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在美中贸委会早餐会上的致辞
女士们，先生们，朋友们：
早上好。很高兴和各位新老朋友见面。
我自担任中国商务部长以来，访问美国多次，但正式率团来访，这还是第一次。
这次访问既为凝聚共识、谋求合作而来，也为建立新关系、开创新局面而来。大家知道，我的老朋友和新同行骆家辉先生刚刚当上新一届联邦政府的商务部长。中国俗话说“新官上任三把火”。我很想听听这位“新官”以及同样是“新官”的美国贸易代表柯克先生对中美经贸关系有什么新的打算和建议，也把我们的一些新想法和他们做个交流。
今年下午我将拜会美国国家经济委员会主任萨默斯先生，出席中美经贸合作论坛并发表演讲，今晚还将和美国商会的朋友见面。
我在华盛顿的日程只有两天，活动排得满满的。但是，和美中贸委的各位朋友们见面是必不可少的，因为，你们大家都是我们的好朋友，你们大家都为发展中美经贸关系做出了很多贡献。在这里，我首先代表中国商务部，对美中贸委会多年来做出的贡献表示衷心的感谢！
朋友们，上个月，胡锦涛主席和奥巴马总统在伦敦金融峰会上就达成了一系列共识。其中最重要的一点，是要共同推动建设21世纪积极合作全面的中美关系。
这是一个非常令人振奋的共识。它为新时期中美经贸关系发展指明了方向，那就是：积极、合作、全面。
什么是积极、合作、全面的中美经贸关系呢？这个问题不是一个简单的问题，需要中美双方共同来寻找答案。不仅是政府间，商会间、企业间包括在座各位都可以通过交流、研究，认真地思考这个问题。今天我暂不谈这个问题。或许，在我结束此次访问之际，我会以一定的方式来谈谈我个人对这个问题的看法。
听说大家对当前国际金融危机对中国的影响、中国的应对之策以及前景比较感兴趣，因此，下面我想非常简要地给大家介绍一点情况。
今年一季度中国的宏观经济数据公布后，美国可能有些朋友认为这次金融危机对中国的影响不大，或者影响已经基本见底。
实际上，中国受到这次危机的冲击是非常大的，甚至超过了十年前亚洲金融危机的影响。中国作为开放中的大国，在这场危机中经受了前所未有的困难和挑战，主要表现在五个方面：第一，经济下行压力加大。第二，进出口严重下滑。第三，工业生产明显放缓。第四，部分企业生产经营困难。第五，就业难度增加。由于时间的关系，具体数据就不介绍了，相信大家已经知道了不少的情况，比如很多朋友都知道中国外贸从去年11月开始已经连续出现五个月的负增长。
尽管如此，中国政府仍然秉持开放的理念，在危机中采取积极负责的态度。我们把扩大国内需求作为促进经济增长的基本立足点，果断实施了一揽子经济刺激计划。我们大规模增加政府支出，实施总额4万亿元人民币的两年投资计划，实行结构性减税政策，多次降息和增加银行体系流动性，大范围实施产业调整振兴规划，继续调整国民收入分配格局，大力拓展国内市场特别是农村市场，大幅度提高社会保障水平。
从今年一季度特别是3月份的各项宏观指标看，中国经济已经出现积极变化，形势确实比预料的要好。一季度GDP增长6.1%，同比回落4.5个百分点；社会消费品零售总额实际增长15.9%，比上年全年加快1.1个百分点；固定资产投资增长28.8%，比上年同期加快4.2个百分点；3月份规模以上工业增加值同比增长8.3%，比前2个月加快4.5个百分点。
但是，中国政府也清醒地认识到，困难的时候远远还未过去。比如，受各国市场需求萎缩以及贸易保护主义抬头的影响，中国外贸出口面临的形势仍很严峻。我们还需要做出更艰苦的努力。
昨天下午我请和美国一些智库的经济学家就当前形势进行座谈，多数人认为美国经济现在也出现了一些好转的迹象，但同样也是任重道远。
在这样的形势下，中美两国经贸合作应该向何处去？两国在面临着许多新的挑战和困难的情况下，都面临着加强贸易保护的强烈呼声。是把门关起来好呢，还是继续打开大门并且加强合作好呢？中国政府选择的是后者。
我们旗帜鲜明地反对贸易保护义。而且我们说到做到。我们不仅不搞“只买中国货”，而且继续推动中国相关商会组织采购团扩大对国外的采购。这次与我同时到美国访问的还有若干投资贸易促进团，其中既有洽谈投资合作的任务，也有促进出口的目的，同样还有洽谈进口的计划。
对于美国，我们同样希望继续打开大门并且加强合作，同样的希望美国政府说到做到，坚决不搞贸易保护主义。中美两国经济“你中有我，我中有你”，只有同舟共济，才能共度难关。
当前两国可以扩大合作的领域很广，商机很多。比如，两国企业可以抓信住政府出台大规模经济刺激计划的机遇，积极培育节能环保、新材料、高新技术等新增长点。中国政府将继续鼓励企业扩大自美进口，支持有实力的企业到美国投资兴业，并欢迎美国企业扩大对华投资。
我相信，只要我们坚定信心，携手努力，就一定能克服金融危机影响，中美经贸合作必将迎来新的春天。
谢谢大家。
Address at the Breakfast Session
Ladies and gentlemen, friends,
Good morning. I am delighted to meet with both old and new friends here.
Since I took office as Commerce Minister of China, I have visited the UnitedStates on many occasions. However, this is my first time leading a delegationfor a formal visit.
