration of Foreign Exchange has also asked the banks in many ways and channels to inform the market players and clients of the risks, and to guide the companies to establish risk-neutral awareness and sound risk management.

Risk-neutral awareness really matters, but we still see many companies not putting due risk management in place due to the following two main reasons. First, inadequate understanding towards the risks. Some companies are still used to gambling on either appreciation or depreciation of RMB, and make subjective judgments rather than proper risk management. Second, insufficient understanding towards hedging. Hedging is actually an investment to reduce risk, just like spending a little money on insurance. Some companies are unwilling to pay the money, or regard hedging as a means of speculation and ignore its essential function of offsetting the risks of uncertainty. They lack the awareness of controlling risk exposures, and even pursue profits in the risks sometimes rather than taking prudent hedging measures. Some companies may find their judgments wrong when the foreign exchange market fluctuates, but a unified adjustment of the risk exposures may lead to unbalanced supply and demand of foreign exchange, aggravate the fluctuations of the RMB exchange rate and the interest rate, and contribute to panic and chaos in the market, eventually increasing systematic risks and harming their own business.

In the future, as the mechanism for promoting the liberalization of the RMB exchange rate improves, companies must enhance serious risk-neutral awareness to manage exchange rate risks. In 2018, the State Administration of Foreign Exchange will continue to motivate companies to improve their management of foreign exchange risks and create a better environment for the reform of the mechanism. Reform must take the market into consideration, and market resilience in face of risks is often related to risk awareness and risk management of the market. If companies do not change their fixed mindset, still gambling on appreciation or depreciation instead of taking hedging moves, they may not be able to adapt themselves to even normal fluctuations, and may take irrational actions out of panic. In turn it will hinder the reform. Therefore, the State Administration of Foreign Exchange will give more guidance to the market, and I also hope you can help us with it. Meanwhile, we will urge financial institutions to continue their instructions to clients on risks, help companies enhance risk-neutral awareness and improve the management of exchange rate risks. We will also push forward reform in the foreign exchange market, diversify products, attract more market players, expand the market, open up the foreign exchange market further, and improve the infrastructure of the foreign exchange market. Through these efforts, we will improve services and increase the attractiveness and global competitiveness of our foreign exchange market, and safeguard the market players from risks more effectively. 

Financial Times:

The problems involving onshore guarantee for offshore loans drew considerable attention last year. Do you think the problem is no longer troubling, or will it affect China’s forex policies?

Wang Chunying:

The onshore guarantee for offshore loans is a practice in capital management. After the reform of cross-border guarantees in 2014, it developed rapidly, playing a positive role in lowering costs, diversifying financing channels and improving policies and environments for domestic enterprises involved in overseas financing and investment. 

However, recently, we noticed that there were subtle changes and new problems in the practice. I’ll give you some examples. First, the contract fulfillment rate is rising. Since 2016, both the amount and contract fulfillment rate of onshore guarantee for offshore loans provided by domestic banks and other financial institutions have expanded. Second, some enterprises are taking advantage of the practice to escape market supervision. Since the second half of 2016, relevant policies have been improved, but we discovered that some domestic institutions use the practice to escape domestic market supervision. Last but not least, some domestic banks didn’t have a strong sense of compliance. They did not examine carefully the authenticity of the information they were given, the prospects for contractors being able to fulfill the agreements and the financial backup that enables debtors to pay back their loans. Some banks only checked the information in a formalistic way. We have demanded they correct these wrong practices during the course of our inspections. 

In view of those problems, we have reiterated the responsibilities of the banks in handling relevant business. For example, they are required to confirm the qualifications of concerning parties, find out how the fund will be used, check the background regarding the transactions, ensure the primary source of payment, and evaluate if the contract can be fulfilled. They are also required to intensify the check of collateral, and establish a regular risk evaluation system for contract fulfillment. 

Generally speaking, we have asked the banks to be more responsible when examining the businesses concerned. However, we are not changing our policies. On the contrary, we will continue to support the practice among banks and other market entities. Thank you.

Xi Yanchun:

Thank you, Ms. Wang. That's all for today's press conference. Thank you all.

Read in Chinese

Speaker:

Mr. Huang Songping, spokesperson of the General Administration of Customs

Chairperson:

Xi Yanchun, vice director-general of the Press Bureau, State Council Information Office

Date:

Jan. 12, 2018

Xi Yanchun:

Ladies and gentlemen, good morning. Welcome to this press conference. Today, we are delighted to invite Mr. Huang Songping, the spokesperson for China's General Administration of Customs, to introduce China's import and export performance in 2017. He will also answer some of your questions.

Now, I will give the floor to Mr. Huang.

Huang Songping: 

Ladies and gentlemen, good morning. Welcome to this press conference. I'm glad to meet you again. First, I will make a brief introduction of China's import and export performance in 2017, and then I will answer some of your questions.

Last year, amid the moderate growth of the global economy, China witnessed stable economic growth, with a continuous rise in imports and exports. According to the Customs' statistics, last year, the import and export of the trade of goods rebounded after declining for two years, with the total volume registered at 27.79 trillion yuan, growing by 14.2 percent from the previous year. Specifically, the volume of exports and imports was respectively registered at 15.33 trillion yuan and 12.46 trillion yuan, growing by 10.8 percent and 18.7 percent from the previous year. The trade surplus was 2.87 trillion yuan, down by 14.2 percent. 

Let me explain in details. 

Huang Songping:

First, the value of China's total imports and exports has increased quarter by quarter but at a slower rate compared to last year. China's imports reached 6.17 trillion yuan, 6.91 trillion yuan, 7.17 trillion yuan and 7.54 trillion yuan during the four quarters of last year respectively, up 21.3 percent, 17.2 percent, 11.9 percent and 8.6 percent respectively. 

Second, the volume of general foreign trade grew rapidly, reaching a higher proportion of the total. In 2017, the total volume of general trade jumped to 15.66 trillion yuan, up 16.8 percent, accounting for 56.4 percent of the total, 1.3 percentage points higher than 2016. Models and structures of trade have been optimized. 

Third, China's trade with its three largest trading partners also increased, and trade with countries along the Belt and Road Initiative saw rapid growth. In 2017, China's imports and exports with the European Union, the United States and ASEAN expanded 15.5 percent, 15.2 percent and 16.6 percent, together accounting for 41.8 percent of the total volume. Trade with Russia, Poland and Kazakhstan rose by 23.9 percent, 23.4 percent and 40.7 percent, respectively, all higher than the overall growth rate.

Fourth, the volume of imports and exports of Chinese private enterprises rose, taking a larger share of total foreign trade. In 2017, the volume of foreign trade of private enterprises hit 10.7 trillion yuan, up 15.3 percent, accounting for 38.5 percent of total foreign trade, 0.4 percentage point higher than 2016. Imports reached 7.13 trillion yuan, up 12.3 percent, taking up 46.5 percent of total imports, up 0.6 percentage point. Exports of private companies expanded 22 percent to 3.57 trillion yuan. 

Fifth, the growth rates of the foreign trade of China's central and western regions as well as the three provinces in northeast China are higher than the national average level. In 2017, the foreign trade of the 12 provincial regions in western China rose by 23.4 percent, 9.2 percentage points higher than the growth rate of the country; foreign trade of the six provinces in the central regions grew by 18.4 percent, 4.2 percentage points higher than the national rate; foreign trade of three provinces in northeast China grew by 15.6 percent, 1.4 percentage points higher than the national average level; while the foreign trade of the 10 provincial regions in eastern areas jumped 13 percent. Regional development has become more coordinated. 

Sixth, electro-mechanical products and traditional labor-intensive products remain the major export goods. In 2017, exports of electro-mechanical products hit 8.95 trillion yuan, up 12.1 percent, accounting for 58.4 percent of China's total volume of exports. Exports of vehicles went up by 27.2 percent, exports of computers grew by 16.6 percent, and exports of mobile phones increased 11.3 percent. During the same period, the total volume of exports of traditional labor-intensive products added up to 3.08 trillion yuan, up 6.9 percent, taking up 20.1 percent of the total export volume. 

Seventh, both the volume and prices of iron ore, crude oil and soybeans increased. In 2017, imports of iron ore reached 1.075 billion tons, up 5 percent; crude oil 420 million tons, up 10.1 percent; soybeans 95.54 million tons, up 13.9 percent; natural gas 68.57 million tons, up 26.9 percent; refined oil 29.64 million tons, up 6.4 percent. Also, China imported 4.69 million tons of copper, down 5.2 percent. During the same period, China's import prices rose by 9.4 percent. Average import prices of iron ore jumped 28.6 percent, crude oil 29.6 percent, soybeans 5 percent, natural gas 13.9 percent, refined oil 25.3 percent and copper 28 percent. 

Eighth, China Export Leading Indicator dropped to 41.1 in December last year, down 0.7 from the previous month, which indicates that China will face export pressure in the first quarter this year. According to an online survey, the indicator for export managers was 44.2 last December, down 0.6 from the previous month; indicators for new export orders and confidence of export managers dropped to 48.3 and 50 respectively, down 0.4 and 1.2 respectively, and an indicator for the general cost of exporting enterprises rebounded to 20.5, up 0.4.

