On May 11, the Ministry of Commerce held the regular press conference. Spokesman Sun Jiwen answered the hot issues that concern media at home and abroad. Here is the record:

I. Situation on the Training Conducted by China to the Countries along “Belt and Road”

The Year of 2017 is the key year for implementing President Xi Jinping’s measures announced at the series of summits of the 70th anniversary of the UN and the Johannesburg Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation. Conducting foreign assistant trainings is one of the important measures of the Chinese government to implement the initiative “Belt and Road” and strengthen South-South Cooperation. In recent years, China strengthens resource investment, enriches curriculum offering, innovates training patterns, cultivates more than 100 thousand talents for the countries alongside, expands the “friends circle” alongside, assists and convoys the building of the Belt and Road Initiative.

1. Cultivate high-end talents, and condense cooperation consensus. We have built the Academy of the South-South Cooperation and Development in Peking University, starting academic degree and diploma education on National Development facing the officials of the government and the social elites of the developing countries. In 2016, we selected 49 students from 23 countries, sharing with them China’s methods of governing the country, so as to help them explore the modes and ways of the development of their own countries.

2. Coordinate major projects and consolidate cooperation foundation. We held the 92nd special training in the fields of rail transportation, steel and electric power, training almost 3,000 students. We organized training classes for operation and management of China-Belarus Industrial Park and Zambia Economic and Trade Cooperation Zone. We conducted training for professional talents in inspection and quarantine, statistical information and port management, introduce China’s development experience to the countries alongside, and promote technology and service exchanges and projects cooperation, so as to comprehensively promote their management ability and trade facilitation level.

3. Forge communication platform and promote financial cooperation. We conducted more than 20 special training classes of financial management, held roundtable meetings of financial cooperation, and interpreted the financing policies of the Silk Road Fund and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank. This is to understand the capital demands of the foreign countries, promote bilateral docking and deepen investment and financing cooperation.

4. Be focused on people’s livelihood and poverty alleviation, strengthen communication of the people. We vigorously conducted aid in the field of people’s livelihood like agriculture, education, medical care and poverty alleviation, increased the outbound training of “going out”, and strengthen technology and skills training of the youth and women, so as to help the countries along the line, improve people’s livelihood, create employment and strengthen the ability of self-reliant development.

Next, we will combine the construction of “Five Communications” of the Belt and Road Initiative, continue to strengthen foreign assistant training, design elaborately and prepare thoroughly, so as to make the communication platform of countries along “Belt and Road” more active, the bridge of friendship more smooth, and our “friends circle” even larger.

II. China-Africa Economic and Trade Cooperation in the First Quarter of 2017

Just now I mentioned that this year is crucial for implementing President Xi Jinping’s “10 Cooperation Plans” between China and Africa at the Johannesburg Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation. In the first quarter, the policy bonus of “10 Cooperation Plans” continued to release, driving China-Africa economic and trade cooperation to gain new achievements. Major cooperation index enjoyed a good trend in general with great achievements.

1. China-Africa trade volume was up 16.8% year on year, reaching US$ 38.8 billion. This is the first quarterly increase of China-Africa trade volume since 2015. Among these, China’s import from Africa was US$ 18.4 billion, up 46% year on year, 70 percentage points higher than that of the same period last year; China’s export to Africa was US$ 20.5 billion, down 1% year on year, but the decrease was 17% slower than that of the same period last year. The export of China’s mechanical and electrical products stopped dropping and began to increase, up 3% year on year, among which, the export volume of ships and rolling stock was up 184% and 56% respectively. China’s import of agricultural products from Africa was up 18% year on year.

2. Nonfinancial direct investment of Chinese enterprises to Africa was up 64% year on year, with the value exceeding US$ 750 million. Among these, the investment in Zambia, Nigeria, Kenya, Ethiopia and Uganda all exceed US$ 50 million; and the increase of investment to Djibouti, Senegal and South Africa all surpass 100%.

