Dear friends from the Press,

Welcome to this press conference of the Ministry of Commerce. I am Shen Danyang, spokesman of the Ministry. I am very glad to meet you all again. First I would like to brief you on the commercial performance of China from January to November, and then I will take your questions.

I. China’s domestic market operation

According to the statistics of National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), in November, the total retail sales value of consumer goods amounted to 1.6129 trillion yuan, up by 17.3% year on year. The real growth was 12.8% after adjusting for price factor. From January to November, the total retail sales value of consumer goods amounted to 16.3486 trillion yuan, increased by 17 %. The real growth was 11.4% after adjusting for price factor. Here are the main features of consumption market:

The growth rate of sales business of key monitored enterprises slowed down. In November, sales value of 3,000 major retailers monitored by MOFCOM rose by 13% year on year, 0.5 percentage points lower than that of October. Sales value of major wholesalers monitored by MOFCOM rose by 8.5 %; 1.0 percentage points lower than that of October.

Sales of foodstuffs and clothing commodities increased steadily. According to MOFCOM’s monitoring, in November, sales value of food stuffs and clothing of 3,000 major retailers rose by 16.8% and 14.9% year on year, 0.6 and 2.0 percentage points lower than that of October. Among that, sales value of foodstuffs and clothing rose by 17% and 15.4%, 0.3 and 2.8 percentage points higher than that of October respectively.

The growth rateof sales of home appliance, gold, silver and jewelry and housing-related commodities fell. Sales value of building and decorating materials of 3,000 major retailers in November was up by 6.8% over the same period, 5.6 percentage points lower than that of October; and sales value of automobiles down by 2%, with a decrease of 1.8 percentage points than that of October. Sales value of home-appliance and gold, silver and jewelry in November was up by 12.8% and 21.2% respectively, 1.3 and 9.9 percentage points lower than the previous month. The growth rate of gold, silver and jewelry was the lowest since 2010.

Prices of edible agricultural products fell slightly. Thanks to the sufficient market supply, prices of edible agricultural products fell slightly. The wholesale price of carcass pork, eggs, vegetables and aquatic products key monitored by MOFCOM down by 6.2%, 2.5%, 4.6% and 0.5% respectively. Influenced by the fog, snow and the dropping temperature, the price of vegetables rebounded slightly and that of grains and oils maintain stable.

II. Foreign Trade

According to the statistics by the Customs, China’s imports and exports from January to November registered US$3309.62 billion with a year on year increase of 23.6%. Among that, exports amounted to US$1.72401 trillion, up by 21.1% year on year; and imports was US$1.5856 trillion, up by 26.4%. Trade surplus was US$138.4 billion, a decrease of 18.2%.

In November, the total value of China’s imports and exports was US$334.4 billion, increased by 17.6%. Among that, exports was US$174.46 billion, up by 13.8%; imports was US$159.94 billion, up by 22.1%. The scale of total trade and imports were all in a record high, while export value was the second highest. The growth rate of imports and exports dropped 4 percentage points in October, among that, the growth rate of imports and exports dropped by 2.1 and 6.6 percentage points respectively. The main characteristics of China’s foreign trade are as follows:

First, general trade increased rapidly while proportion of processing trade declined significantly. The imports and exports of China’s general trade in November increased by 22.1% and 26.7%, exports surpassed the overall value in 9 consecutive months while imports surpassed the overall value in 16 consecutive months. From January to November, the growth rate of exports of general trade was 7.4 percentage point higher than the overall growth of exports of the same period, and that of imports was 6.7 percentage points higher than the overall growth of imports of the same period. In November, exports of processing trade increased by 5.2% and imports by 10.7%, the proportion of processing trade over total exports and imports decreased by 3.6 and 2.8 percentage points respectively year on year.