Huang Songping:

Generally speaking, in 2017, the foreign trade in our country rebounded on a steady basis and its potential was realized gradually. With the moderate resurgence of the world economy and a stable economic growth in our country, China's foreign trade may obtain a good momentum this year. However, it will also face the uncertainties and unstable factors affecting global trade and the world economy, and have to respond to the challenges of improving foreign trade quality. 

In 2018, to seek high quality performance, the Customs will ensure all reforms are implemented in due course and all foreign trade grows in full swing. Now I would like to answer your questions.

Xi Yanchun:

Thank you, Mr. Huang. Now the floor is open to the journalists. Just like before,we kindly remind you to identify the media outlets you represent before asking questions. 

CCTV:

Mr. Huang, what's your assessment of the overall development of China's foreign trade in 2017? Last year, China's foreign trade registered a double-digit growth, while in the previous two years, foreign trade had seen a year-on-year decrease. Some think the growth (of last year) was only a periodic rebound - what's your opinion?

Huang Songping:

In 2017, the world economy had a moderate recovery, and the domestic economy saw a stable growth. Several factors, such as the promotion of the Belt and Road Initiative and foreign trade policy addressing stable growth, have ensured the double-digit recovery growth of China's foreign trade. The following are the detailed reasons I want to mention. 

First, the world economy had a moderate recovery and foreign demand increased. In 2017, the world economy's performance was better than expected and the world market had a larger demand. WTO statistics showed that the exports of commodities in 70 major economies in the world increased by more than nine percent in the first three quarters, which exemplified the obvious growth of world trade.

Second, the domestic economy registered a stable growth and laid a foundation for import growth. In 2017, China's economy retained a stable growth with the deepening of supply-side structural reform. Improving real economy has driven the increase of imports. Meanwhile, China issued a series of policies and measures to expand imports, including lowering the import tariffs of some consumer goods. We also improved the fiscal and financial policies for import expansion, encouraged imports of advanced technology equipment as well as key elements and parts, and enhanced measures to facilitate trade. They all had a positive impact on increasing imports.

Third, the year-on-year increase of commodity prices drove the rapid growth of imports. In 2017, rising commodity prices drove up China's import price index to 109.4, and the prices contributed 52.6 percent of the import growth. Rising prices of imported materials cast an influence on the export of finished products. The export price index of China in 2017 was 103.9, with prices contributing 37.3 percent of export growth.

Fourth, the Belt and Road Initiative has steadily advanced, and new markets have been explored effectively. In 2017, China's import and export with the countries along the Belt and Road routes increased by 17.8 percent, 3.6 percentage points higher than the growth of the national total. In the same period, China's import and export with Latin American countries increased by 22 percent, and that with African countries by 17.3 percent. A string of policies and measures promoting foreign trade growth has taken effect. We have deepened reform to streamline administration, delegate powers and improve regulation and services, thereby reducing the burden on enterprises. Therefore, the domestic business environment has been improved, enterprises have strengthened their innovation capability and the internal forces driving the development of foreign trade have been boosted. 

In addition, low base figures of foreign trade in the previous two years also contributed to the high growth in 2017. Thank you.

China Radio International (CRI):

Mr. Huang, in particular we would like to know more about the trade development between China and countries along the Belt and Road in 2017. In addition, what new approaches will the Chinese customs authorities take in pursuing opening up the process of customs clearance on all fronts? Thank you.

Huang Songping:

According to customs statistics, in 2017, China's import from and export to countries along the Belt and Road reached 7.37 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 17.8 percent, 3.6 percentage points higher than China's overall foreign trade growth rate, and accounting for 26.5 percent of the total value of China's foreign trade. Exports totaled 4.3 trillion yuan, an increase of 12.1 percent, while imports were 3.07 trillion yuan, an increase of 26.8 percent. 

The Belt and Road Initiative conforms to the trend of the times and the desire of all countries to accelerate their development. Countries along the Belt and Road are pressing ahead with the common construction of the Belt and Road so as to share the benefits of“connectivity in five areas”, namely, connectivity in policy, transportation, trade, currency and the heart of the people. We believe our trade with the countries along the Belt and Road will continue to become a new highlight and an important new area of growth in China's foreign trade.

As for the next step, Chinese customs will improve capability to better serve China's opening up on all fronts as new ground has been broken. Specifically, we will comprehensively deepen our cooperative mechanisms for achieving compatibility in customs clearance procedures with the countries along the Belt and Road, and facilitate mutual recognition of Authorized Economic Operators (AEO) in these countries. We will continue to improve customs supervision and control services, simplify customs clearance processes, and markedly improve trade facilitation. We will continue to transform and upgrade foreign trade, create new drive mechanisms forforeign trade growth, and support the development of new business forms in foreign trade. We will firmly support the hosting of the International Import Expo starting from 2018 and the Global Cross-border E-Commerce Conference, take the initiative in participating in the formulation of international trade rules, and work hard to make contributions to the development of an open economy. Thank you.

China Review News from Hong Kong:

Can you please provide us the trade statistics between the Chinese mainland and Taiwan in 2017? Can you also give us your prediction on the trade outlook between the Chinese mainland and Taiwan in 2018? Thanks.

Huang Songping:

According to the figures from China's General Administration of Customs, the bilateral trade volume between the mainland and Taiwan in 2017 reached 1.35 trillion yuan (US$207.7 billion), a year-on-year increase of 14 percent, accounting for 4.9 percent of the total foreign trade volume of the mainland in 2017. Taiwan is now the mainland's seventh largest trading partner. Last year, exports to Taiwan from the mainland were 297.9 billion yuan (US$45.83 billion), up 12.2 percent; imports from Taiwan to the mainland were 1.05 trillion yuan (US$161.53 billion), up 14.5 percent. The trade deficit reached 753.4 billion yuan (US$115.9 billion), up 15.4 percent.

Peaceful and stable cross-Strait relations are key to their trade development. We do hope that the cross-Strait trade will continue to grow. I believe that the cross-Strait trade will grow healthily in 2018 if we can remove negative influences and strengthen cooperation. 

Inter Press Service News Agency:

This year, the overall foreign trade situation remains favorable for China. However, uncertain and unstable factors still exit in the international economy and foreign trade. Would you like to give us some examples about these factors? And how do you view the influence of fluctuations in the RMB and trade conflicts between China and the United States on the exports of China in the long run?

Huang Songping:

I would like to first answer your questions about the RMB exchange rate. We believe that imports and exports will be influenced by the exchange rate, but the impact of it is limited. Firstly, a change in the exchange rate is a double-edged sword. When there is a RMB devaluation, companies will benefit from exports, but the cost of imports rises at the same time. Secondly, within the global value chain which is characterized by cross-district industrial division and intra-industry trade, the exchange rate and its impact on imports and exports in one economy will quickly transfer to another economy, which will further ease the effects.

As the global economy recovers amid uncertainties in the normalization of monetary policy; to maintain the RMB exchange rate within a reasonable range will give confidence to companies and promote the stable development of foreign trade. Therefore, the government has actively expanded cross-border and investment RMB settlements in a bid to help companies to enhance their capacity to manage risks.

Uncertain and unstable factors have been growing amidst global complexities. Overall, there are many favorable opportunities for development as well as the main constraining factors in developing foreign trade. Firstly, the global economy, faced with a series of deep-seated and structural problems, is experiencing a weak recovery. Secondly, the global manufacturing industry is witnessing increasingly intense international competition.

On the one hand, thanks to their cheap labor and land, emerging countries are pushing forward medium and low-end manufacturing development, posing challenges to our traditionally strong product exports. On the other hand, many developed countries are restructuring their economy, re-industrializing and re-shoring their manufacturing sector. Thirdly, we meet at a time of rising trade protectionism. The number and value of Chinese products under trade remedy investigations has maintained at a fairly high level in recent years. These are the unstable and uncertain factors.

The United States has become the second biggest trade partner of China. According to the statistics, bilateral trade was worth 3.95 trillion yuan in 2017, up 15.2 percent year-on-year, accounting for 14.2 percent of total foreign trade. China's exports to the United States increased 14.5 percent to reach 2.91 trillion yuan while imports surged 17.3 percent to 1.01 trillion yuan. The trade surplus with the United States rose 13 percent to 1.87 trillion yuan. Last year, Sino-U.S. trade realized rapid growth. China and the United States., as two of the world's leading economies, are expected to deepen their economic and trade cooperation, to achieve mutual benefits and to forge ahead with building a prosperous global economy. Thank you.

China News Service:

Do you think China's foreign trade saw improved quality and efficiency while maintaining rapid growth in 2017? What are your expectations for its development in 2018?

Huang Songping: 

China's foreign trade achieved rapid growth in 2017, up 14.2 percent year-on-year with enhanced quality and efficiency.

First, the capacity for independent development has been enhanced. In 2017, the import and export of general trade with long industrial chains and high added value rose by 16.8 percent year-on-year, 2.6 percentage points higher than the nation's aggregate growth, with its share in the nation's total foreign trade up 1.3 percentage points. 

Second, China's trading partners were more diversified. In 2017, the country's trade with traditional markets, including Europe, the USA and Japan, jumped by 14.8 percent, and trade with emerging markets, namely Latin America and Africa, surged by 22 percent and 17.3 percent, respectively. 