3. The newly signed contractual projects of Chinese enterprises in Africa was US$ 13.4 billion with the complete turnover of US$ 9.4 billion. Among these, the contract volume of the newly signed contract in Angola, Nigeria and Kenya was up 136%, 132% and 13% year on year respectively. There were 5 newly signed contracts in Africa with the volume over US$ 500 million. The gas power plant project in Nigeria with the contract volume of US$ 1.3 billion is the third largest project of Chinese enterprises newly signed in foreign countries in the first quarter.

We can say that China-Africa economic and trade cooperation in the first quarter realized a good start. We believe that, driven by “10 cooperation plans, China-Africa economic and trade cooperation in 2017 will continue the good trend, step to a higher level, and continue to contribute powers to the economic development of both China and Africa.

III. On the Institute of South-South Cooperation and Development

The Institute of South-South Cooperation and Development is a major move announced by President Xi Jinping at the 70th Anniversary Session of the United Nations, and it is significant to promote the developing countries to share development experience and enhance south-south cooperation.

The Institute of South-South Cooperation and Development was officially set up on April 29, 2016, and it began to enroll the first batch of students on September 9, including masters and PHD students from 23 developing countries. Since it opened, the institute has elaborately designed curriculum, invited well-known professors in economic and political circles to give courses, organize students to observe and study cities like Shenzhen and Huizhou, visited well-known Chinese enterprises, inspected agricultural and industrial production lines on the spot and deepened their understanding on Chinese economic development. Students were universally believed that the south-south cooperation represented by Chinese aid is a good example of mutually beneficial cooperation without additional conditions and the Belt and Road initiative fully reflects China’s ideas of win-win cooperation and common development.

At present, the Institute has begun the recruitment work for 2017 and we welcome the developing countries to choose and recommend students to enroll. MOFCOM will work with Peking University to allocate the most excellent educational resources to make the institute the most attractive national development research institution, the most promising high-end talents training base for the developing countries and the most vibrant exchange platform for the developing countries.

IV. On FTA Construction

Recently, the joint feasibility study on China-Canada FTA, China-New Zealand FTA upgrading negotiations and 8 anniversary achievements for China-Peru FTA have been of people’s high concern. Now I’ll report you the relevant progress.

On April 24-28, the 2nd meeting of the Joint Feasibility Study and Explorary Discussions on China-Canada FTA was held in Ottawa, and good achievements have been made. According to the arrangement, the third meeting will be held in the second half of this year. The two sides will analyze the potential of bilateral trade and economic cooperation in joint feasibility study, exchange views widely on issues of common concern and on expectations for the FTA through explorary discussions, which is to provide reference for the two governments to decide whether to launch the FTA negotiations in the future.

On April 25-27, the first round of China-New Zealand FTA upgrading negotiations was held in Beijing. The two sides conducted fruitful negotiations on issues concerning technical barriers to trade, Customs procedures and trade facilitation, rules of origin, trade in service, competition policies, e-commerce, agricultural cooperation, environment and government procurement. According to the arrangement, the second round of negotiations is scheduled to be held in early July.

China-Peru FTA was signed in 2009 and has been implemented since March 2010, it is the first one package FTA that China signed with Latin American countries. In the past 8 years since then, the FTA has been leading the rapid development of bilateral trade and economic relations with remarkable achievements. In the first quarter of 2017, the bilateral trade value amounted to US$4.83 billion, up 40.7% year on year. China has been Peru’s largest trading partner, largest export market and largest source of imports for three years in a row, and Peru has become China’s fourth largest trading partner in Latin America. According to the FTA, more than 70% products have realized zero tariff. To further play the role of FTA, during President Xi Jinping’s visit to Peru in November 2016, the two sides announced to launch a joint study on upgrading the FTA. At present, the two sides are actively implementing the consensus reached by the leaders of both sides.