Second, the imports and exports of private enterprises grew faster than overall imports and exports while the growth rate of foreign enterprises slowed down further. Exports and imports of private enterprises in November increased by 28% and 38.6% respectively, 14.2 and 16.5 percentage points higher than the total exports and imports. From January to November, exports and imports of private enterprises increased by 33.3% and 46.3% respectively, 22.2 and 19.9 percentage points higher than that of the same period of last year. In November, exports and imports of foreign enterprises increased by 7.9% and 13.9%, 7.8 and 4.8 percentage points lower than the previous ten months.

Third, the growth rate of electromechanical and high-tech exports fell sharply while export growth rate of some labor-intensive products recovered a bit. In November, exports of electromechanical products and hi-tech products increased by 10.3% and 2%, the growth rate was 7.3 and 11.5 percentage points lower over the previous ten months. From January to November, the growth rate of mechanical and electrical exports fell 17.5 percentage points over the same period. In November, export of footwear, luggage, furniture and plastic products increased by 2.9%, 13.4%, 6.3% and 38.1% respectively, 0.3, 11, 7 and 16.2 percentage points higher compared with that of previous ten years.

Fourth, growth in exports to the EU remained weak while trade with emerging markets increased rapidly. In November, exports to EU increased by 4.9%, 8.8 percentage points lower than the overall exports; From January to November, exports to EU increased by 15.1%, 6 percentage points lower than the overall exports. In November, exports to the U.S., ASEAN and Japan increased by 16.9%, 21.3% and 17.7% respectively, trade volume with emerging markets and developing countries maintained a rapid growth, and trade volume with Russia, Brazil and South Africa was up by 44%, 36.7 % and 82.5% respectively.

Fifth, exports growth slowed down in some coastal provinces but it remained robust in the western region. In November, exports in the eastern region were up by 9.5%, 5.4 percentage points lower than the overall growth rate. In the central and western regions, exports increased by 39.6% and 60.1%. Exports of Chongqing, Henan and Jiangxi provinces were up 3 times, 1.3 times and 1.2 times. In central and western regions, imports increased by 35.1% and 28.6%, imports of Tibet Autonomous Region and Heilongjiang province increased 3-folds and 1.2-folds.

III. Attracting foreign investment

From January to November, 25,086 new foreign-invested enterprises were approved in China, up by 3.23% year on year. The actualized FDI reached US$103.769 billion, up by 13.15% year on year. In November, newly approved foreign enterprises were 2,718, down by 12.91% year on year. The actualized FDI amounted to US$8.757 billion, down by 9.76% year on year.

The growth rate of actualized FDI in service sector continued to take the lead. From January to November, the actualized FDI in service sector registered US$48.768 billion, up by 18.54% year on year. Among that, such sub-sectors as radio, film and television, social welfare, tourism, pipeline transportation, air transportation and local public transportation witnessed a great increase in utilizing foreign investment. The actualized FDI in agriculture, forestry, husbandry and fishery reached US$1.705 billion, up by 1.14% year on year. The actualized FDI in manufacturing sector registered US$47.315 billion, up by 7.56% year on year. The proportion of FDI utilization in service sector surpassed that in manufacturing sector for the first time.

Investment from Asia kept a steady growth while that from the US declined. From January to November, the actualized investment from ten countries/regions in Asia (Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan, Japan, the Philippines, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia and South Korea) totaled US$89.585 billion, up by 17.98% year on year. The actualized FDI from the US reached US$2.739 billion, down by 23.05%. The actualized FDI from the 27 EU countries amounted to US$5.982 billion, up by 0.29% year on year.

Actualized FDI in central region grew dramatically. From January to November, actualized FDI in central region reached US$7.066 billion, up by 27.63% year on year, 14.48 percentage points higher than the country’s average growth rate. The actualized FDI in western region registered US$7.709 billion, up by 14.76% year on year, 1.61 percentage points higher than the average. The actualized FDI in eastern region amounted to US$88.995 billion, up by 12.01% year on year, 1.14 percentage points lower than the average.