Third, market entities performed actively. The import and export for all types of enterprises realized double-digit growth in 2017. The imports and exports of private enterprises rose by 15.3 percent, making the greatest contribution to the growth of China's foreign trade with a ratio of 41.2 percent. The internal forces driving foreign trade development were strengthened.

Fourth, there was a more balanced regional development in 2017. Imports and exports of the central and western regions in China rose by 21 percent year-on-year, 6.8 percentage points higher than the nation's aggregate growth, with its share in the nation's total foreign trade up 0.8 percentage point.

Fifth, the structure of imported and exported products was optimized. Exports of certain electromechanical products with high added value and products of the equipment manufacturing industry maintained a sound growth momentum in 2017. For instance, exports of automobiles, computers and medical appliances and instruments rose by 27.2 percent, 16.6 percent and 10.3 percent, respectively. This indicates that Chinese enterprises have gradually strengthened their capacity in independent innovation and fostered new advantages for international competitiveness. From the perspective of imports, the import of energy-and-resource-based products kept a steady growth. For example, the import of crude oil, iron ore and natural gas respectively increased by 10.1 percent, 5 percent and 26.9 percent. The import of certain important equipment, key parts and components, and high-quality consumer goods saw relatively fast growth, with increases of 17.3 percent, 17.6 percent, 13.8 percent and 19.6 percent for imports of integrated circuit products, engines, computer numerical control machine tools, and aquatic and marine products. Generally speaking, China achieved positive progress in steadfastly advancing supply-side structural reform, shifting the growth model and adjusting structure of its foreign trade. The country's foreign trade is in a transition from a phase of rapid growth to a stage of high-quality development. 

As for foreign trade development in 2018, it is expected, in general, that the world economy will continue its recovery and that China's economy will maintain a steady and sound performance, which is comparatively favorable for its foreign trade. However, it is difficult to maintain a double-digit growth in foreign trade this year due to the influences from a number of factors, such as uncertainties in the international environment and the large base figure in 2017. China's foreign trade is expected to maintain growth this year with further improved quality and efficiency. 

Sydney Morning Herald:

China is an important trading partner of Australia. Do you have any updated figures on China's trade with Australia? Natural gas imports have grown substantially. What's the reason for this? Is it because of the shift in heating means from coal to gas?

Huang Songping:

Thank you for the question. Trade between China and Australia grew rapidly last year, as the bilateral free trade agreement continued to deliver benefits. In 2017, Our imports from and exports to Australia reached 923.41 billion yuan, year-on-year growth of 29.1 percent, and 14.9 percentage points higher than the growth rate of our total imports and exports. 

Specifically, exports to Australia totaled 280.56 billion yuan, an annual growth rate of 13.9 percent; imports reached 642.85 billion yuan, growing 37.2 percent. Our trade deficit with Australia was 362.29 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 63 percent. 

China is Australia's biggest export market. We account for over 30 percent of total Australian exports. I hope the current momentum in bilateral trade can be maintained. 

Regarding the import of natural gas, unfortunately I don't have the specific figures right now. As far as I know, there was indeed a big rise last year, and Australia was one of the major suppliers. There were many reasons for this, such as the growing domestic demand, stricter environmental protection rules, and the replacement of coal with natural gas for heating.

Thank you.

Die Welt:

I would like to know a little bit more why China is importing such an enormous amount of crude oil and iron ore. Considering China's domestic economic situation, does that mean the imports play a role in helping China enhance the quality and efficiency of its economic development?,. We know that the import prices have recently been nearly 30 percent higher, so that's not quite understandable. I have another question, that is, how reliable is the Customs data, since recently we have come across many reports questioning the authenticity of statistics released by some Chinese provincial-level regions, such as Liaoning and Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. Many countries have such a doubt, as they think trade deficits they know are much higher than the Chinese figures. Thank you.

Huang Songping:

Thanks for your questions. The first one is about why China has been importing such large quantities of iron ore, crude oil and other bulk commodities. The reason is that China is a big manufacturing country where a substantial supply of raw materials and energy products are required. Last year, the economy achieved a stable and slightly upward curve, which fueled domestic demand and drove up the imports of bulk commodities. Besides, prices surged with the increase in demand as a result of the recovery of the global economy, not to mention the financial nature of the bulk commodities themselves. So, there are multiple reasons for the surge in bulk commodities imports and prices. This is the answer to your first question.

The second question is about the accuracy of the data released by Chinese Customs. Last year, China's foreign trade achieved double-digit growth, which brought to an end two straight years of negative growth. It should be attributed to the aforementioned global economic recovery, the increase of market demand, the surging prices of bulk commodities, the effects of policies adopted for the sustainable growth of foreign trade and the comparatively low base level, along with other positive factors. All of them contributed to the fast growth.

Take cross-border containers as an example. In 2017, Chinese customs inspected containers 109 million times, up 5.9 percent year on year, as well as 680 million tons of commodities inside the containers, a year-on-year increase of 6.1 percent. These also confirm the recovering, stable and sound momentum of China's foreign trade.

As to the specifics of your second question about the accuracy of the Customs' data, I would like to give you a concise answer. Imports and exports are essential to the compiling of China's macro-economic statistics. We have always attached great importance to the quality of these statistics and taken authenticity and accuracy as the supreme goal in our statistical work. We form statistics on the basis of data including customs declarations and follow international rules and criteria to incorporate the data of the commodities causing a rise or decrease of domestic inventories into the import and export trade statistics. Data analysis approaches are applied to screen abnormal numbers and verifications and investigations are implemented in companies whose reports arouse skepticism.

In late 2016, a total of 27 ministerial-level administration entities, including the National Development and Reform Commission, People's Bank of China and National Bureau of Statistics, jointly signed the "Memorandum of Understanding on Cooperation in Implementing Joint Punishment on Seriously Dishonest Enterprises and Individuals in Statistics Reporting". According to the document, enterprises that fabricate import and export data in their report to the customs and cause distortions of statistics will face punishment jointly carried out by these institutions to ensure authenticity of statistics.

Just now, you said that there were differences in the statistics provided by China and other countries regarding China's foreign trade. 

Currently, most countries adopt the statistical standards and methods recommended by the United Nations Statistics Division. China's Customs use the same standards and methods, too. However, there are still many factors that may lead to differences in the result.

For example, some countries use the FOB price to calculate export volume and CIF price to calculate the import volume. The choice of which price to use may lead to different results. Entrepot trade is another factor that may cause differences. For example, Chinese goods may be re-exported via the Netherlands to a third country. China regards the Netherlands as the export destination and calculates the export volume accordingly. So, the figure we work out may be different from the figure calculated by the third country. Besides, the choice of an exchange rate and even the time difference may lead to different results.

The Rules on Implementation of Statistics Law of China was enacted on May 28, 2017. In the future, we will continue to work in accordance with the law to ensure the truthfulness and accuracy of the statistics regarding imports and exports. 

Thank you.

NHK:

Could you please provide details on Sino-DPRK trade in 2017?

Huang Songping:

Thanks for your question. I will brief you on the latest trade data between China and the DPRK. According to the figures from China's General Administration of Customs, the Sino-DPRK trade volume reached US$5.06 billion in 2017, a year-on-year drop of 10.5 percent. Specifically, exports were US$3.34 billion, up 8.3 percent; while imports stood at US$1.72 billion, down 33 percent. The trade surplus was US$1.62 billion, increasing by a factor of 2.2. In December, the Sino-DPRK trade volume was US$310 million, down 50.6 percent. Specifically, exports were US$260 million, down 23.4 percent; and imports were US$54.342 million, down 81.6 percent. Thank you.

Xi Yanchun:

This is the end of today's press conference. Thank you, Mr. Huang. Thank you everyone.

Speakers:
Mr. Ren Xianliang, vice minister of the Cyberspace Administration of China

Ms. Ge Huijun, member of the Standing Committee of the Zhejiang Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and head of the Publicity Department of the CPC Zhejiang Provincial Committee

Mr. Sheng Yongjun, Secretary of the CPC Tongxiang Municipal Committee in Zhejiang Province

Chairperson:
Hu Kaihong, spokesperson of the State Council Information Office of China

Date:
Nov. 16, 2017

Hu Kaihong:

Ladies and gentlemen, good afternoon. Welcome to this press conference. As the Fourth World Internet Conference is approaching, we invited Mr. Ren Xianliang, vice minister of the Cyberspace Administration of China, Ms. Ge Huijun, member of the Standing Committee of the CPC Zhejiang Provincial Committee and head of the Publicity Department of the CPC Zhejiang Provincial Committee, as well as Mr. Sheng Yongjun, secretary of the CPC Tongxiang Municipal Committee in Zhejiang Province, to introduce the preparatory work of the conference. They will also answer some of your questions.

Ren Xianliang:

Ladies and gentlemen, good afternoon. Welcome to this press conference. Now, I'd like to make an introduction of the work related to the Fourth World Internet Conference.

The conference will be held from Dec. 3 to 5 in Wuzhen, Zhejiang Province. The Chinese government has attached great importance to it. Senior officials will be present and deliver speeches. Currently, the preparatory work is almost finished. Compared with the previous sessions, this year's conference has the following highlights.

