驻瑞典大使桂从友就美发起对华贸易战举行媒体吹风会
Ambassador Gui Congyou Holds a Press Briefing on the Trade War Started by the US Against China
2019年5月23日
23 May 2019
2019年5月23日，驻瑞典大使桂从友在使馆为《瑞典日报》、《每日新闻报》、《今日工业报》和瑞典广播电台等四家瑞典主流媒体举行吹风会，介绍中方对美发动对华贸易战的立场。全文如下：
On 23 May, Ambassador Gui Congyou held a press briefing with Svenska Dagbladet, Dagens Nyheter, Dagens Industry and Sveriges Radio, presenting the positions of the Chinese side on the trade war started by the US against China. The full text is as follows.
桂大使表示，我知道瑞典各界普遍关注美对华贸易战，我愿向大家介绍中方如下立场。
Ambassador Gui said, I know the Swedish side is closely following the trade war started by the US against China, and I would like to present the positions of the Chinese side on the matter.
桂大使说，首先，我要郑重声明，无论是热战也好，冷战也好，贸易战也好，科技战也好，各种各样的战，中方都坚决反对。回顾中华民族5000多年的发展史，中华民族没有对外发动战争的传统，没有对外开战的基因。“和为贵”是中华民族儒家思想的精髓。“和文化”崇尚和谐，是中华文化的核心价值，也是中华民族所奉行的发展理念。就贸易来讲，“和气生财”是中国人一直崇尚和奉行的生财之道，“和气生财”就是待人和善能招财进宝。中国还有一句老古话，叫“家和万事兴”，讲的也是同样的道理。中国处理对外关系就是广结良缘，同各国各方开展友好交流与互利合作，共同发展，共同进步。习近平主席提出，要基于共同利益构建人类命运共同体，就是要通过互利合作实现各国共赢，与美国推崇的“美国优先”的自私哲学和霸凌行为形成鲜明对比。
Ambassador Gui said, first, I wish to state that whether it is a hot war, a cold war, a trade war, a technology war or whatever kind of war, the Chinese side firmly opposes them all. An observation of the over 5000 years of history of the Chinese nation tells us that it is not in our tradition or DNA to wage war against other countries. “Peace and harmony” is the essence of Confucianism of the Chinese nation. A culture that advocates harmony is in the core values of the Chinese nation, and it is also the philosophy for development followed by the Chinese nation. When it comes to trade, the idea that “harmony and peace brings wealth” is the way we approach business. It means one can make a fortune through treating others kindly and peacefully. There is another Chinese saying that goes, “A harmonious family will prosper”, which carries the same idea. Our approach to foreign relations is to widely forge cordial relations and conduct friendly exchanges and mutually beneficial cooperation with all other countries and parties so as to develop and make progress together. As President Xi Jinping said, building a community with a shared future for human kind based on shared interests is to deliver benefits to all countries through win-win cooperation, which is a sharp contrast to the economic bullying and selfish philosophy of “America first” of the US.
桂大使说，面对外来侵略战争，面对外部强加的战争，中华民族从来就没有害怕过，没有退缩过，也从来没有屈服过，而是奋起反抗，奋起反击，这样的例子在中国历史上不胜枚举。近代以来中国反抗西方列强的野蛮侵略、霸占、分割和奴役，特别是14年的抗日战争，充分证明了这一点。中美贸易战是美国单方面发动的，责任完全在美方。自去年初美发动对华贸易战以来，中方始终本着“和”的理念，与美方诚心诚意地谈。经过一年多的磋商，取得了重要进展。但就在此时，美方出尔反尔，执意单方面对中方2000亿美元的商品加征25%的关税。即便这样，中方政府代表团还是如期赴美，希望与美方进行建设性的友好磋商，这充分体现了中方达成协议的愿望。
Ambassador Gui said, facing foreign invasions and wars imposed by foreign powers, the Chinese nation never feared, retreated or caved. Instead, we rose up and fought back. There is no shortage of such examples in China’s history. Our resistance against the barbaric aggressions, occupation, division and enslavement of Western powers since modern times, especially the 14 years of the War of Resistance against Japan, is ample proof of that. The US side bears full responsibility on the China-US trade war, as it is unilaterally started by the US. Since the US started the trade war with China at the beginning of last year, the Chinese side has been sincerely negotiating with the US out of our commitment to “peace and harmony”. After more than one year of negotiation, important progress has been made, but then the US went back on its words, and insisted on unilaterally raising tariffs on USD 200 billion worth of Chinese products to 25%. Even after this, the delegation of the Chinese Government still went to the US as planned, hoping to continue constructive and friendly negotiation with the US, which fully demonstrated our sincerity for reaching a deal.