We are here not just to seek convergence and cooperation, but also to establisha new relationship and open a new chapter. As we all know, my old friend, aswell as new counterpart, Mr. Garry Locke has just been appointed CommerceSecretary of the new federal administration. There is an old saying in China,whose English equivalent is “a new broom sweeps clean”. I would be happy to hear what this newly-appointed official, aswell as the other newly-appointed official, Mr. Kirk, the US traderepresentative, have to say about new plans and proposals for the Sino-Americantrade and economic relations. I would also exchange with them some of our newideas.
This afternoon, I am going to meet with Mr. Summers, Chairman of the U.S.National Economic Council, and address the China-U.S. Trade and EconomicCooperation Forum. I will plan to meet with our friends from the U.S. Chamberof Commerce in the evening.
In the two days I am going to spend in Washington D.C., my schedule will bepretty full. However, I consider a meeting with my friends in the USCBC a must,because all of you are our good friends, and all of you have made lots ofcontributions to the Sino-U.S. trade and economic relations. On behalf of theChinese Ministry of Commerce, I would like to hereby express to you ourheartfelt thanks!
Friends, President Hu Jintao and President Barrack Obama reached a series ofconsensus at the London Financial Summit last month. An important part of thatconsensus is to build a positive, cooperative and comprehensive China-U.S.relationship in the 21st century.
This is a very encouraging consensus, in that is gives the direction to theSino-American trade and economic relationship in the new era, which is to bepositive, cooperative and comprehensive.
So what is a positive, cooperative and comprehensive Sino-U.S. trade andeconomic relationship? This is not an easy question. Both sides need to worktogether to find an answer. All of us, not just from the governments, but alsochambers of commerce and the private sector, including all of you present here,can think about this question carefully, and seek an answer through exchangesand research. I will not elaborate on this question today. But maybe during myvisit I will be able to share with you in some way my personal observationsabout this question.
As I was told that you are interested in the impact of the current financialcrisis on China and China’s response to it, I will now say something about it very briefly.
After China released the statistics of its macroeconomic performance in thefirst quarter, some American friends may have thought that the impact of thefinancial crisis on China was limited, or has bottomed out.
In fact, the impact that China suffers this time is huge, or even greater thanin the Asian Financial Crisis ten years ago. As a large opening nation, Chinahas experienced unprecedented challenges and difficulties during the currentcrisis, which can be seen in the following five aspects: 1, a growing downwardpressure on the economy; 2, serious decline in import and export; 3, notableslowdown in industrial production; 4, production and operation difficulties insome enterprises; and 5, growing employment difficulties. In the interest oftime, I will not go into the detailed figures. I assume you have already knownquite a lot about the situation, for instance, many of you may be aware thatChina’s foreign trade has witnessed negative growth five months in a rowsince last November.
Nevertheless, the Chinese government still upholds the notion of opening-up andtakes a proactive and responsible attitude in tackling the crisis. We havebased our economic stimulating efforts on expanding domestic demand, andresolutely adopted an economic stimulus package. We have greatly increasedgovernment spending, implemented a two-year investment plan with a total valueof 4 trillion RMB, initiated a structural tax cut policy, lowered interestrates and increased bank liquidity on several occasions, rolled out in largescale industrial readjustment and rejuvenation plans, continued to readjust thedistribution of national income, explored forcefully domestic market,especially rural market, and greatly improved the level of social security.
Judging from the macroeconomic indicators of the first quarter, particularlyMarch, the Chinese economy is seeing some positive changes. Things are indeedbetter than expected. GDP grew by 6.1% in Q1, down by 4.5 percentage pointsfrom the same period in the previous year; total social retail sales grew by15.9% in constant value, 1.1 percentage points faster than last year; fixedasset investment grew by 28.8%, 4.2 percentage points faster than the sameperiod in the previous year; industrial output for above-scale enterprises grewby 8.3% last March, 4.5 percentage points faster than the previous two months.
However, the Chinese government is acutely aware that tough times are far fromover. For instance, as a result of the contraction in external demand andrising trade protectionism, China’s foreign trade still faces a grim picture. To tackle that we needto make more of an effort.
Yesterday afternoon, I had a discussion with some economists from some Americanthink tanks about the current economic situation. Although many of them believethat there are signs of improvement in American economy, the way ahead remainslong and winding.
Under such circumstances, where should the Sino-American trade and economiccooperation be heading? Both countries, faced with many new challenges anddifficulties, have heard strong calls for tougher protection of trade. So, arewe to close our doors or to keep them open and intensify cooperation? TheChinese government chooses the latter.
We are crystal clear in our stance against trade protectionism. And we keep ourwords. We have not only resisted “Buying Chinese”, but also continued to encourage relevant chambers of commerce toorganize buying missions and expand sourcing from foreign countries. Along withmy delegation this time are several investment and trade promotion missions,whose tasks include not just negotiating investment projects and promotingexport, but also discussing plans for import.
Similarly, on the part of the U.S., we hope it could continue to open its doorand enhance cooperation. Likewise, we hope the U.S. administration could keepits words, and never practice trade protectionism. The Chinese and Americaneconomies are interwoven and interdependent. Only through working together andhelping each other can we weather the current difficulties.
At present, the two countries enjoy a broad scope and ample commercialopportunities when it comes to their cooperation. For example, the businessesfrom countries can grasp the opportunities brought about by the large-scaleeconomic stimulus plans launched by the two governments, and proactivelycultivate new growth areas in energy conservation and environmental protection,new materials, high technology, etc. The Chinese government will continue toencourage enterprises to buy more from the U.S., support competent businessesto invest in the U.S., and welcome increased U.S. investment in China.
I believe that as long as we remain confident and join our forces, we woulddefinitely be able to overcome the financial crisis and that Sino-U.S. tradeand economic cooperation would certainly embrace a new spring.
Thank you all.
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