First, this year's conference features a prominent theme and a clear-cut direction. The theme is, "Developing the Digital Economy for Openness and Shared Benefits – Building a Cyberspace Community of a Common Future." Xi Jinping, general secretary of the CPC Central Committee, reiterated his proposal of building a community involving a shared future for humanity in his report at the 19th CPC National Congress last month. As an important international event being held in China so soon after the CPC National Congress, the conference will thoroughly implement Xi Jinping's Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era and firmly reflect his proposal on the governance of cyberspace. We will focus on the digital economy and highlight the importance of openness and shared benefits. We will exert great efforts to build a platform for enhancing interconnectivity between China and other countries and for the achievement of a global internet that will be shared and governed by all. We hope such efforts will help to narrow the digital gap between developing and developed countries, and make contribution to governance of the global internet through China's solution of "jointly building a community of a shared future in cyberspace."

Second, this year's conference is highly informative with several new topics to be discussed. It will give full play to functions of the three major sections: forums, release of advanced technological achievements around the world and the "Light of the Internet Expo," as well as publicizing important development initiatives, such as the national cyber development strategy, the Belt and Road Initiative and the "Internet Plus" action plan. Focusing on the five sectors of the digital economy, cutting-edge technology, the internet and society, cyberspace governance, and exchange and cooperation, the conference will feature a total of 20 sub-forums focusing on various topics such as a sharing economy, artificial Intelligence, internet-driven poverty alleviation, online protection of underage users, and international cooperation along the "Digital Silk Road." The "Light of the Internet Expo" will gather more than 400 renowned internet enterprises and innovative companies to demonstrate trends in the global internet and advanced technologies. A number of the most advanced technological achievements this year will be unveiled. Different activities, including welcome banquets, memorial tree planting, special art performances and the "Wuzhen Gathering" will also be staged.

Third, the conference involves synergic efforts of the entire country and pools wisdom from across the world. Profundity and inclusiveness will be further explored with the support of an open policy. In doing so, we have extended our invitations to the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), the World Economic Forum (WEF), and the Global System for Mobile Communications Association (GSMA) to become our partners. We have also invited 32 international organizations, national ministries, industrial guilds and renowned enterprises to jointly host the event. A total of 26 institutes, universities and enterprises will join us in fostering the preparatory work for the conference, which is expected to attract 1,500 guests, including executives of international organizations, leaders and celebrities from the internet sector as well as experts and scholars worldwide.

Fourth, we are expecting fruitful achievements through age-old Chinese wisdom and the solutions China is offering. For the first time, we will publish two blue books, namely, "World Internet Development Report 2017" and "China Internet Development Report 2017," in an effort to offer a panoramic and objective view of internet capacity and the distinctive features among different countries as well as the present state and future course of China's internet development. Conclusive documents issued during the conference this year will contribute Chinese wisdom to global Internet governance and foresee the development in coming years. What we will publish simultaneously is a casebook of the best practices in global Internet developments, summarizing and referring to various international experiences. The conference will also press ahead with a slew of cooperative agreements between governments, social organizations and enterprises.

Fifth, we'll facilitate the conference proceedings with smarter software and hardware to ensure it can run smoothly. With another year-long preparation, the area of Wuzhen has been expanded, the ecological surroundings have been much improved and more infrastructures have been installed or revamped. We have introduced dozens of smart programs to upgrade the first-hand conference experience. The APP being launched this time can provide a variety of digital services. Besides, the cognitive technologies adopted for the recognition of car plates and faces will be available and individual cell phones can be used to summon a sightseeing bus simply by sweeping a two-dimensional code. Our 1,000 volunteers are expected to offer meticulous and considerate services. I believe some of you have already attended the previous three sessions as journalists, and your arrival this time will be a refreshing experience with the new look of Wuzhen.

The World Internet Conference has been successfully held for three consecutive years, having drawn immense attention and achieving broad consensus. Wuzhen has created an outstanding monument in the history of global Internet evolution. The curtain of the Fourth World Internet Conference will rise in less than 20 days and we expect to welcome you with the splendid sceneries of Wuzhen and the outstanding performance of the conference. Thank you.

Hu Kaihong:

Thank you, Mr. Ren. Now the floor is open to Ms. Ge.

Ge Huijun:

Good afternoon, everyone. The World Internet Conference is scheduled to kick off again for its annual meeting in Wuzhen. We always keep in mind General Secretary Xi Jinping's sincere concern and ardent expectations in Zhejiang Province and Wuzhen as well as his ideas for internet governance. We spare no efforts in making preparations for the conference and strive to fulfill the promise to make it better than before. Here, I'd like to invite you to Wuzhen to feel the changes the conference has brought to Zhejiang. I will introduce three new aspects.

First, to experience the evolvements of a millennium-old town. Over the past four years, every day in the water town of Wuzhen is a new day. This year, as a result of urban planning and renovation efforts, the newly developed downtown area accounts for nearly three-fifths of the previous total. Its picturesque scenery and the Wuzhen International Theatre Festival attract attention from all over the world. The town's vitality is stimulated by several internet projects, such as Wuzhen Comprehensive Experimental Zone for the Internet Innovation and Development, Wuzhen Big Data High-tech Industrial Park and Wuzhen Internet Featured Town which have all been approved, as well as a series of high-quality projects with a total investment of over one billion yuan. Wuzhen has become a smart town as a group of smart programs, including the Wuzhen intelligent old-age care system and the Wuzhen internet hospital, bring convenience and happiness to local life. The ancient town is even more charming thanks to the conference.

Second, to experience the latest achievements of smart technology. This year's conference will give more attention to displaying the world's top internet technologies. During the conference, Alibaba, Baidu, Huawei, SAP of Germany, Kaspersky Lab and other well-known domestic and overseas internet brands will unveil a batch of the latest cutting-edge achievements. We will also exhibit dozens of projects offering smart user experiences, such as Alibaba's unmanned supermarket, iFLYTEK translator machine,Utry smart robot and display of achievements in quantum communications. The information management and service level of the conference will be further enhanced. I believe we will have a cooler, more dazzling sensory experience.

Third, to experience the highlights of the conference agenda. Apart from major events such as the opening ceremony, forums, the Light of the Internet Expo and the Release Ceremony of World Leading Internet Scientific and Technological Achievements, this year our signature event "Dialogues Between Internet Tycoons" will continue to be held at more than 20 venues in Wucun Village where relevant facilities have been further improved, providing a good platform for exchange and cooperation within the internet industry. In addition, the folk dance performance "Hua Mulan" choreographed by the China National Opera House and the Ningbo Song and Dance Theater will be staged, which perfectly combines traditional Chinese culture with modern technology.

Friends of the media, the CPC Zhejiang Provincial Committee and the Zhejiang Provincial People's Government attach great importance to the preparatory work for the World Internet Conference and the preparations are currently in full swing. At present, arrangements for major events are basically finished, and special events are under careful preparation. Conference-related services such as the press conference center, foreign participant reception and volunteer training are being advanced in an orderly way. As the host, we have set high standards for ourselves in order to deliver high-quality work and to entertain our guests with a more exciting and globally influential conference.

Here I would like to take the opportunity to express our gratitude to our friends in the media for your long-term concern and support for Zhejiang Province. At the same time, I would also like to extend our invitation to old and new friends to visit Wuzhen to attend the World Internet Conference and to renew our friendship. Thank you.

Hu Kaihong:

Now, let's move on to the question-and-answer session. Please identify the media outlet you represent before raising your question.

CCTV:

The theme of the conference is "Developing the Digital Economy for Openness and Shared Benefits." I would like to know why the host decided on such a theme. And can you brief us on the development of China's digital economy? Based on the theme, will there be any different contents we can expect to see in this year's conference? Are there any new cooperative projects? Thank you.

Ren Xianliang:

Let me answer your questions. The G20 Digital Economy Development and Cooperation Initiative, initiated by China at last year's G20 summit, was the first digital economy policy document ever endorsed by the G20 leaders. It has aroused great attention from the international community. At the Second World Internet Conference, President Xi put forward "four principles" and "five proposals", calling for building a community of a shared future in cyberspace.

Over the past two decades since China first fully gained access to the internet in 1994, it has become a giant in the field, developing a brilliant digital economy. The digital economy has emerged as a leader in driving innovative development of the national economy. In 2016, China's digital economic aggregate reached 22.4 trillion yuan, accounting for 30.1 percent of GDP. The volume of e-commerce transactions reached 26 trillion yuan. Online retail business has seen average annual growth of 30 percent. The number of Chinese netizens has reached 750 million. Alibaba and JD.com both reported new records in Singles' Day sales last weekend. Trade on Alibaba's Tmall platform hit 168.2 billion yuan during this particular shopping spree, and that at JD.com was 127.1 billion yuan. These are world-leading performances.

The highlights of this year's conference can be described as follows. First, highlighting innovation. At the session on cutting-edge technology, which is new this year, attendees can discuss such topics as artificial intelligence and shared economy, addressing the future trend of the global internet. Second, highlighting shared benefits. At the session on the internet and society, we will, following the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, discuss the roles the internet plays in poverty alleviation and disaster reduction as well as the issue of cultural protection. Third, highlighting the expected international impact. This year, we will co-organize some events with the GSM Association and the World Intellectual Property Organization so as to expand international engagement. I think you should pay special attention to the release of the advanced technological achievements at the conference. Last year, we made the first release. This year, we have received many applications for release from innovative companies around the world. Now, we have collected nearly 1,000 advanced technological achievements for shortlisting, and will announce the most innovative, cutting-edge ones at the conference.