V. On Parallel Imports of Automobiles in January-April 2017
To carry out automobiles pilots of parallel imports is an important start to promote supply-side structural reform in auto circulation area. At present, the pilots have expanded to 9 provinces and cities (including cities with independent planning), a series of policies and measures have been issued to promote parallel imports of automobile and the pilot work has made good achievements.

Firstly, the diversified and multi-level vehicle consumer demand was better satisfied. Since the pilot was open, the parallel imported vehicles were 89,636, among which, the number of parallel imported vehicles in January-April 2017 were 26,970, an increase of 1.6 times. In 2016, the imported parallel vehicle models exceeded 140, 20 more than that of in 2015, improving the supply of the automobile market, effectively promoting the automobile market competition, and playing a positive role in guiding the prices of the imported vehicle and even the whole vehicle market to return to a reasonable level.

Secondly, a batch of duplicable experiences was formed. In January 2016, MOFCOM held a symposium of imported parallel pilot work of national vehicles in Shenzhen, summarizing the pilot experience of “one platform and four systems”, namely building the one-stop public service platform, international market procurement system, trade facilitation clearance system, after-sales service assurance system and government supervision and control information system. The “one platform and four systems” collectively embodies the experience of pilot and innovation of the pilot work, focuses on supply of goods, clearance, after sale and supervision these four key sessions, innovates the role of the third-party comprehensive service platform, supports small-and-medium-sized enterprises to carry out the relevant business of parallel import and has a strong significance on further carrying out pilot work.

Next, we will positively implement the deployment and requirements of the State Council on promoting the pilot of automobile parallel import, improve the policies and measures of the pilot, comprehensively summarize and assess the effects of the pilot, accelerate duplicating and promoting the pilot experience, and make greater contribution to expanding automobile consumption, maintaining the turnover and recovery of foreign trade, and promoting the steady economic development.

VI．Administration Penalty Situation of Cases Failing to Declare Concentration of Undertakings according to Law since 2017

Since 2017, MOFCOM has completed its investigation and trial work of four suspected cases failing to declare according to law and made administration penalty decision according to law, including the relevant parties’ stock equity cases such as Meinian Onehealth Healthcare (Group) Co., Ltd purchasing Ciming Health Checkup Management Group Co., Ltd, Guangdong Rising Assets Management Co., Ltd. Purchasing PanAust Ltd, OCI Company LTD purchasing Tokuyama Corporation (Malaysia) and Cummins (China) Investment Co., Ltd and Xiangyang Kanghao Machinery Engineering Co.,Ltd setting up cooperative enterprises case. Investigations show that the above cases form the concentration of undertakings and fail to declare and implement according to law, and don’t possess the exclusive and restrained competitive effects. MOFCOM decided to impose fines on Meinian Onehealth Healthcare (Group) Co., Ltd, Guangdong Rising Assets Management Co., Ltd, OCI Company LTD and Cummins (China) Investment Co., Ltd and Xiangyang Kanghao Machinery Engineering Co.,Ltd with value of 300,000 yuan, 150,000 yuan, 150,000 yuan and 150,000 yuan and 150,000 yuan respectively.

It is hoped that the above punished enterprises and operators can conduct compliance management according to the law, declare the concentration undertakings according to the law, and cannot implement anything without permission. MOFCOM will continue to strengthen the investigation work on the cases failing to declare according to the law, strictly administrate according to law, practically guarantee the legal rights of the party concerned, informer and the third-party, make disposal decision according to the law and protect the market competition order.

Q: On April 28, the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) released the 2017 Special 301 Report. It continued to place China on the Priority Watch List with IP protection concerns. What does MOFCOM think of this?

A: We take note that on April 28, the USTR released the Special 301 Report on IPR and continued to place China on the Priority Watch List. China has serious concerns about it. For a long time, the US unilaterally releases the Special 301 Report, judging and criticizing IPR conditions of other countries. This unfair report is not based on objective standards, thus widely opposed by relevant countries.

