He Yadong: Friends from the press, good afternoon. Welcome to the regular press conference of the Ministry of Commerce. I’d like to start by sharing some information on China’s outbound investment in the first ten months of this year.

From January to October 2023, China’s outbound investment continued to grow, with non-financial direct investment reaching 736.2 billion yuan, up 17.3 percent (equivalent to 104.74 billion US dollars, up 11 percent year on year). In breakdown, non-financial direct investment by Chinese enterprises in Belt and Road partner countries reached 181.69 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 27% (equivalent to 25.85 billion US dollars, a year-on-year increase of 20.1%).

In the first 10 months of 2023, the revenue of overseas projects contracted by Chinese companies was 856.88 billion yuan, up by 8.3% year on year. Newly signed contracts were worth 1,083.07 billion yuan, down 1.1% year-on-year. In breakdown, revenue of projects contracted by Chinese enterprises in Belt and Road partner countries reached 702.32 billion yuan, up 9.6% year on year. Newly signed contracts reached 902.64 billion yuan, up by 0.5% year on year.

This is the information I want to share with you. Now I’m ready to take your questions.

Hong Kong Business Daily: After the US and Chinese presidents met on November 15, how will the working groups implement the outcomes of the meeting and promote economic and trade relations? In particular, has the US responded to China’s concerns over investment restrictions, sanctions against Chinese companies, export controls and tariffs?

On November 15, the Presidents of China and the US met in San Francisco, and set the direction for the development of China-U.S. relations. The Ministry of Commerce will work to implement the important consensus of the two Presidents, strive for sound and steady development of bilateral economic and trade relations, and inject more stability and energy into the world economy.

On the margins of the APEC Economic Leaders’ Meeting, Minister Wang Wentao had talks with US Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo to discuss ways to implement the important consensus of the two Presidents and resolve issues in bilateral economic and trade relations. We will release further information if there are new developments. Thank you.

China Business News: In the first 10 months of this year, China’s import and export growth recovered. The fourth quarter is usually the peak season for foreign trade. What measures will the Ministry of Commerce take to stabilize foreign trade?

He Yadong: This year, China’s foreign trade has withstood the pressure and shown strong resilience. Its performance is better than expected. The fourth quarter is usually the peak season of foreign trade, and marks the final sprint in boosting foreign trade and the end of the season. We will work in the following three aspects to promote the stability and quality of foreign trade.

First, we will strengthen support for enterprises as they unlock new markets. We will give full play to the role of exhibitions in promoting trade, and increase support for enterprises to participate in exhibitions at home and abroad. We will facilitate cross-border business travels and ensure efficient and unimpeded transportation of traded goods.

Second, we will spur innovation in foreign trade. We will work to unveil policies to promote trade cooperation in new energy vehicles and upgrade processing trade. We will carry out assessment of cross-border e-commerce pilot zones, and give full play to outstanding cross-border e-commerce pilot zones in taking the lead.

Third, we will improve financial services for foreign trade. We will increase credit support for imports and exports, promote access to finance and ramp up support for small, medium and micro foreign trade enterprises. We will expand the scope and coverage of export credit insurance to help enterprises expand markets. Thank you.

China News Service: In the new round of China-US Economic and Trade Dialogue, the two countries stressed that they do not seek economic decoupling and welcome the development of healthy economic relations. What is the Ministry of Commerce’s comment on the outcome of the talks?

He Yadong: China has repeatedly affirmed that sound and stable China-US economic and trade relations are in the interests of both countries and the world at large. Decoupling and disrupting supply chains run counter to the fundamental interests of the two countries.

China is willing to work with the United States to uphold the principles of mutual respect, peaceful coexistence and win-win cooperation, actively implement the consensus reached in the new round of China-US economic and trade dialogue, and inject more certainty into China-US practical cooperation. Thank you.

The Paper: The Ministry of Commerce recently organized a special review of regulations and measures that constitute discrimination against foreign investment. What are the priorities and difficulties in this work? What measures will be taken?