Phoenix TV:

Can you tell us which world-famous internet firms will attend the conference? And how has the international community responded to the Chinese approach to internet development? Is there a timetable for companies like Google to come back to China and firms like Facebook to make an entry? Thanks.

Ren Xianliang:

Thank you. The Chinese internet firms Alibaba, Tencent, JD and Baidu-- which are among the top ten internet firms across the globe -- will attend the conference with their respective CEOs, namely, Jack Ma, Ma Huateng (Pony Ma), Robin Li and so on. Foreign firms, like Microsoft, Cisco, Oracle, Qualcomm, Intel, IBM, Bloomberg, Dell and SAP also take the conference very seriously and will send their executives to attend.

As for Google and Facebook, (you can refer to) General Secretary Xi Jinping's pledge at the press conference after the 19th National Congress of the CPC that China would unswervingly open up further. In addition, he also promised to build a cyberspace community of a common future at the Second World Internet Conference. You can see that we are wide open to the world, including the internet sector. We have always been open to foreign internet firms which come to China to share the rewards of China's development and the achievement of China's reform. Of course, we also require and hope that these firms abide by China's rules and regulations, and we will protect their rights accordingly. That's all. Thank you.

Zhejiang Daily:

We know that the World Internet Conference has been hosted in Zhejiang three times and has become an influential meeting both in China and abroad. What benefits will such a high-level and large-scale meeting bring to the local people in the province?

Ge Huijun:

You have raised a very good question. The conference has become an important meeting for the global internet sector and has drawn global attention to Wuzhen and Zhejiang, unleashing an increased spill-over effect. The conference has brought more opportunities to the development of Zhejiang and great benefits to the local people. I want to amplify this point by sharing the benefits of the "Internet Plus" project with you.

The "internet plus life" project allows people to enjoy the convenience brought by the internet. In Zhejiang, cellphone use has made everyday life more convenient. Using apps makes public transport, dining, entertainment and shopping much easier. From large shopping malls to street hawkers, payments can be made just by scanning a QR code.

The "internet plus medical care" project can offer local residents medical services at home. The medical care appointment platform in Zhejiang has developed rapidly as it serves more than 8 million registered users with access to 300 hospitals. Local people can make an appointment at home. In addition to the Wuzhen Internet Hospital, many other hospitals have developed their online medical care. For instance, Zhoushan, an island in Zhejiang, has an online hospital by which local people can be given high-quality medical care through online interviews and diagnosis without leaving home.

"Internet plus judicature" refers to the resolution of online disputes. China established its first internet court in Hangzhou, in east China's Zhejiang Province, on Aug. 18 this year. Up to Nov. 7, the court had received 5,753 cases, of which 3,592 have been officially filed. These realized online trial and judgment, offering results through the internet.

"Internet plus government service" enhances government efficiency and ensures that people gain a greater sense of gains. Based on promoting information-sharing, this reform enables the public to enjoy one-stop services and creates a new dimension of government administration. By the end of September, a total of 773 of 797 identified items had achieved such reform, representing 96.99 percent of the total. This was well ahead of the scheduled target of 80 percent.

These aspects I have mentioned are just a few of those being undertaken to improve people's sense of gains, and new stories of the "Internet Plus" in the current Internet Era are being created every day. In Zhejiang Province, the "Internet of Everything" is certainly happening.

Thank you.

Kyodo News:

My question is about the "digital economy", a keyword of the theme of the conference. Foreign-funded enterprises are concerned about China's request that they should keep the computer towers they use to collect big data within China. Could you tell us about big data and foreign-funded enterprises?

Ren Xianliang:

Thank you for your question. Clear-cut policies on big data and foreign-funded enterprises have been made in China's Cybersecurity Law. It stipulates that personal information and important data collected and generated in the People's Republic of China must be stored within its borders. If they are to be stored or transferred overseas, they must undergo security assessment processes. I would like to explain this stipulation. First, it is imposed exclusively on key information infrastructure operators, not all the network operators. Second, it applies only to personal information and important data, not all the data. The importance of the data is measured relative to the country, not any enterprise or individual. Third, the law allows for an institutional arrangement if the data needs to be transferred overseas. If they are proved to be non-harmful to national security and the public interest in the arranged assessment, they are allowed to be transferred overseas. Fourth, personal information can be transferred overseas if permitted by its subjects. The transfer of the personal information generated in international calls, emails and cross-border online shopping is considered to have been permitted by its subjects, thus not being restricted by the stipulation.

People.com.cn:

Wuzhen is famous for being a "water resort south of the Yangtze River." And the internet has also left an indelible mark through it becoming home to the World Internet Conference. I wonder how has Tongxiang City (where Wuzhen is a subordinate county) positioned and planned Wuzhen in terms of tourism and the internet and in expanding the role of the two sectors?

Sheng Yongjun:

Good afternoon, and thanks for the question. As Wuzhen was chosen to be the permanent site of the World Internet Conference [in 2014], we in Tongxiang take great pride in this. It is a key development opportunity for us, as well as a duty and responsibility looking to the future. Regarding Wuzhen, we will preserve its legacy and keep on showcasing the essence of Chinese civilization and the culture specific to areas south of the Yangtze River. Meanwhile, as it is home to the World Internet Conference, we will also make sure Wuzhen demonstrate its "newness." We will let the virtual world of the internet converge with the real world of Wuzhen to provide the ancient town with ever-growing vitality that keeps pace with the times.

We have a very clear plan for developing the tourism industry in Wuzhen. First, raising the quality, namely, we will keep on providing tourism products that feature rich culture, vitality and innovation. Second, expansion. In other words, we will stick to an all-encompassing approach to build a greater Wuzhen scenic area. Third, extension. We will develop other big tourist attractions in Tongxiang to enable interaction between them and Wuzhen. Fourth, spillover effect. We will ensure Tongxiang benefits from the spillover effect of Wuzhen's tourism industry so as to ensure its development as a large scenic area.

As the permanent site of the World Internet Conference, we will promote Wuzhen's development from three perspectives.

First, we will make it a site showcasing the internet development history of China and the world. The town is a witness to the internet revolution and also a promoter of internet culture. We will make the town a place where people can experience the internet's past and present and anticipate its future.

Second, we will make Wuzhen a site that displays the latest internet technologies. We will do our best to facilitate the emergence and application of cutting-edge technology. In this town, one will feel the World Internet Conference's influence on technological progress anytime and anywhere.

Third, we will make Wuzhen an incubator of high-end industries. We will pool all resources to build a complete industrial chain to attract more people and more high-end programs. We want the town to be a place where people can pursue their dreams.

In conclusion, we will seize the chance provided by the World Internet Conference and make Wuzhen the most attractive town in the world. Thank you.

Guangming Daily:

We have noted that one of this year's sub-forums is about "Safeguarding the Future: Online Protection of Underage Users". Would you please tell us the reason for establishing such a sub-forum and what has been taken into consideration?

Ren Xianliang:

Thank you for your concern for minors, which has always been a focal point of concern by Guangming Daily. Minors are the main force of the future of the internet, and teenagers are also described as its "original inhabitants". The development of the internet has profoundly and comprehensively affected the development of our economy and society. As there is a tremendous amount of information available on the Internet, sometimes it is hard to avoid a mingling of good and bad, which can possibly affect teenage physical and mental health.

China attaches great importance to the protection of minors amid the development of the internet, and we have also enacted relevant laws and regulations. By establishing such a sub-forum in the forthcoming World Internet Conference in Wuzhen, we will work together with other countries to deal with common challenges created by the development of the internet, better protect minors, and build a community of shared future in cyberspace. To ensure clean cyberspace, the participating countries will learn from each other, communicate with each other and draw on each other's experiences. Thank you.

Reuters:

Recently, a U.S. NGO put out a report ranking China's internet the least free internet in the world. I am considering a large part of the conference will have to do with the national governance of the internet. How do you view these ideas, and how do you feel about reconciling them with Chinese ideas?

Ren Xianliang:

Thank you for your question. The internet has blazed a development path with Chinese characteristics in China. Fairly speaking, for the past 20-plus years, the internet development in China has proved that China has successful experience in its governance. While we are advocating the free flow of internet information, we are requiring order. We not only let it flow freely, but also in an orderly way. Just as the journalist with the Guangming Daily mentioned just now, we should protect individual information like protecting teenagers. National internet safety is a shared topic for the U.S. and European countries, just as the governance of the rampancy of fake news and rumors is a common issue facing all of us. On the one hand, we should allow information flow freely on the internet, but on the other hand, we need to discuss how to make information flow more orderly. Thank you.

CGTN:

It has been one year since Zhejiang received approval to establish the country's first information economy demonstration area, which has been jointly authorized by the Cyberspace Administration of China and the National Development and Reform Commission during the Third World Internet Conference. What progress has been made in the demonstration area and what are the next steps? Thank you.

Ge Huijun:

Thank you for your question and your attention to the development of the national information economy demonstration area in Zhejiang. Last year, the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAV), together with the National Development and Reform Commission (SDPC), approved the establishment of China's first national information economy demonstration area in Zhejiang, which has brought wonderful opportunities for Zhejiang's information economic development. The Zhejiang Provincial Committee of the CPC and Zhejiang provincial government attach immense importance to the information economy and reckon it as the top among its "Eight Trillion-Level Industries" and has introduced related policies and set the stage to boost its development over the year. A lot of progress has been made since then. I will brief you on a collection of data to illustrate this.