IV. Outward investment and economic cooperation

Direct outward investment. From January to November, domestic Chinese investors had directly invested in 130 countries and regions in non-financial sectors, with a total investment of US$50.01 billion, up by 5.2% year on year. By the end of this November, direct investment from China in non-financial sector amounted to US$312 billion. During January-November period, direct investment through merger and acquisition reached US$16.2 billion, taking up 32.4% of the total investment in the same period. Meanwhile, outward investment from the Chinese mainland to Hong Kong, ASEAN, the EU, Australia, the US, Russia and Japan amounted to US$37.227 billion, accounting for 74.4% of the total investment in the same period. Among that, direct investment to Hong Kong and ASEAN kept two-digit growth of 17.9% and 12.4% respectively, and that to the EU reached US$1.998 billion, up 1.3% year on year.

Foreign contracted projects. From January to November, the accomplished turnover of China’s foreign contracted projects reached US$86.3 billion, up by 16.2% year on year; and the value of newly signed contracts reached US$114.12 billion, up by 3.5% year on year. The top ten countries and regions in terms of the value of the newly signed contracts were: India, Hong Kong, Saudi Arabia, Ethiopia, Burma, Angola, Indonesia, Nigeria, Algeria and Malaysia, with a total contract value of US$44.79 billion, accounting for 39.3% of the total value of newly signed contracts.

Foreign labor service cooperation. From January to November, all kinds of labor sent abroad by labor cooperation projects reached 395,000, 38,000 more than the same period of last year. By the end of November, all kinds of labor abroad reached 822,000, 17,000 less than the same period of last year. By the end of November, all kinds of labor sent abroad by labor cooperation projects amounted to 5.83 million.

5. Establishment of National Demonstration Eco-industrial Parks (EIPs)

In recent years, MOFCOM, with joint efforts and participation of Ministry of Environmental Protection and Ministry of Science and Technology, actively support National Economic and Technological Development Zones (ETDZ) to establish National Demonstration Eco-industrial Parks (EIPs). Up to now, 11 ETDZ have been named as EIPs, and 19 have established EIPs with the approval of Ministry of Environmental Protection, Ministry of Commerce and Ministry of Science and Technology.

MOFCOM has given support to ETDZ in its international collaboration with the developed countries in energy saving and environmental protection, and a cooperation mechanism with ETDZ as the carrier for energy saving and environmental protection with Germany, Canada, Switzerland, Japan and Finland has been established and improved. Among them, Qingdao ETDZ has released a conceptual plan of Sino-German Eco-industrial Park, and construction has kicked off. Sino-Canadian cooperation program on energy saving and environmental protection for Beijing Municipality, Beijing Economic and Technological Development Area, and Chaoyang District has been in operation. Other international cooperation programs on energy saving and environmental protection have been carried out steadily as well.

MOFCOM also encouraged financial institutions to step up financial support. The Ministry signed with China Development Bank a Memorandum of Cooperation in Facilitating ETDZ for Eco Construction and Development, under which the Bank will provide a credit line of 30 billion yuan of financial support for ETDZ Eco Construction and Development.

VI. MOFCOM promoted development of livelihood service

In recent years, MOFCOM has been actively promoting the development of livelihood service industries such as catering, accommodation, household service, hairdressing and glooming, bath, washing and dyeing, household electrical equipments maintenance and photographing, and enhancing its standardization, convenience and modernization. Livelihood services has played a important role in driving economic development, increase employment and expand residents’ consumption.

Livelihood service has become more and more standardized. In recent years, MOFCOM has been working on the construction of regulations and standards of livelihood services. Until now, MOFCOM has promulgated industrial management measures of hairdressing and glooming, washing and dyeing, household service and household electrical equipments maintenance, release 65 standards on livelihood services, and at the same time, formulated development guidance during the 12th Five-Year Plan of eight livelihood services industries including catering, accommodation, household services, hairdressing and glooming, bath, washing and dyeing, household electrical equipments maintenance and photographing, so as to boost the scientific development of livelihood services.