China accords high priority to IPR protection. It has taken many effective measures to improve IPR protection, with universally recognized progress. We urge the US to seriously honor its commitment made under China-U.S. Joint Commission on Commerce and Trade and objectively and fairly evaluate the efforts and progress of foreign governments, including the government of China, in IPR protection and enforcement in good faith. China stands ready to work with all countries, including the US, to enhance communications, exchanges and cooperation on IPR and create a more favorable environment for bilateral trade and economic relations.

Q: A document recently released by the WTO mentioned that China suggests that rules on when to levy antidumping and countervailing duties should be tightened. The document says that there have been more types of these duties, which are often abused, resulting in distortion of international trade. What is the comment of MOFCOM on this?

A: According to the mandate of Doha Round Negotiations, the negotiations on rules include the three issues of antidumping, subsidies and countervailing measures and fisheries subsidies. Antidumping and countervailing have always been major parts of negotiations on rules and core components of the Doha Development Agenda. The world economy is making a slow recovery and trade protectionism is on the rise. The ambiguity and vagueness of existing rules and the evolving unilateralism of trade remedies have caused frequent misuse of antidumping and countervailing measures, which seriously disturbed international trade and the domestic market of WTO members under investigation, fueling the rise of WTO disputes.

Under these circumstances, in order to implement the mandate of Doha Round Negotiations and clarify and strengthen existing disciplines, China submitted this proposal on antidumping and countervailing measures based on previous negotiation basis and consensus, to promote balanced negotiations on rules and the healthy development of the multilateral trading system.

The WTO’s Negotiating Group on Rules (NGR) is having broad consultations over disciplines on fisheries subsidies but not on those of China or a specific member. China holds that fishery subsidies, anti-dumping and countervailing measures are all components of rules negotiations and should be advanced in a balanced manner. China has always been committed to the Doha negotiations mandate and actively involved in negotiations on anti-dumping, subsidies and countervailing and fishery subsidies with a view to pushing for a comprehensive and balanced outcome and upholding and developing the rule-based multilateral trading system.

Q: There has been a continuous fall in vegetable price in China and some areas were hit by poor vegetable sales. What measures has MOFCOM taken to prevent farmers from the loss of unsalable vegetable?

A: Vegetable price has been falling since the Spring Festival and has plunged recently. According to MOFCOM statistics, this week the average wholesale price of 30 varieties of vegetables in 36 big and medium cities decreased by 23.1% on the basis of the Spring Festival and 13.1% year on year. The price of 27 varieties in 35 cities has fallen year on year for eight straight weeks to the lowest level in six years.

The main reason for the recent continuous sharp fall is an increase in market supply. This year, the planting area and output of some varieties of vegetable increased. On top of that, a warmer winter and spring caused an early entry in the market of vegetables growing in the north which overlapped with the supply from the south, leading to a surge in supply in this period.

Objectively speaking, abundant vegetable supply enables people to have more choices but we have noted that some varieties in a few areas have become nearly unsalable.

We have given timely guidance to commercial authorities at all levels to address the problem in the shortest period of time. First, we monitor the market and release information more frequently. We have released the latest and accurate information on areas and varieties on the media and commercial information release systems such as MOFCOM’s website.

Second, we strengthen coordination between production and sales. We have helped farmers expand sales through rural e-commerce platforms. For example, Luyi in Henan, Zhoushan in Zhejiang and Liaocheng in Shandong are working actively with supermarkets and farm markets in the local and neighboring communities and encouraging purchasers to buy more. Heze in Shandong set up a special cooperative on Chinese yam and shipped the unsalable variety to Jinan, the capital of Shandong.

In the coming months, the weather in most parts of China will be good for vegetable growth and the price will continue to fall. MOFCOM will watch supply and demand as well as price fluctuations closely, release information in a timely manner and provide better guidance for production and operation.