In the first three quarters of this year, GDP growth hit 8.1 percent in Zhejiang. The value-added contribution of core industries in the information economy exceeded 345.4 billion yuan (US$52 billion), growing by 15.9 percent, accounting for 9.35 percent of Zhejiang's GDP. The information economy has become the pillar industry of the province. We have to pay attention to and promote the following aspects.

First, Zhejiang is striving to become a front-runner in the "Internet Plus" technological innovation program. Last September, the provincial government united with Alibaba to set up the "Zhejiang Lab," aiming to attract more high-end corporations and talent to the province to promote the new economy.

Second, we attach great importance to cloud technology. There are many corporations engaged in this area, including HIK Vision, H3C Technologies and NetEase. At present, the province is accelerating the construction of the platforms of "Digital Zhejiang" and "Zhejiang in the Cloud."

Third, Zhejiang is expediting promotion of the new economy, new businesses and new models. Here are two examples: One is the two-year-old "Dream Town." There are more than 10,000 entities and more than 2,000 startup projects with combined capital of 168 billion yuan. The other is Yunqi, where the annual Yunqi conference is held. It has become a magnet for global internet and technology participants.

Information economy has become a new driver in the province's economic growth. It is also the main field for innovation and startup projects. We sincerely hope that, through the platforms provided by the World Internet Conference, and the national demonstration zone of the information economy, an ever-increasing number of corporations will move to Zhejiang and to Wuzhen to achieve fruitful results. Thank you.

ZJSTV.com:

The World Internet Conference has been successfully held three times, which were greatly supported by the Tongxiang government. With great changes brought by the conference, people are looking forward to better benefits from it. So what kind of benefits has the World Internet Conference brought to Tongxiang and the town of Wuzhen? Thanks.

Sheng Yongjun:

Thanks for your questions, as well as the attention from the media all the time. The benefits that the World Internet Conference has brought to Tongxiang and the town of Wuzhen could be summarized from three perspectives.

Firstly, we enhanced industrial competitiveness. With the conference as the platform for bringing together all the factors and players to converge to make a real difference, Tongxiang has further adjusted its industrial structure, improved its quality, and enhanced competiveness. In 2017, Tongxiang ranked 27th on the list of the top 100 counties in the country. The convergence of internet and third-tier and fourth-tier industries has been deepened over the past three years. Emerging industries such as smart agriculture, smart manufacturing, the integration of information technology and industrialization, and smart tourism gave a fresh impetus to the traditional industries. Over 200 internet projects such as driverless vehicles, 5G networking, and digital science have been launched in the town of Wuzhen, representing a fusion of West and East. The internet industry, with its imagination, has bred an international city.

Second, local governments' capacity for social governance has been enhanced. Through e-governance" and online license applications, we are vigorously creating a new normal of "offering one-stop government services" and "transmitting data so that the people make fewer visits." Smart policing and security have been widely applied. Self-governance, rule of law and rule of virtue are developing in a coordinated way. With the utilization of the internet, Tongxiang has established a huge network of social governance covering its total area of 727 square kilometers. In this way, our people have gained a stronger sense of benefit and security.

Third, more benefits have been delivered to the people. We have stayed true to the mission of meeting people's aspirations for a better life, seeing to it that the conference and internet tangibly benefit our people. Free Wi-Fi is available in all public places with over 13,000 IP points. Smart transport, healthcare and elderly care together with other outcomes of the intelligence transformation have made people's lives more convenient and more colorful.

Wuzhen is a window through which China communicates with the world and a ferry where the boat of dreams sails from. The ancient water town is now at the forefront of industrial development. In jointly "Building a Cyberspace Community of a Common Future," we will uphold "Spirit of the Red Boat," keep our missions in mind and strive to be a pioneer. We will make continued efforts to contribute Wuzhen's wisdom, spread its voice and create its legend.

China News Service:

What kinds of technological achievements will be highlighted at this year's conference? What's new compared to last year? Thank you.

Ren Xianliang:

Just now, I mentioned that this year's conference will be themed on "Developing the Digital Economy for Openness and Shared Benefits — Building a Cyberspace Community of a Common Future" which has the following main features, including enhanced innovation, shared benefits and internationalization. Innovation, mostly innovation in advanced technologies of the internet, especially artificial intelligence, will be the most prominent feature this year, while artificial intelligence will also be in the limelight at the conference. We welcome you to attend the releasing ceremony of advanced technological achievements we have collected from around the world and pay a visit to the Light of the Internet Expo. A lot of technological outcomes will be showcased at the expo and I will not list them one by one here.

We have collected nearly 1,000 technological achievements covering different sectors related to Internet, including informatization, smart cities, big data, artificial intelligence, 5G communication technology and quantum technology. All of them I believe you will find fresh and new. I believe you will find topics you are most interested in. Thank you.

Hu Kaihong:

This is the end of today's conference. Thank you to the three contributors and thank you to the reporters.

Speaker:
Mr. Zhu Guangyao, vice minister of the Ministry of Finance

Chair:
Xi Yanchun, vice director-general of the Press Bureau, State Council Information Office

Date:
Nov. 10, 2017

Xi Yanchun:

Ladies and gentlemen, good afternoon. Welcome to this press conference. Today, we are delighted to have with us Mr. Zhu Guangyao, vice minister of the Ministry of Finance.

He will introduce the economic outcomes achieved during the China-U.S. presidential meeting in Beijing, and answer some of your questions.

Now, I give the floor to Mr. Zhu.

Zhu Guangyao:

President Xi Jinping and U.S. President Donald Trump held in-depth talks on Nov. 8 and 9 during the latter's first state visit to China. President Trump is the first head of state received by President Xi since the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) last month. An important consensus was reached during the successful and historic presidential meeting, charting the course and drawing up a blueprint for the sound and sustained development of Sino-U.S. relations in the coming decades.

President Xi said during the meeting that China-U.S. economic ties were mutually beneficial and covered a wide range of fields including the macro-economy, trade, investment and international economic cooperation. Continued stable development of these ties will not only be of benefit to the two peoples, but also be a major contributor to global growth. China and the United States should face all economic issues in a forward-looking and constructive way and resolve problems by expanding economic cooperation. President Donald Trump expressed agreement with these views.

China and the United States have maintained close coordination on financial, currency and exchange rate policies, as well as structural reforms and global economic governance. The two countries will work together to promote robust, sustainable, balanced and inclusive growth of the global economy. As well, both sides will encourage their aviation regulators to sign the Implementation Procedures for Airworthiness under the Bilateral Aviation Safety Agreement.

As an effort to implement the plans on opening the country wider to the outside world set out during 19th CPC National Congress, China has made the following decisions: to ease the proportion limitations on single or multiple foreign direct or indirect investment converted into securities, funding management and futures corporate structural establishment to 51 percent pending removal of the limit in three years' time; to lift the proportion restrictions of no more than 20 percent and 25 percent on foreign single and joint shareholding respectively in Chinese banks and financial capital management companies, and impose equal proportion restrictions on bank equity for Chinese and foreign investors; to lessen the proportion limit to 51 percent on single or multiple foreign investment into life insurance companies in three years' time and to lift the limit entirely in five years; to make a moderate reduction in car import tariffs in a gradual manner, and to launch trials on lifting the proportion limits on foreign shareholdings in special-purpose and new energy vehicle companies in pilot free trade zones before June, 2018; to implement the same value-added tax (VAT) policy on imported and domestic dried distiller grains (DDGS) and remove VAT on imported DDGS.

China urges the United States to relax its export controls on high-tech products, fulfill its obligations under Article 15 of the Protocol on China's Accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO), give fair treatment to Chinese enterprises investing in the United States, facilitate China International Capital Corporation's independent application for offering financial services in the United States and take a prudent attitude towards trade remedial measures. Both sides will maintain communications on one-year and medium-to-long term economic cooperation plans.

The two countries signed business deals and bilateral investment agreements worth $250 billion during President Trump's visit to China. That's all I want to share with you on the economic outcomes achieved during the China-U.S. presidential meeting in Beijing.

Now, I am ready to take your questions.

Xi Yanchun:

Now let's open the floor to questions. Please identify your media outlet before asking your questions.

Bloomberg:

As we can see from the two-day meeting, there was a natural chemistry between the two leaders. But it seems that there is no fundamental change taking place in the economic structures of both sides. And President Trump said that the China-U.S. relationship is not sustainable and fair. And it is said that more stronger measures will be taken by the U.S. government in the future weeks. So, how do you see the economic relations between China and U.S.? And will there be more measures taken to change the trade structure?

Zhu Guangyao:

At first, I quite agree with your opinions that both sides showcased a good interaction on the basis of mutual respect. The sound communication and coordination of both sides at the highest level ensured the healthy and sustainable development of China-U.S .relations. Since the Mar-a-Lago meeting, President Xi Jinping and President Trump have kept close communication. Looking back over the last months, the topics of discussion range from global issues to the specific China-U.S. economy, including various ways to communicate such as face-to-face encounters, exchanging telephone calls and sending letters. Since President Nixon's tour of China 45 years ago, the close communication between China and America is based on the mutual-respect, and laying a solid foundation for sustainable and healthy development of China-U.S. relations. And concerning your second question, about the future development of China-U.S. economic relations, I think this is directly linked to the sound communication between both sides. China-U.S. economic and trade relations are essentially mutually beneficial.