He Yadong: In order to implement decisions of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council, and strictly implement the relevant provisions of the Foreign Investment Law and its implementing regulations, we have organized this special campaign to remove provisions and measures that may discriminate against foreign-funded enterprises. The aim is to create a fairer market competition environment for foreign-funded enterprises, stabilize the expectations and confidence of foreign investors in China for long-term investment, and better use foreign investment to build a new development paradigm. We welcome clues and complaints sent through the collection and processing system for issues and appeals of foreign-funded enterprises or other channels. We will work with relevant regions and departments to ensure follow-up work and fair participation of enterprises in market competition.

In the next step, we will strictly implement the Foreign Investment Law, promote the rule of law in foreign investment on a regular basis, and continue to build a market-oriented, law-based and internationalized business environment. Thank you.

The Cover: Recently, the EU investigation agency released the sampling results of its anti-subsidy investigation against China’s electric vehicles. It is reported that the EU has changed its usual practice in the sampling process and only selected three Chinese companies, which has caused dissatisfaction in the industry. What is China’s comment?

He Yadong: China has noted that the European Commission did not use the most representative criterion--maximum export volume--in its anti-subsidy investigation of electric vehicles in China, and only selected three local Chinese companies as the sample companies. The Commission’s sampling standards are poorly set, the sampling process is not transparent, and the sampling results are unfair. These practices are suspected of violating the WTO rules and EU law, and are discrimination against Chinese electric vehicle companies, which will seriously distort the results of the subsidy investigation.

In addition, in the sampling of EU industries, the Commission excluded EU member States with the largest production and sales. This practice is against the norm, and the sampling results simply do not represent the realities of the industries in the EU. In the face of clear opposition from the EU industry, the European Commission launched the anti-subsidy investigation on its own, falsely claiming that Chinese electric vehicles threaten to harm the EU electric vehicle industry, and completely ignoring the close cooperation between the Chinese and EU automotive industries.

The Chinese industry is strongly disappointed and dissatisfied with the Commission's premeditated sampling results and manipulation. China urges the EU to strictly abide by WTO rules and EU laws, correct its wrong practices as soon as possible, and ensure the investigation is open, fair, fair and compliant, and fully protect the legitimate rights and interests of relevant companies. Thank you .

Xinhua News Agency: The second Global Digital Trade Expo will open in one week. How are the preparations going? What highlights should we expect?

He Yadong : Digital trade is an important pillar in building a strong trading country. The second Global Digital Trade Expo will be held in Hangzhou from Nov 23 to 27. We are working to hold an international, professional, pioneering expo, making careful designs and full preparations. Now we are in the final stage. There are many highlights in this year's Expo.

First, the merchants are from across the world. Sixty-eight international organizations and foreign business associations, and 80 international political leaders and diplomatic envoys from 63 countries and regions have confirmed their attendance. More than 800 enterprises will participate in the exhibition, and more than 50% of the booths in the comprehensive pavilion are from abroad. Nearly 15,000 professional buyers have registered, including more than 1,700 buyers from abroad.

Second, exhibition is highly digital. The exhibition area is 100,000 square meters, including 94% of special booth areas. In the China exhibition area of the comprehensive Pavilion, you will see the world’s leading brain-computer interface technology and digital reality model. In the Cutting-edge Trend Hall, 50 large models from around the world will display cutting-edge applications in education, health care, office, automotive, human-computer interaction and other fields. The Silk Road E-commerce Pavilion will showcase innovative e-commerce models such as e-commerce platforms, cross-border logistics, mobile payment and cloud services across the entire industry chain. We will also use a digital news officer to broadcast the exhibition news non-stop.

Third, the forums will be highly professional. The Expo will include the opening ceremony and the main forum, 10 thematic forums and over 100 support activities. More than 500 experts and scholars from home and abroad will exchange views at the forum, and more than 110 key results will be released, including the Report on the Development of China’s Digital Trade. In addition, more than 100 cutting-edge technology products and services in the field of digital trade will be be launched or displayed for the first time.

The Expo will improve logistics services, such as enabling payment by the international version of Alipay, adding POS machines at important venues, and providing cash settlement to facilitate the payment of international merchants. You are welcome to visit the Expo and cover the event. Thank you.