美方称对华贸易存在巨额逆差，其实这是个伪命题，采取了片面的统计方法，忽略了服务贸易、跨境投资对贸易的替代、高科技产品出口实施限制等因素影响。综合考虑这些因素，美对华贸易逆差逐年缩小，2017年仅为453亿美元。就美方所称贸易逆差而言，这是由中美两国的经济结构决定的，双方经济结构决定双方的贸易结构，这本身也是公平贸易的题中应有之义。但美方无视两国经济结构互补这一客观事实，自己动用行政手段，而且也要中方动用行政手段来改变双方贸易结构，强迫中方缩小贸易顺差。这种做法违背WT0规则，也违背市场经济规律。拿中瑞贸易来讲，过去中方货物贸易顺差，瑞方没有提出异议。这两年，瑞方保持货物贸易顺差，中方同样没有提出异议。实际上，加上服务贸易，瑞方早就是顺差了，数额更大。即便如此，中方欢迎瑞方扩大对华出口，乐见瑞方扩大对华顺差，因为瑞方顺差符合我们要推动经济高质量发展，满足人民对高质量产品和美好生活的需求。这就是遵循市场经济规律，遵从自由贸易规则。
The US side claims that it has a huge trade deficit with China. However, this is a non-issue. The US used one-sided statistical methods, neglecting trade in services, the replacement of trade with transnational investment and restrictions on high-tech product exportation to China. Taking these factors into consideration, the US deficit with China actually has been decreasing year by year. In 2017, it was only USD 45.3 billion. As for the “deficit” described by the US, it is determined by the structures of our two economies. The economic structures of the two countries determining the structure of their trade is also a natural part of fair trade. However, the US, in complete disregard of the basic fact of our economic structural complementarity, deliberately uses its government powers and pressures China to use government powers to change our trade structure to force a reduction of China’s surplus. Such a course of action goes against WTO rules and violates market economics. Taking China-Sweden trade as an example, when China had a surplus in trade in goods, Sweden did not raise any objection. In the last couple of years, it was Sweden that had a surplus in trade in goods, and China did not complain either. In fact, if our trade in services is counted, Sweden has started to have a trade surplus much earlier, and the surplus has been much bigger. Moreover, China welcomes more imports from Sweden and bigger surplus of Sweden, because such a surplus is consistent with our need to pursue high quality economic development, and deliver high quality products and a good life to the Chinese people. This is what following market economics and rules of free trade are all about.
美方对中方贸易顺差有关切，完全可以通过友好磋商和建设性的合作来解决。中国经济正在快速发展，稳居世界第二大经济体，中方也愿意根据自身深化改革和进一步扩大开放的需要适当照顾美方关切，在满足美方民众对中国价廉物美产品需求的同时，与美方分享中方改革开放的更多红利，逐步缩小对美贸易顺差。但美方要中国政府动用行政手段，在特定时间内强行减少对美贸易顺差，中方做不到。如果中国政府屈从美方的压力，用行政手段来强制进口商从美国大批量扩大进口商品，无疑要损害包括瑞典在内其他贸易伙伴在中国市场的利益，限制甚至人为压缩包括瑞方在内的其他贸易伙伴在中国扩大市场份额的努力，中方同样做不到。
The concerns of the US over the surplus can well be addressed through friendly consultations and constructive cooperation. China’s economy is growing rapidly, and is now the second largest in the world. The Chinese side is also willing to accommodate such concerns based on our need to deepen reform and further open up, share more dividends of our reform and opening up with the US, and gradually reduce the trade surplus while meeting the demand of US consumers for good quality yet inexpensive Chinese products. However, if the US asks the Chinese Government to take administrative measures to forcefully reduce the surplus in a given timeframe, it is simply not something China is able to do. If the Chinese Government caved in to the US demand and used administrative measures to force Chinese buyers to buy more from the US on a large scale, it undoubtedly would hurt the interests of other trading partners of China in the Chinese market, including Sweden. It would restrict or even artificially hinder the efforts of other trading partners of China to expand their share in the Chinese market. It is not something that China is able to do either.
桂大使强调，美对华发动贸易战害人害己。美方人为发动的贸易战对美方自身的经济不利，美国不会赢。当然中方采取必要的反制措施也会影响到中国经济，世界经济发展也会受到影响，这都是我们极不愿意看到的。我们对美贸易谈判的大门是敞开的，美方要谈，愿意谈，中方就谈。但是任何谈判都要基于平等、信任和互利。美方一意孤行打贸易战，中方也别无选择，只能奉陪到底。实际上，美国生病了，就应该找医生好好治病，而不是怨天尤人，嫁祸于人。
Ambassador Gui stressed that the trade war started by the US hurts other countries and itself. The trade war deliberately started by the US damages the US economy, and the US will not win from it. Of course the necessary counter-measures by China will also affect the economy of China. The global economy will suffer from the trade war too. These consequences are the last thing we want to see. Our door is open for trade negotiation with the US. If the US wants to talk, let’s talk, but all talks must be based on equality, trust and mutual benefits. If the US sticks to its gun, we have no choice but to fight it till the end. In fact, the US is ill. It needs to see a doctor to treat the illness, instead of blaming others and shifting the trouble to others.
中国有近14亿人口，人均GDP接近1万美元，中国经济有足够的韧性，中国政府有足够的政策工具确保经济在美打贸易战的背景下继续稳定、健康发展。近14亿中国人追求高质量、高品位的生活，消费需求对中国经济增长的贡献率已经达到76%，中国正在成为全球第一大消费市场。我们有足够的信心和潜力，通过继续扩大内需来保持经济稳中向好的发展势头，继续对拉动世界经济增长做出自己应有的贡献。我们将继续坚持改革开放方针，而且要不断深化改革，开放的大门也会越开越大。我们愿意向包括瑞典在内的其他所有国家进一步敞开大门，欢迎你们扩大对华贸易，扩大对华投资，我们加大合作，互利共赢，共同发展繁荣。
China has nearly 1.4 billion people, with per capita GDP close to USD 10,000. The Chinese economy has enough resilience and the Chinese Government has enough policy tools to ensure that our economy will continue to grow steadily and healthily amid a trade war. The almost 1.4 billion Chinese people pursue a high quality life. Consumption now contributes up to 76% to China’s economic growth, and China is becoming the world’s largest consumption market. We are confident and are capable of maintaining a positive and steady economic growth momentum through continuing to expand domestic demand, and make due contribution to global economic growth. We will continue to be committed to reform and opening up. We will continue to deepen reform and open up wider. We are ready to open up further to all other countries including Sweden. We welcome more trade with Sweden and greater investment from Sweden. Let us expand our cooperation for mutual benefits, and shared development and prosperity.