Just now I have noted that, during their talks in Beijing, President Xi particularly stressed to President Trump that seeking mutual benefits and reciprocity is the essence in the economic relations between China and the United States. President Xi also stressed that China-U.S. economic relations covers many areas like trade and investment as well as extensive cooperation in the field of the international economy. In this regard, President Trump expressed full consent. The important consensus reached by President Xi and President Trump aims at maintaining the sustainable and healthy development of China-U.S. economic relations and benefiting the Chinese and American peoples.

Certainly, the rapid development of China-U.S. economic relations doesn't just mean the annual over US$420 billion in total trade volume and over US$200 billion in bilateral direct investment. The figures are hardly a reflection of China-U.S. economic relations, in which the interests of both sides are closely intertwined and the two sides share in benefits. In other words, the two countries have become a community of close integration and shared benefits. On this premise, it is the aspiration of both sides to resolve the problems and contradictions arising from the rapid development of economic relations through consultations. It is a problem that President Trump wants to solve, and it is a problem that President Xi Jinping has already instructed relevant departments of the Chinese side to solve by enhancing policy coordination with the American side. All the approaches are to ensure the healthy and sustainable development of economic relations between China and the United states.

In preparation for President Trump's visit to China and the important meeting between President Xi Jinping and President Trump in Beijing, under the framework of a comprehensive economic dialogue between China and the United States, Chinese Vice Premier Wang Yang has maintained close policy communication and contacts with U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross and Secretary of the Treasury Steven T. Mnuchin. U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross visited China twice and made phone calls with Vice Premier Wang Yang many times. All the efforts made by both sides are to ensure that the meeting in Beijing between state leaders of China and the United States can achieve the desired results, which are not only substantive, strategic, and directional, but also specific and commercial.

As you can see, just now I have made a brief introduction of the common understanding of both sides on the nature of economic relations between the two countries, and the specific measures taken by the Chinese side to expand market access. The measures were hammered out in accordance with the principles defined in the 19th CPC National Congress and the strategic plans made by President Xi Jinping. In this regard, I think the approach will have a long-term, continuous impact. In terms of business cooperation, it doesn't just mean the over US$250-billion in contracts, either.

We believe that, with the joint efforts of both sides, the economic relations between China and the United States will realize a dynamic balance, mutual benefits and win-win situation, as president Xi Jinping stressed to President Trump during their talks in Beijing. Thank you.

CCTV:

There were lots of economic achievements made during the meeting between the two state leaders in Beijing, just as you have elaborated. My question is: What specific influences will these achievements have?

Zhu Guangyao:

President Xi Jinping has reiterated that the economic relationship between China and the United States is the bedrock of global stability and a booster of world peace. Evolving from the past to the present, this bilateral economic relationship has become increasingly close and has remained unbroken. With the development of a community of shared interests, the two countries have fully recognized that they must cooperate with each other for the sake of the two peoples and for the peace and development of the world.

Cooperation is the only correct choice for the two countries. This is the conclusion made by President Xi. Facts have proven that cooperation is conducive to the interests of the two peoples as well as to the peace and development of the world.

The economic achievements reached between us, such as broadening mutual market access and signing enormous volumes of pragmatic business contracts, will lay comprehensive and strategic influences on China-U.S. economic relationship, and will boost further development of the relationship. They will also leave a lasting, positive and helpful influence in the future.

Just like the icebreaking trip made by the late U.S. President Richard Nixon 45 years ago, President Trump's state visit to China will be remembered in history for the fruitful achievements it has made and the profound influence it has left. Thank you.

Wall Street Journal:

Can you clarify what you said earlier on the restriction changes to the banking, securities and insurance sectors? Can you explain in more detail the timeline and also the roadmaps for that?

Zhu Guangyao:

First, for securities and funds, China decided to relax the restrictions on shares owned by foreign individuals and groups in securities, fund management and futures companies from 49 percent to 51 percent, via both direct and portfolio investments. This is a significant change. In other words, foreign investors can hold over 50 percent of the total stake. Moreover, that restriction is no longer applicable after three years, which means that the 51 percent restriction will evolve into literally no restrictions at all for foreign investors. This will have a great impact on the reform of the securities and fund sectors.

Second, China will lift the restrictions on shares owned by foreign individuals (no more than 20 percent) and groups (no more than 25 percent) in China-funded banks and financial asset management companies and apply the same rule in the share of equity investment for both domestic and foreign investors.

Third, China will relax the restrictions on shares owned by foreign individuals and groups in insurance companies operating life insurance businesses to 51 percent in three years and lift the restriction in five years.

Therefore, the securities and funds, banking and insurance sectors, especially life insurance businesses, will definitely open up, and the impact is great. Moreover, there is a clear timeline for the opening up. Of course, after the announcement of the policy, related financial regulatory bodies will formulate specific implementation measures in accordance to Chinese laws and regulations. I think this will be very quick, because that is what President Xi Jinping has pointed out in his report to the 19th CPC National Congress on relaxing market access and expanding the opening up of the service sector.

We will work out the timeline and roadmap for the reform of the financial sector in accordance to the important instructions made by President Xi Jinping and the arrangements made by the CPC Central Committee and the State Council. This is a very good timing for us to announce China's reforms in the financial sector, especially the major reform measures with regard to market access of the financial sector. Thank you.

Phoenix Satellite TV:

How could the heads of state of China and the United States achieve so many economic and trade results in a course of two days? We're pretty surprised at the US$ 253.5 billion deals between the two countries, as well as China's announcement of a relaxation in market access requirements. What are the reasons behind all of those achievements? Thank you.

Zhu Guangyao:

Thank you. Just as I said when answering the first question, the two heads of state have attached unprecedentedly high importance to China-U.S. economic cooperation. You are right that their meetings lasted only for a couple of days. However, I can tell you that the working groups of both sides were in close contact in preparation for the summit meeting ever since the two leaders met at the Mar-a-Lago resort. President Xi has been attaching much importance to China-U.S. economic relations. He has stressed we should strengthen China-U.S. economic relations and ensure its full and effective role as the anchor and promotion of bilateral relations. China's working group has followed President Xi's instruction in this respect. Under the framework of the China-U.S. Comprehensive Economic Dialogue, Vice Premier Wang Yang has called meetings, listened to reports, coordinated related departments to implement President Xi's important directions, promoted the implementation of the economic arrangement, including aspects such as market access, that were stressed by President Xi in his report to the 19th CPC National Congress.

The achievements are thanks to the special attention paid by the two heads of state, the efforts made by Vice Premier Wang Yang, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, who led the Comprehensive Economic Dialogue, as well as the reinforced coordination efforts of the bilateral working groups. The achievements could not be possible without the unprecedented mutual trust between the two heads of state, their special attention to China-U.S. economic relations, the direct instructions on specific works made by Vice Premier Wang Yang, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, as well as the unprecedentedly close policy exchanges between the working groups. The summit meeting was short, but the preparations were long. I think the positive impact from their meeting is historic and long-lasting. Thank you.

Nihon Keizai Shimbun:

What overseas financial institutions have long been expecting is the openness of China's financial market; however, there are always some constraints that have not been removed. Why does China decide to open the financial market this time? What contexts, if any, or reasons are there for doing so? Thank you.

Zhu Guangyao:

The best answer to this question can be illustrated by President Xi's report delivered at the 19th CPC National Congress. According to the strategic plan, China will press ahead with opening up financial market access, fleshing out the related schedules and implementing blueprints for this. There is one more point that I would like to make it clear: despite the timing of China's announcement of wider financial market access during the meeting between the two heads of state of China and the United States, the openness is for all the countries in the world, which is the fulfillment of a commitment made in line with the principles of the WTO. As one of the important members of the WTO, China will unswervingly uphold the spirit of free trade and commit itself to the implementation of its principles. It will never close its door after opening up; on the contrary, the door can only swing open even wider. That is what President Xi has stressed time and time again. Thank you.

CRI:

We have noticed that during U.S. President Donald Trump's visit to China, enterprises of both sides have showed great interest in the establishment of Belt and Road investment platforms. Could Mr. Zhu comment on this? Thank you.

Zhu Guangyao:

Thank you. The issue you mentioned is very important. President Xi Jinping emphasized many times during his meeting with President Trump and later with the press, as well as at the U.S.-China Business Exchange, that China welcomes the participation of U.S. companies in its Belt and Road Initiative.

This was first proposed by President Xi in 2013, with the aim of facilitating policy coordination, facilities connectivity, unimpeded trade, financial integration and strengthened people-to-people ties, based on the principles of extensive consultation, joint contribution and shared benefits. The Initiative conforms to the trends of world development and meets the expectations of the people of all countries. Under the circumstances of economic globalization, we would like to work with other nations to promote economic cooperation and to build a community with a shared future for mankind.

Any interest shown by U.S. firms in China's Belt and Road Initiative is their own choice, with the purpose of searching for business opportunities and expanding market share. Of course, this is welcomed. We sincerely hope that U.S. market-oriented firms can meet their profit targets, and jointly push forward the growth of world economy with us.