Shanghai Securities News: Recently, the fourth group of "best practice cases" for the pilot program on comprehensively deepening innovative development of service trade was published. Could the Ministry of Commerce brief on the highlights of these cases in opening up, and what policies and arrangements will be introduced to support the development of service trade in the next step?

He Yadong: In August 2020, the State Council approved the plan to comprehensively deepen the pilot program on innovative development of service trade in 28 regions across the country. Since the pilot program was launched, the Ministry of Commerce has taken the lead in replicating and rolling out four groups of 83 "best practice cases" nationwide. A total of 25 cases for the newly introduced fourth group present the following five highlights:

First, actively exploring new paths for institutional opening up. For example, Guangzhou expanded the access of Hong Kong and Macao to construction engineering, and has a pilot program on the architect responsibility system; Beijing has established a cross-border security management mechanism for data to explore ways for data flowing to other countries in compliance. Second, further developing new business forms and models of service trade. For example, Xiamen actively promotes the innovative development of sports service trade; Xi’an explores a new model of geographic information services. Third, constantly innovating the institutions and mechanisms that facilitate the development of service trade. For example, Shanghai promotes paperless trade by benchmarking high-standard international economic and trade rules; Hangzhou encourages banks to explore cross-border scenarios of e-CNY. Fourth, continuing to improve policies and measures to support the development of service trade. For example, Shenzhen innovates the cross-border financing model with intellectual property rights based on the pilot project of foreign debt facilitation. Fifth, continuing to encourage localities in pioneering the collection of service trade statistics. For example, Chongqing has established a system connecting major enterprises in service trade and explored statistical indicators such as human resources service trade.

In the next step, the Ministry of Commerce will upgrade and build national demonstration zones for innovative development of trade in services, continue to build pacesetters leading high-quality development of China's service trade, and replicate and roll out more institutional innovations across the country. Thank you.

Kyodo News: During the China International Import Expo, Minister Wang Wentao visited the pavilion of Micron Technology. However, before that, in May, the Cyberspace Administration of China asked the domestic critical information infrastructure operators to stop buying products from Micron Technology. Will this measure change?

He Yadong: The relevant Chinese departments have taken measures against Micron's relevant products with significant security risks in accordance with law, and the scope is clear, that is, the domestic critical information infrastructure. We have noted that Micron said that it will continue to expand its investment in China. China unswervingly promotes high-standard opening up to the world, constantly optimizes its foreign investment environment and provides service support for foreign-invested enterprises. Foreign-invested enterprises, including Micron, are welcome to continue to explore the Chinese market for better development on the premise of compliance with Chinese laws and regulations. I would refer you to competent departments for the specific issues you mentioned. Thank you.

Reuters: I have two questions. First, U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Janet L. Yellen, said that during her meeting with He Lifeng, Vice Premier of the State Council last week, she suggested that China and the United States sharing relevant information to cooperate on cracking down on enterprises that evaded Western sanctions and assisted Russian invasion of Ukraine. Will China cooperate with the United States on this matter?

Second, the data for Balance of Payments shows that FDI in China from July to September experienced a quarterly deficit for the first time. According to the interaction between the Ministry of Commerce and foreign companies seeking cooperation to expand the scope and scale of their business in China, has the Ministry of Commerce made a forecast of FDI in 2024?

He Yadong: On your first question, regarding Vice Premier He Lifeng's visit to the United States, the Ministry of Finance of China has released a statement, which you can refer to.

On your second question, according to the global cross-border investment data released by UNCTAD, in recent years, the scale, proportion and growth of China's foreign investment are at a high level. With the continuously sluggish global cross-border direct investment and the high base during the same period last year, the scale of FDI attracted by China decreased somewhat from January to September this year, but remained at a historical high. As we have mentioned before, foreign investment projects sometimes could last for several years, from negotiation, signing the agreement, making the investment, to production, so the FDI data fluctuates every year.

Since the beginning of this year, we have deepened regular exchanges with foreign-invested enterprises and foreign chambers of commerce and industrial associations through round tables of foreign-invested enterprises. During the exchanges, multinational companies are generally optimistic about the development prospects of China and are ready to develop in China for the long term. We welcome more multinationals to explore the China market and share in the development dividend of China. Thank you.

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