The sector of livelihood service has played a bigger role. Since 2009, MOFCOM, together with the Ministry of Finance, have established 137 household service network centers in cities above prefecture-level, which can provide service for at least 50 million households, and increase more than 40% of household service consumption for these cities. In 2011, MOFCOM supported Shanghai and Chongqing to carry out pilot breakfast programs. They have established 95 centers for staple food processing and distribution, set up 18 thousand standardized fixed breakfast service points, providing 9 million people with safe breakfasts, and created 100,000 jobs. According to statistics, employees of China’s catering and household service sectors have reached 22 million and 15 million respectively in 2011. The capacity of livelihood service in creating jobs, driving consumption and offering life convenience is increasing.
That's all for the brief introduction. And now I will take your questions.

China News Service: My question is about China’s foreign trade situation of the next year. Certain experts and institutions forecasted that next year China’s imports and exports contribution to GDP is zero to minus, and the export growth rate may decrease from two digits to single digit. I wonder if you can give an outlook about China’s foreign trade situation of the next year. Thank you.

Shen Danyang: I may say we can not see clearly about next year’s foreign trade situation. But one thing we can be certain about is that, the situation of the first quarter of next year will be tough, due to the grim and complicated world economic situation and the continuing impact of turbulent situation at home and abroad to our foreign trade. Though it is generally expected that our export growth will slow down in the next year, we have confidence to maintain steady foreign trade growth by way of further quickening of structure adjustment and promoting a more balanced imports and exports.

MOFCOM is drafting specific measures according to the requirements brought up by Premier Wen Jiabao during the 110th Session of Canton Fair, the work approach stressed by Vice Premier Wang Qishan at recently held Import and Export Conference of Six Provinces and Municipalities, and especially the spirit of Central Economic Work Conference concluded yesterday. We will focus on the principle of “stabilizing growth, adjusting structure and promoting balance”, strive to stabilize export and expand import, and accelerate transformation and upgrade of foreign trade, so as to achieve the integration of speed, structure, quality and profit. The specific measures will come out at the forthcoming National Commercial Work Conference, mainly covering at least the following three aspects:

Firstly, maintain the continuity and stability of foreign trade policies and keep steady growth of export. Foreign trade policies include such fiscal and financial policies as export tax rebate, and trade promotion policies as well. MOFCOM will continue to take the initiative in consulting with related departments to create a sound trade environment for enterprises. For instance, we will continue to explore measures to ease enterprises’ tax burden, intensify financial support for export enterprises with order in hand and good earnings, and lay special stress on solving difficulties of SMEs.

Secondly, continue to quicken transformation of foreign trade development mode, further optimize import and export commodity structure, and especially promote the upgrade of export structure.

Thirdly, strengthen and improve import work, and further promote trade balance. China’s trade this year is basically balanced, with trade surplus reaching about US$150 billion, while that of last year exceeding US$180 billion. Trade surplus further decreased, when import and export scale expanded. Still, we will further dispose of unreasonable restrictions of imports, enhace import facilitation, and continue to promote trade balance.

What needs to be specially pointed out is that though China's foreign trade situation is grim, both governments and enterprises can still turn crisis into opportunity with proper counter measures. From the past experience, enterprises can still have good opportunity, if they are able to develop new products, explore new markets and create self-owned brands.

