Shu Jueting: Members of the press, good afternoon. Welcome to MOFCOM’s regular press conference. Since I don’t have any announcement to make today, we may proceed directly to the Q&A session.

The floor is open.

Economic Information Daily: During Uruguayan President Luis Lacalle Pou’s visit to China from November 20 to 24, what achievements have the two sides made on the economic and trade fronts?

Shu Jueting: On November 22, President Xi Jinping held talks with Uruguayan President Luis Lacalle Pou, who was on a state visit to China. The two heads of state jointly announced the establishment of a comprehensive strategic partnership, charting the course for the development of China-Uruguay relations, including trade and economic cooperation.

China and Uruguay enjoy profound traditional friendship and fruitful cooperation in various fields. Since the establishment of diplomatic ties 35 years ago, bilateral trade has developed rapidly, Chinese investment in Uzbekistan continued to increase and areas of cooperation expanded. During the visit, the two sides agreed to set up a working group on trade connectivity under the mechanism of the China-Uruguay Mixed Economic and Trade Committee to further enhance bilateral trade facilitation. They agreed to strengthen investment cooperation in digital economy and green development to create new driving forces for high-quality development of bilateral investment cooperation.

Going forward, MOFCOM is willing to work with relevant departments of Uruguay to fully implement the important consensus reached by the two heads of state, deliver fruitful outcomes in the economic and trade field, and inject new impetus into the development of China-Uruguay comprehensive strategic partnership. Thank you.

Kyodo News: Minister of Commerce Wang Wentao met with Japanese Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Yasutoshi Nishimura in San Francisco. The two sides agreed to establish a dialogue mechanism on export controls. What are MOFCOM’s expectations?

Shu Jueting: On November 16 local time, President Xi Jinping met with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in San Francisco, reaching important consensus on reaffirming the positioning of comprehensively advancing a mutually beneficial relationship based on common strategic interests, and jointly building a constructive and stable China-Japan relationship that meets the demands of the new era. The two sides spoke positively of the newly established dialogue mechanism on export controls between China and Japan. Before the summit, Minister of Commerce Wang Wentao and Japanese Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Yasutoshi Nishimura announced the establishment of the dialogue mechanism on export controls between China and Japan during their meeting. China is ready to work with Japan to implement the important consensus reached by the two leaders, strengthen dialogue and exchanges in export control and other areas, create favorable conditions for the development of bilateral trade cooperation, jointly maintain the stability and connectivity of the industrial and supply chains, and promote the steady and healthy development of China-Japan economic and trade relations. Thank you.

Market News International: Since the beginning of this year, U.S. investment in China has fallen sharply, especially in the technology sector. Do you think the recent improvement in China-US relations will restore foreign investment in China?

Shu Jueting: “Decoupling and breaking chains” and the so-called “de-risking” can only disturb the normal investment and operation of enterprises, which is not in the fundamental interests of businesses on both sides. We have noted that during the meeting between the two heads of state, President Biden reaffirmed that a stable and prosperous China is good for the United States and the world, and the U.S. does not seek to suppress or contain China’s development or to decouple with China. We hope that the U.S. will translate its positive commitment into concrete actions and work with China to create favorable conditions for bilateral trade and investment cooperation. Thank you.

Shanghai Securities News: Towards the end of the year, the localities seized the opportunities presented by the peak consumption season and introduced many measures to expand domestic demand and promote consumption. Coupled with the low base last year, the market was very optimistic about the recovery of consumption data. How does the Ministry of Commerce evaluate the effect of current measures in promoting consumption? What do you think of the consumer market in the fourth quarter and the whole year?

Shu Jueting: As you mentioned just now, commercial departments at all levels have recently seized the opportunities presented by the peak consumption season, actively launched events, such as the Golden Autumn Shopping Festival, the Home Renewal Consumption Season and the New Energy Vehicle Consumption Season in accordance with the general arrangements of the Consumption Revitalization Year, accelerated the implementation of the policies and measures that have been introduced, and strengthened the momentum of consumption recovery. Generally speaking, the current consumer market mainly has the following characteristics:

First, stable recovery momentum. In October, the total retail sales of consumer goods increased by 7.6% year-on-year, 2.1 percentage points faster than that of September, rising for three consecutive months. The retail sales of commodities grew by 6.5% year-on-year, 1.9 percentage points faster. Catering revenue grew by 17.1%, 3.3 percentage points faster.

Second, booming market. In October, the passenger flow of 23 national pilot pedestrian streets increased by over 70% year-on-year, and the month-on-month growth increased for four consecutive months. From January to October, the retail sales of physical stores above a designated size increased by 4.3% year-on-year. In breakdown, the retail sales of convenience stores and department stores increased by 7.3% and 7.2% respectively.

Third, strong momentum. From January to October, online retail sales increased by 11.2% year-on-year. In breakdown, online retail sales of physical goods increased by 8.4%, sales of new energy vehicles increased by 37.8%, accounting for 30.4% of new car sales, and retail sales of services increased by 19%.

With the sustained recovery of the national economy, the faster implementation of various consumption promotion policies and the arrival of the traditional consumption peak season at the end and the beginning of the year, it is expected that the consumer market will continue to show a steady recovery before the end of the year, and the basic role of consumption in driving economic growth will be further highlighted. Thank you.

Reuters: I have two questions. First, Australia recently stated that as Australia-China relations are stabilized, China may cancel all remaining trade barriers next month. What is the progress of relevant work now? Does the Ministry of Commerce of China expect to resolve the remaining disputes within this year? The second question is whether the China-Uruguay Free Trade Agreement has made progress during the Uruguayan President's visit to China this week.

Shu Yuting: On your first question, since the beginning of this year, the competent economic and trade departments of China and Australia have maintained close communication at all levels and explored mutually beneficial and win-win solutions to properly handle their respective economic and trade concerns. Thanks to the joint efforts of both sides, China and Australia have made positive progress on a series of economic and trade issues, including reaching a consensus on properly resolving WTO disputes within the WTO framework. This shows that as long as the two countries move in the right direction, they can properly resolve their respective economic and trade concerns and well develop their bilateral economic and trade relations.

In the next step, we are ready to work together with Australia to actively implement the important consensus reached by the leaders of the two countries, focus on the long-term development of China-Australia economic and trade relations, seek common ground while reserving differences, expand common interests, strive to resolve each other's economic and trade concerns on the basis of equality and mutual benefit, and promote the high-quality development of bilateral economic and trade cooperation.

On your second question, the two sides are keeping in touch on matters related to free trade cooperation. Thank you.

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