In regard to any cooperation with a third party, American and Chinese enterprises should always follow the principles of market-oriented and independent decision-making in order to gain bigger profits.

In fact, the Belt and Road Initiative has received extensive recognition throughout the world. Meanwhile, it has been warmly welcomed and supported by many multilateral institutions, including the United Nations and the World Bank. We do believe that, in the process of building a community with a shared future for mankind, cooperation between Chinese and American companies will not only bring about benefits to the people of our two countries, but also make contributions to world peace and development.

CNN:

You just mentioned about contracts and agreements with a value of more than US$250 billion; however, many critics in the U.S. say these agreements have more symbolic than actual meaning, because many of them have no binding force. They think of them as China's gifts to President Trump so that he can be accountable to his American constituents. I wonder how you would respond to that interpretation, and could you explain how long it will take exactly for these agreements to demonstrate their paper value of US$250 billion? Are all these agreements newly reached, or were they signed before and just officially announced this time?

Zhu Guangyao:

Your question touches on the impact and the basis of commercial contracts. I think commercial contracts can only be reached when the supplier and the recipient both have the intention to fulfill their agreement; and, for intentional agreements, they can only be carried out after the two sides have undertaken sufficient and necessary study on their feasibility. Meanwhile, entrepreneurs of both sides involved were very smart and clever in this process. In terms of weighing up their interests, the two sides in the negotiations actually focused much on how to address their own interests and to meet the shared interests of both sides. Market rules and the dominance of companies are what China has been upholding throughout the contract negotiation, and so has the U.S. As a market economy, market rules must be upheld, and the dominance of companies is a fundamental principle. Without the real intention of the companies involved, it would be impossible to sign and implement big contracts like these.

Among the contracts signed yesterday, the biggest was a strategic cooperation framework agreement between China's National Energy Investment Group Ltd. and the State of West Virginia for a demonstration project with regard to complete industrial chain development of shale gas. It is an intentional agreement as our CNN friend has mentioned just now, but I can make it clear that, as we have heard from a Chinese company, namely the original Shenhua Group, they have made substantial preparations for the investment in West Virginia, including the input of funds. So, although the contract is a statement of intent, it carries high commercial feasibility considering the substantial preparations and prior-period input. A big contract like this really requires the efforts of both sides, which cover studying the market environment: how to create a more favorable environment for the companies. We think this project is indeed a very big one, with a value of more than US$80 billion, so it will take a long time to fully execute; however I value its impact more on the healthy development of China-U.S. economic relations, because President Xi has reiterated that China-U.S. economic relations are the anchor and driving engine for the overall China-U.S. relationship, and President Trump has also made clear that he is very keen on cooperation in big projects. I think the cooperation on such a large project is rare in the histories of China and the U.S. and even in the world history. We sincerely hope that it will become one of the greatest driving forces to ensure the healthy development of China-U.S. economic relations. Of course, the two sides should benefit from the cooperation in the first place. West Virginia wants to improve its employment and investment situation, and China also hopes to benefit from its involvement in the full industrial chain development of shale gas deposits in the U.S.

Meanwhile, I would like to emphasize that, in terms of policy appeals, sometimes it is China that makes the proposal, but eventually it comes down to the two sides reaching an agreement. The long-term contract of liquefied natural gas (LNG) is a good example. In the preliminary outcomes of the 100-day plan concerning the China-U.S. economic cooperation, China has a very clear policy appeal that the U.S. should allow LNG exports, and should allow China and U.S. companies to sign long-term contracts in this regard. Frankly speaking, China had been putting forward this request for a number of years; however, the U.S. did not lift restrictions on LNG exports to China for a variety of reasons, domestic legislation in particular. The preliminary outcome of the 100-day plan had realized LNG exports to China, and the U.S. had begun studying the signing of long-term supply contracts. Now, months later, the appeals of the U.S. have become stronger, hoping to sign a more fixed, long-term and big supply contract, so we can see that the changing process in the appeals of both sides is also a process whereby the economic interests of China and the U.S are closely linked and integrated. I hope very much that the CNN reporter will report this to the U.S. audience. Thank you.

China National Radio:

During your briefing just now, you mentioned that in the meeting between parties of China and the United States, there was a bilateral airworthiness agreement signed, which was applauded by both sides. May I ask what the significance of this achievement is? Thank you.

Zhu Guangyao:

Thank you. This is also a matter of mutual benefit and win-win for both sides as I just mentioned. Truthfully speaking, this is an important appeal made by China in the 100-day plan for China-U.S. economic cooperation.

However, signing this agreement actually reflects the interests of both China and the United States. Indeed, our large aircraft is on trial. We need cooperation with other countries, especially the United States. At the same time, as the second largest aircraft market in the world, China has great capacity. But, we actually operate half the number of aircrafts compared to the United States. In other words, we are the second largest aircraft market, yet we only have half the number of the United States, so the American Boeing has vast business potential in China.

Because of this, the U.S. enterprises strongly support signing the airworthiness agreement between China and the United States. It is the governments of the two countries that answer the demands of the enterprises of the two countries, so before this state visit of President Trump to China, both sides were able to sign this airworthiness agreement. The agreement, I think, will produce mutual benefits and win-win results for both countries and will have a long-term, effective and positive impact on the future economic relations between China and the United States, especially on the cooperation between both aviation industries. Thank you.

Lianhe Zaobao:

You just mentioned market access in the financial sector. I would like to ask whether there are any other sectors besides the financial sector, where China is going to relax controls over market access. Trump and other American companies have also been paying attention to market access as well as technology transfer and intellectual property theft. Have China and the United States been discussing these issues? If so, what is China's response?

Zhu Guangyao:

As for the issue of market access, just now I have specifically reported on this to you all. The principle China has followed is the substantial relaxation of control over market access and further opening up of the service industry, which was put forward by President Xi in his report to the 19th CPC National Congress. It is very clear - not just for the financial industry. The issues surrounding the financial industry were a consensus reached by both sides during Trump's visit to China. I think, just as President Xi stressed in his report to the 19th CPC National Congress, China will drastically relax control over market access and further open the service sector to the outside world. All relevant departments of the Chinese government are making the necessary timetables and roadmaps. China will become more and more open. The closer the integration of China's economy and the world economy, the bigger the contributions that will be made by China's economic development to the development of the world economy. At the same time, China also benefits from the development of the world economy. Therefore, the close integration between China and the United States are the basis for our close cooperation. Thank you.

Xinhua News Agency:

In your introduction, you mentioned that China will continue to open up in more sectors, including the finance and automobile sectors. My question is, what is the biggest benefit China would gain from the meeting between President Xi and President Trump. And what are the mutual benefits?

Zhu Guangyao:

The meeting between the two presidents is based on mutual respect. The two sides had sincere and frank talks on issues of concern. That means all issues of common concern of both parties were laid on the table. The two sides were both clear that our common goal is to maintain the sound development of Sino-U.S. economic ties, and the bilateral relationship as a whole.

Both presidents have stressed that Sino-U.S. cooperation has a significant impact on the wellbeing of the two peoples as well as on the peace and development of the whole world. Both sides have their aspirations for economic policies. Such aspirations reflect their confidence in each other's markets. American corporations want to be more involved in the Chinese market, eyeing up the opportunity to open more factories and ventures in China. Meanwhile, Chinese entrepreneurs want to invest more in the U.S., and carry out cooperation with U.S. counterparts in the U.S. or in third-party countries. This all results from their mutual confidence in each other's markets and development paths. Based on this confidence, the meeting has lifted the closely related bilateral ties, especially the economic ties, to a higher level.

President Xi pointed out in his report to the 19th CPC National Congress that China will work toward a new form of international relations featuring mutual respect, fairness, justice, and win-win cooperation. The Chinese side will unswervingly follow this principle in conducting negotiations with the U.S. I'm sure this will definitely bring benefits to both Chinese and U.S. peoples and, furthermore, make contributions to the peace and development of the world.

Why has the international community paid such close attention to this meeting and the results it has yielded? Because China and the U.S. are the two biggest economies in the world. As the biggest developing country and the biggest developed country, China and U.S. have their respective responsibilities. President Xi stressed that we have 1,000 reasons to maintain a good relationship between China and the U.S., and not one reason to spoil it, with which, I think, President Trump may have also agreed.

Yesterday, at the state dinner hosted by President Xi, President Trump played a video of his granddaughter Arabella singing Chinese songs and reciting Chinese poems, which was applauded by all the attendees. In her tender voice, Arabella started by greeting "Grandpa Xi and Grandma Peng" in authentic Chinese. Her performance at once brought closer the affection between the Chinese and American peoples. I think the video revealed that President Trump and his family highly value Chinese culture and his belief in the future of bilateral ties, and more importantly, his effort in pushing forward China-U.S. relations.

In his toast at the dinner, President Trump said that the two countries will make efforts to achieve a more just, secure, and peaceful world and a future based on the dreams of our children. I can tell you all that the meeting between the two presidents is of historic significance. From Arabella's video, the performances by the Chinese children at the state dinner, and the interaction between the two presidents and the Chinese children, we can see that the two leaders care much about the future generations of the two countries, and about the world peace and development. I think that is the biggest achievement of the meeting. Thank you.

Xi Yanchun:

Because time is limited, the briefing will end now. If you have other questions, you may contact the news office of the Finance Ministry. Thanks again to Mr. Zhu and all present.