Protectionism worries Chinese envoy(2)

What would you like to do to help China and its exporters fend off the risks?

First, I think a major task would be to unswervingly push forward global free trade and the Doha round of trade talks. This is good for not only China, but also for the global multilateral trade system.

Second, I will try to let more people in the world know and recognize that China is open, transparent and free in its trade policy, so more people will come to support and accept China.

Do you believe that the world is becoming more rational and objective toward China and its trade policy?

Letting more people truly understand China will be a long-term process. Some developed economies are not comfortable about China's rapid rise in economic terms and they need time to accept China.

And amid such a severe economic situation, China should strive to stabilize exports and growth through further opening up, and the nation should also advance its steps to invest abroad.

How do you evaluate the nation's exports situation this year? How severely affected will it be?

I'm based in Europe, and I strongly feel that the region's consumption is shrinking. As China's largest trade partner, Europe reflects the general picture of China's exports. It's not positive, and that's it.

But Chinese manufacturers must try to maintain and even strengthen their competitiveness. They have to be fully prepared for climbing up the global value chain in the long term.

During the past few years, a number of Chinese manufacturers have pledged to upgrade their businesses and enhance their branding, research and design, and expand sales abroad. How do you evaluate their efforts, and can you feel any change of attitude in the global market toward the made-in-China products, which used to mean cheap prices and low quality?

We see made-in-China goods everywhere, and this fact itself shows that China is improving its manufacturing capacity and quality.

From my perspective, what we need to improve is brand building. But branding is a long-term and arduous task, and we are well under way.

Pascal Lamy will step down from the post of director-general of the WTO in August, and a batch of candidates are racing for the top job at the global trade arbitration organization. What are your comments?

Many believe the next head of the WTO should come from a developing economy, and China supports that view.

No matter who he or she is, we welcome a candidate who has strong skills, and who is in favor of free global trade and a multilateral trade mechanism, and who firmly advances the Doha round of talks.

The Doha round of talks reached a standstill. Is it possible to see a breakthrough this year for the talks?

China has been pushing forward the talks. But thanks to the global economic recovery and political reasons, some individuals and developed economies are following the wrong path and going against relevant WTO rules, including launching more trade-remedy cases worldwide.

As developing economies strengthen their capacities, we must join hands to complete the Doha round of talks, and we are determined and confident we can make it.

While the Doha round of talks stagnated, developed economies led by the US have been active in advancing bilateral trade pacts such as that with the EU and regional trade negotiations represented by the TPP. How would you comment on the trend? What's the way to balance multilateral and bilateral trade systems?

The Doha talks do not contradict bilateral trade talks and free trade agreements. We can strike a balance between them, as China did.

China signed FTAs with many nations including Chile and Peru, and is in negotiations with others like South Korea and Japan, but we highly advocate the Doha round of talks.

But our concern is that some countries, such as the US, are deviating from the multilateral system, shifting merely to the TPP and the trans-Atlantic free trade pact. This delays the Doha round of talks and hurts the multilateral trade mechanism.