What We Talk About When We Talk About Doing Business with China
当我们谈论同中国做生意时，我们在谈论什么
Chinese Ambassador Cong Peiwu to Canada
驻加拿大大使丛培武
June 11 2020
2020年6月11日
Tim Hortons, a fast-food chain brand beloved by Canadians, announced last month it has received financing from Tencent Holdings Ltd, the Chinese Internet services giant. Across the Pacific Ocean, the two well-known companies from China and Canada have joined forces. It is reported that Tim Hortons will speed up store opening after the financing, and is expected to open more than 1,500 stores in China soon. There is no doubt that both companies hold positive expectations for the future with such a vast consumer market in China.
上个月，深受加拿大人喜爱的快餐连锁品牌蒂姆·霍顿宣布获得了来自中国互联网巨头腾讯公司的融资。跨越宽广的太平洋，来自中加两国的两家知名公司实现了强强联手。据报道，蒂姆·霍顿在获得该轮融资后将加快门店开设步伐，预计将很快在中国开设超过1500家门店。毫无疑问，面对中国庞大的消费市场，这两家公司对未来都抱以了积极期待。
Though the global economy has been facing substantial downward pressure for the recent years, by 2019, about 490 of the world’s top 500 companies have invested in China. The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has hit the global economy and China’s economy hard. However, like Tim Hortons, many foreign enterprises are still enthusiastic about having commercial cooperation with China and choosing to expand their business in the country.
近年来，全球经济面临较大下行压力，但截至2019年，世界500强公司中已有约490家在华投资。新冠肺炎疫情的暴发，令全球经济和中国经济都受到了较大冲击，但和蒂姆·霍顿一样，仍有不少外国企业对同中国开展商业合作抱有热情，并选择扩大在华业务。
Lately, heads of several multinational companies, including Tim Cook, chief executive officer (CEO) of Apple, Steve Mollenkopf, CEO of Qualcomm, and Ozawa Hideki, Chairman and CEO of Canon (China), expressed their confidence in China’s long-term economic development and their readiness to keep close contact with their Chinese partners and continue to expand business cooperation.
最近，包括苹果公司首席执行官蒂姆·库克、高通公司首席执行官蒂夫·莫伦科夫、佳能（中国）有限公司董事长兼首席执行官小泽秀树在内的多家跨国公司负责人纷纷表达了对中国经济长期向好的信心，并表示将同中国伙伴保持密切联系、继续拓展业务合作。
Meanwhile, the Canada-China Business Impact Survey 2019/2020 recently released by the Canada-China Business Council also shows the overall optimistic attitude of the Canadian business circle towards the prospects of China-related business. According to the survey, more than 60% of Canadian companies will further raise or maintain China’s presence in their future global plan.
同样，加中贸易理事会最近发布的《2019/2020年度加中商业调查》也显示出加拿大商界对涉华业务前景的总体乐观态度。根据这一调查，超过60%的加拿大公司将进一步提高或继续维持中国在其未来全球计划中的地位。
So what exactly is China’s appeal?
那么中国的吸引力究竟在哪里？
In the survey, it is found that sound economic fundamentals, complete industrial system, increasingly optimized business environment, self-contained infrastructure conditions and super large market are “high-frequency words” that are mostly mentioned. In the eyes of foreign business partners, these are precisely the strength and attractiveness of China. Since the beginning of this year, the long-term positive fundamentals of China’s market and economy have been strongly confirmed in the battle against the pandemic. More and more multinationals are feeling the resilience and charm of China’s economy.
在调查中发现，稳健的经济基本面、完整的产业体系、不断优化的营商环境、完备的基础设施条件和超大的市场规模是经常被提及的“高频词”。在外国商业伙伴眼中，这些正是中国的优势和吸引力所在。今年以来，在疫情冲击的洗礼中，中国市场和中国经济长期向好的基本面得到了有力印证。越来越多的跨国公司更加感受到了中国经济的韧性和魅力。
China boasts a huge consumer market. In 2019, China’s GDP increased by 6.1% to about 14.4 trillion US dollars, with per capita GDP exceeding 10,000 US dollars, and the final contribution rate of consumption expenditure to economic growth reached nearly 60%. The thriving consumer market not only consolidates confidence in China’s economic growth, but also provides huge cooperation space for foreign companies. China will make good preparation for the third China International Import Expo this year, which is a large globally-oriented market of higher standards.