China Daily: I have two questions. The first one is about attracting foreign investment, we have noticed that foreign investment from advanced markets like the US and Europe continue to be sluggish, especially investment from the US has kept decreasing, so as the investment of Europe, how do you interpret this phenomenon? The actually utilized foreign investment decreased in November yea on year, and what is your opinion about this? The second is about China-Japan-ROK free trade area. Over the past period, China, Japan and ROK has been conducting government-industry-academia joint study on FTA, and Premier Wen mentioned to finish it within this year, how is the process of the study now? Is it possible for China, Japan and ROK to start FTA negotiation in the next year? Thank you.
Shen Danyang: I will first answer your second question. Just during these days, the working group of China, Japan and ROK are holding a conference in Pyeongchang, ROK, to conduct the final discussion. With the joint efforts of the three sides, government-industry-academia joint research on China-Japan-ROK free trade area has made positive progress, and is expected to complete as scheduled. As we all know, China, Japan and ROK are important East Asian countries, positioned on different links of international industrial divisions. The early establishment of China-Japan-ROK free trade area is beneficial to the economic development of the three countries, and conducive to further tapping the potential of trade and investment potential of East Asia, and will play a positive role in promoting economic integration of the region. China hopes to initiate the FTA negotiation can be launched as soon as possible after the conclusion of the joint research.

As to attracting foreign investment, the decline of US investment in China since this year was caused by multi factors, and the main reason is believed to be decreased investment capacity in the US due to is weak economic performance. We can see from the US foreign investment statistics in the first quarter of this year that its direct overseas investment decreased in general, not only to China. In addition, the US government is actively attracting outbound capital to flow back and encourage foreign investors to invest in the US.

EU’s investment to China from January to November remained basically the same compared with that of the same period last year, mainly influenced by European debt crisis. EU economic prospect is unclear and EU enterprises are less capable to invest overseas.

I want to specially point out, by this opportunity, that with the constant and steady growth of national economy, domestic market potential has been released, industrial supporting capacity is increasingly strengthened, and investment environment is improving. China's long-term advantage of attracting foreign investment is shaping. Surveys carried out by UNCTAD and other international institutions repeatedly showed that, China is still the most attractive country for investment globally. China maintained momentum of fast growth in attracting foreign capital from January to November. You mentioned that foreign investment declined in November. However, I think we should see the trend throughout the whole year, because the monthly figure may be influenced by certain projects. Though global transnational investment remains weak, China’s attraction of foreign investment still keep such a growth. This could be a general trend. During the 12th Five-Year Plan Period, we will, according to national economic development goal and international industrial development trend, adopt measures to further encourage foreign enterprises to invest in our modern agriculture, modern service sector, high-end manufacturing, energy-conservation and environmental protection, to invest in strategic emerging industries, and to invest in advantageous industries in mid-western areas. It is believed US and European enterprises’ investment in China will continue to grow in future.

Economic Information Daily: I have two questions. First is about Sino-U.S. trade frictions. After the U.S. launched anti-dumping and anti-subsidy investigation against imports of solar panels from China, the Ministry of Commerce initiated an investigation of barriers to trade in renewable energy sector against the US. Could you brief on that? The second question, The Ministry of Commerce has made public yesterday a determination on levying anti-dumping and anti-subsidy duties on certain types of U.S. automobiles, and the U.S. made an appeal recently to WTO concerning the chicken dispute with China, could you analyze whether there will be more intense trade frictions between China and the U.S. in the future?

Shen Danyang: The investigation against US policy support and subsidies for the renewable energy industry was filed based on petition by the China Chamber of Commerce for Import and Export of Machinery and Electronic Products and the China New Energy Chamber of Commerce, and was in accordance with MOFCOM Foreign Trade Barrier Investigation Rules, and it is a natural move of MOFCOM to perform its responsibilities so as to maintain a fair trading environment. MOFCOM will review materials submitted by the petitioner in a fair and objective manner, and carefully evaluate whether U.S. supportive policies and subsidies for its renewable energy sector violated WTO rules, and blocked and restrained the development of China’s renewable energy industry. If the investigation results proved the said policy measures violated WTO rules and caused trade barrier, MOFCOM shall adopt corresponding measures, as to start the WTO dispute settlement procedures.

