Xinhua News Agency: How do you evaluate the import and export performance in the first half of this year? How do you view the foreign trade trend in the second half? What measures will MOFOCM taken to support SMEs and stabilize foreign trade?

Gao Feng: This year, foreign trade in China faces grave challenges as never before, weighed down
by factors like COVID-19. Under the strong leadership of the CPC Central Committe with Comrade Xi Jinping as the core, MOFCOM has put into practice the decisions and plans of the central government in real earnest, and worked with other departments to formulate and implement a wide range of policies to stabilize foreign trade. Exporters in China have risen to the challenges, identified opportunities from crisis, and turn changes into new starting points. Thanks to all these efforts, foreign trade has recovered steadily. Export has grown for three months in a row since April. Import registered positive growth in June. The decline of import and export, export and import narrowed by 3.2%, 3%, and 3.3% respectively. Intentionally,China also had more import and export than other major economies in the first five months, according to WTO statistics.
  
Currently, the economy is reopening steadily, but foreign trade still faces a complex and grave external environment, with growing uncertainties and instabilities. Going forward, we will, in collaboration with related authorities, draft a number of new policies to stabilize foreign trade, while ensuring the existing ones are well implemented. We encourage local authorities to create innovative measures that fit local conditions. In particular, to address the shrinking external demand, rising cost, disruption to the flow of people and logistics, we will make the best use of export refund and export credit insurance, increase credit supply, leverage the role of internet, and accelerate new business models and new forms of trade. We will continue to ease burdens for exporters, step up support to MSMEs, and help them explore markets, grab orders, and do whatever it takes to stabilize the fundamentals of foreign trade and foreign investment. Thank you.

MNI: The United Kingdom announced it would impose restrictions on Huawei’s participation in its 5G networks. Will this affect China-UK commercial cooperation? For example, is it likely that British companies face restrictions on China’s market?

Gao Feng: China firmly opposes the UK government’s decision to remove Chinese companies from its 5G networks. This discriminatory practice turns away from the free trade principle always advocated by the UK, severely violates the WTO rules, and dampens Chinese investors’ confidence in the UK. It deals a blow to China-UK business cooperation as well as the credit and status of the UK in the international trading system. China is assessing such practice of abandoning free trade and will take necessary measures to protect the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese companies.
  
We urge the UK to put things right with real actions in view of the big picture of bilateral cooperation and the long-term needs so as to provide an open, fair and non-discriminatory business environment for Chinese investors in the UK and substantively uphold the strong momentum of China-UK trade ties. Thank you.

Economic Daily: At the stage of normalized containment in China, exhibitions have started to resume in various places. How does MOFCOM promote sound development of exhibition industry in the context of normalized containment?

Gao Feng: COVID-19 has hit Chinese exhibition industry hard since the beginning of this year. Under the strong leadership of the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping as the core, MOFCOM has helped companies overcome difficulties and seek steady growth with timely measures based on through research and survey and broadly-solicited comments from the industry.

First, exploring new exhibition patterns and developing online exhibition events. MOFCOM has issued the Notice on the Work of Innovating Exhibition Service Patterns and Cultivating New Drivers for the Exhibition Industry, pushing for innovation in exhibition services, management and business models, in a bid to move faster to foster new drivers for the exhibition industry. Many local authorities and companies have tried to explore new ways to hold exhibitions, with offline exhibitions organized by governments taking the lead in transformation. Striving to build new platforms of online-offline integration, various market players have been actively engaged in running online exhibitions and achieved positive results.

Second, holding essential exhibitions in a proper and safe manner. On July 6, MOFOCM, the Ministry of Public Security and National Health Commission together issued the Guiding Opinions on Normalized COVID-19 Containment for Exhibitions, which explicitly specified that throughout the containment routines, local authorities are responsible for exhibitions held in their own localities. In principle, for the time being high and medium-risk regions would not hold exhibitions, and low-risk regions are allowed to hold essential exhibitions on the premise of proper epidemic risk assessment.
  
In addition, MOFCOM has introduced paperless exhibition approval with no need for “face-to-face” communication. Application and approval for international economic and technological exhibitions have all been put online, thus relieving burden for businesses.

So far, local authorities across the country have been pushing for steady resumption of the exhibition industry. Moving forward, MOFCOM will work with relevant government departments to follow closely the resumption process, summarize and promote the exemplary practices nationwide, keep innovating and improving government services, develop supportive measures, and spare no efforts to create a favorable development environment. We would see to it that exhibition events would be carried out in a science-based, safe, proper and orderly manner while continuing with the COVID-19 containment routines, so as to contribute to the sustainable and sound development of our exhibition industry. Thank you!

That’s the end of today’s press conference. Thank you all!

(All information published on this website is authentic in Chinese. English is provided for reference only.)