中国拥有巨大的消费市场。2019年，中国国内生产总值（GDP）同比增长6.1%，总量达到约14.4万亿美元，人均GDP突破1万美元，最终消费支出对经济增长的贡献率达到近60%。蓬勃发展的消费市场不仅增强了中国经济增长的信心，也为国外公司提供了巨大的合作空间。今年，中国将筹办好第三届进博会，这是一个更高水平面向世界的大市场。
China has advantages from a complete industrial system. China, as the only country in the world with all industrial categories in the United Nations industrial classification catalogue, has a complete industrial system and full complementary capacity from upstream and downstream industries. Currently, these advantages are unmatched by any other country in the world.
中国具有完整的产业优势。中国是目前全球唯一拥有联合国产业分类目录中所有工业门类的国家，具有完善的工业体系和完备的上下游产业配套能力。目前，这些优势是全球任何国家无法相比的。
China has an increasingly optimized business environment. China has long pressed the “fast forward button” to optimize its business environment. In 2019, China was rated one of the 10 economies that improved the most on the ease of doing business for the second year in a row by the World Bank. In the 2020 Report on the Work of the Government, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang made a promise that China would make sustained efforts to create a market-oriented, law-based, and internationalized business environment, and promote high-standard opening up. China is making greater efforts to further shorten the negative list of foreign investment access, and grant greater autonomy in reform and opening up to pilot free trade zones. For example, in the financial sector, China formally removed the restrictions on the ratio of foreign shareholding in securities and fund management firms this April.
中国拥有不断优化的营商环境。中国早已按下优化营商环境的“快进键”。2019年，世界银行连续第二年将中国评选为全球优化营商环境改善幅度最大的十大经济体。中国国务院总理李克强在今年的《政府工作报告》中作出中国将持续打造市场化、法治化、国际化营商环境，推进更高水平对外开放的承诺。中国正致力于大幅缩减外资准入负面清单，赋予自贸试验区更大改革开放自主权。以金融业为例，中国已于4月正式取消了对证券公司、基金管理公司的外资持股比例限制。
China has broad prospects for cooperation. The CCBC survey shows that China’s economic development has a positive impact on Canadian companies’ success, and successful companies are often active in industries of more attention in China’s development planning and policies. In the next stage, China will put more focus on upgrading of manufacturing and the growth of emerging industries. Priority will be given to new infrastructure and new initiatives and major projects. It will provide new cooperation opportunities for more Canadian enterprises for sure.
中国具有广阔的合作前景。加中贸易理事会调查显示，中国经济发展对加拿大公司取得商业成功具有积极作用，成功的公司往往活跃在中国发展规划和政策较为关注的行业。下一阶段，中国将重点关注制造业升级和新兴产业发展，扩大对新型基础设施建设、新型城镇化建设和重大工程建设等领域投资。这势必将为更多加拿大企业提供新的合作机遇。
As the post-epidemic era comes, all countries are confronted with the urgent task of recovering their economies. What measures should be taken to hedge the downside risks of the economy, what partners should be selected for common development, how to solve the problems of employment and sales, where the goods can be sold, and where to build new production lines… The whole world is reflecting on these questions. But, there is no doubt that while we are thinking, China will be a factor and an option that cannot and should not be avoided.
随着后疫情时代的来临，世界各国都面临着恢复经济的迫切任务。采取什么样的措施对冲经济下行风险，选择什么样的合作伙伴共同发展，就业和销售的问题要如何解决，生产的商品可以销向哪里，去哪里建立新的生产线……这些都是各国正在思考的问题。毫无疑问，在所有的思考过程中，中国都将是一个无法回避也不应被回避的因素和选项。
Back to the question of the title of this article: what do we talk about when we talk about doing business with China? The answer is mutual benefits and win-win results for all participants and a bright future of which each party is convinced.
回到文章标题的问题，当我们谈论同中国做生意时，我们谈论的是什么？答案是：各参与方的互利共赢，以及一个彼此都很确信的光明未来。