Regarding your second question, the anti-dumping and anti-subsidy investigation against certain types of automobile imported from the U.S. was filed on basis of application by domestic industry. During the investigation, MOFCOM complied with the principles of objectiveness, fairness and rationality, respecting the rights of the interested parties, and made the determination in accordance with the laws and facts.

According to the investigation, dumping and subsidy exist in the investigated products, and have caused material damage to Chinese industry. There exists a causal link between the dumping, subsidy and the material injury.

Since the final determination was released on May 5, 2011, imports of the investigated products from the U.S. saw a rapid growth. From May to October, the import volume grew by 33.5% month-on-month, and 1.3 times year-on-year. The average price saw a decline, with the retail price of imported automobiles decreased by 12.4% in October as compared with that in May. Therefore, MOFCOM believes it is necessary to take measures and decided to levy anti-dumping and anti-subsidy duties against the said products originated from the U.S. upon approval of the Customs tariff Commission of the State Council.

China Consumer Journal: The growth rate of consumer market was high in the beginning of the year and slowed down later on, with consumption of home appliances, jewelry, as well as consumptions related to living and traffic all saw a decline. What is the trend for consumer market in 2012, and will consumptions of home appliances and jewelry further decrease? Besides, the Central Economic Work Conference approved proposals to expand domestic demand, would you please brief us on MOFCOM’s policies to promote domestic demand in 2012? Thank you.

Shen Danyang: China’s consumer market has maintained a steady and rapid growth since 2011, and the total retail sales of social consumer goods rose by 17% year-on-year in the first 11 months with 0.2 percentage points higher than that of the first half of the year. There were two reasons that the growth rate of consumer market was high first and low later:

Firstly, as policies promoting sales in home appliances to rural areas and that promoting sales in home appliance trade-in are to expire, demand for home appliance accelerated recently, which released some consumption demand. In the first 11 months, retail sales of home appliance rose by 20.3% year-on-year, 0.4 percentage points higher as compared with that of the first 10 months. Secondly, as the trend that the prices of commodities increased fast was effectively restrained, especially the monthly increment of the Consumer Price Index (CPI) was down since August, consumer demand was released. And in the first 11 months, retail sales of wheat, oil, food, beverage and alcohol were up 24.9%, 0.2 percentage points higher than the growth rate in the first half of 2011. Thirdly, as the macro-regulation polices on real estate and automobile industries become stable, there was a stabilized demand for products in such areas. In the first 11 months, retail sales of furniture, construction and decoration materials and automobiles were up by 31.9%, 29.2% and 15.2% respectively, increasing 1.9, 0.9 and 0.2 percentage points respectively as compared with that of the first half of 2011.

China's consumer market will face a complex domestic and international environment in 2012, with many unstable and uncertain factors affecting consumption growth. But overall, due to a steady and rapid growth of national economy, there will be sustainable agricultural harvests, a steady growth of industrial production, steadily increased residential income and a gradually improved social security system, which shall provide a sound environment for steady growth of consumption. MOFCOM believes that the growth rate of China’s consumer market will maintain a steady momentum. And MOFCOM is formulating a number of new measures to promote consumption, which will be released on the National Working Conference on Commerce. Of course, with the impact of various factors in domestic and international market, consumption growth might decline in 2012 if there were no new policies to promote consumptions. Thank you.

First Financial Daily: Recently a circular jointly made by Ministry of Commerce and State Administration of Foreign Exchange stipulated that domestic loan of foreign-funded investment companies shall not be used for reinvestment in China, and many people have doubts on that, could you interpret the background and intent of this provision? Thank you.

Shen Danyang：The Circular on the Further Improvement of the Management Measures Concerning Foreign-funded Investment Companies (the Circular) further clarified that foreign-funded investment companies can directly reinvest their legitimate RMB income in China upon approval of the local foreign exchange bureau. It also simplified relevant procedures, improved investment facilitation, optimized investment environment, and as a result will further facilitate foreign invested enterprises to expand business in China.

As for the provision prohibiting foreign funded investment companies from using Chinese loans for investment purposes in China, it is clearly specified in the Lending General Provisions of China that “loans is prohibited to be used in equity investments”. The provision is applicable for both domestic and foreign enterprises, so it is just a reiteration of relevant provisions of the Lending General Provisions. Thank you.

Nihon Keizai Shimbun：My question is about Chinese, Japanese and Korean agreements on investment. The Japanese government hopes to reach agreements within this year. Since it is already mid-December, does China’s government think that we could reach consensus in this year? The Japanese government also hopes to sign the agreements on investment first, and then start the FTA negotiations. What’s China’s position on this issue? Thank you.

Shen Danyang: China is actively pushing forward the joint feasibility study by the government industry and academia. When we can reach a consensus all depends on the progress of negotiations. I have just briefed that the three parties is on their last meeting currently in Korea, discussing the feasibility of a free trade agreement. I believe that we will see results soon.

China National Radio: My questions are about household appliances trade-in policy. First, as the policy will expire soon, will the Chinese government introduce another similar policy to promote consumption? Second, our journalists found that some shopping malls terminate this program ahead of time only because of concerns that it would be difficult for them to receive advanced payments. What do you think of it? How to ensure that consumers can receive the subsidy? Is there a specific deadline? Thank you.

Shen Danyang: According to plan, home appliance trade-in policy is tentatively scheduled to conclude on December 31, 2011. By the two-year implementation, the policy has played an important role in responding to the international financial crisis, expanding consumption and promoting energy conservation and environmental protection and has achieved expected results. In view of this, MOFCOM is working with relevant departments to report to the State Council and suggest the on time conclusion of the program.

After the policy expires, Ministry of Commerce, Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Environmental Protection will jointly issue a notice to leave time for the enterprises to input information. We will also leave a certain period of time for payments of subsidies. Thank you.

Bloomberg News: I would like to ask about the document submitted to United States Congress on December 12 from USTR which alleged that there is still a lot of discrimination on foreign businessman in China and information transparency needs to be further improved. What are Ministry of Commerce’s responses? Thank you.

Shen Danyang: We have noticed the report from the office of the U.S. Trade Representative. To comply with WTO rules and to improve the market mechanism has been China's relentless pursuit since the accession to the WTO. In the past few years, the WTO had reviewed China’s trade policies for three times. The vast majority of members of the WTO gave full affirmation on China's performance and contribution to the global economy. Mr. Pascal Lamy Director-General of WTO gave A-plus for China’s performance since China’s accession to the WTO, and a lot of media had reported about this. A few days ago we held at the Great Hall of People a high level forum to commemorate the tenth anniversary of China's accession to WTO. On the forum, Director General Mr. Pascal Lamy, leaders from IMF, World Bank and UNCTAD spoke highly of China’s performance. I do not know why the United States submit this report with such evaluation at this time, and what their political considerations are. Perhaps the subtext of the United States is to call on China to go beyond its commitments, and further opening the market. We believe that if this is the case, it should be resolved through the Doha Round negotiations. Surely, negotiations should lead to mutual benefit. The United States has asked China to further open up. It would further open markets for China in the mean time. But the reality is the United States still maintains tariff escalation and tariff peak on products that China has a relative export advantage, such as textiles. It also provides heavy government support and export subsidies, which are trade-distorting, on products that developing countries originally have an export edge over the US, such as agriculture products. What’s more, the United States cited "Foreign Investment and National Security Act of 2007 " and blocked more than $20 billion worth of investment from Chinese companies to the US, which is more than five times the total of Chinese investment in the U.S. and has seriously affected Chinese investors' confidence. These are all that need to be solved in a serious manner on the United Sates’side. Thank you.

Shen Danyang: That concludes the press conference today. Thank you.



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