一份高水平的投资协定将为中欧合作带来更有力制度保障
A High-standard China-EU Investment Agreement to Help Recover Through Certainty, Sustainability and Multilateralism
驻欧盟使团团长张明大使在《南华早报》发表署名文章
Ambassador Zhang Ming, Head of Chinese Mission to the EU, published an Op-Ed on South China Morning Post
2021年01月13日
13 January, 2021
中欧投资协定历经35轮马拉松式谈判，成功撞线。我对这一里程碑式的成果感到高兴和鼓舞，我要向过去七年多来参与、关心、支持谈判的同事和朋友们表达敬意和感谢。
After 35 rounds of talks, the marathon negotiations on the China-EU investment agreement passed the finishing line last week. This encouraging landmark achievement is thanks to all our colleagues and friends who have supported the negotiations over the past seven years. To them we should give credit for an agreement that can foster certainty in uncertain times and contribute to our shared global goals of sustainability and multilateralism.
毫无疑问，这是一份足够好的协定，将为中欧合作注入新的动力。在大家最关心的市场准入领域，协定对标国际高水平经贸规则，采取了准入前国民待遇加负面清单模式。中方首次在包括服务业和非服务业在内的所有行业以负面清单形式作出承诺。欧方也对中方承诺其较高的市场准入水平。
No doubt, the agreement will help to revitalize China-EU cooperation. This deal will increase EU investors’ access to a market of 1.4 billion consumers and is inspired by state-of-the-art international economic and trade rules. It establishes an FDI management system that provides pre-establishment national treatment, or equal conditions for foreign and domestic investors, as in the EU agreements with other major economies, as well as a negative list, or specific arrangements for sectors and industries, as other EU partners have. China has for the first time committed to a negative-list approach to all sectors, services and non-services alike. And the EU commits to high-level market access for Chinese investors.
协定制定了平衡、全面的公平竞争规则，涉及国企、补贴透明度、技术转让、标准制定等多项重要议题，所有规则都双向适用，将有助于营造更高水平、更可预期的营商环境，让企业可以安下心来长期兴业投资。
The agreement sets out balanced and comprehensive rules on the level playing field, covering a wide range of important issues such as state-owned enterprises, transparency of subsidies, transfer of technology, and standard-setting. The rules apply to both parties. This could make the business environment more predictable and give investors a greater sense of certainty, which is ever more needed amidst the pandemic fallout.
协定对与投资有关的环境、劳工问题作出专门规定，体现了新的发展理念，展现了双方遵守相关国际承诺的态度与决心。协定将促进有利于实现可持续发展目标的投资，处理好吸引投资与保护环境和劳动者权益的关系。双方还坚定承诺落实《巴黎协定》，共同应对气候变化。
As a high-standard deal, it includes specific rules on investment-related environment and labour issues. This demonstrates both parties’ commitment to international rules and new development philosophies. The agreement will encourage a kind of sustainable investment that can promote the UN SDGs, as well as strike the right balance between investment promotion and protection of environment and labour rights. On climate, both parties are firmly committed to implementing the Paris Agreement.
协定着眼于为中欧投资合作提供更有力的制度保障，将有力改变中欧投资流量及存量与中欧庞大贸易规模不相称的局面，推动中欧资本和创新要素实现更为致密的整合，推进彼此发展战略对接。
The agreement will establish a more robust institutional framework for China-EU investment cooperation and address the huge mismatch between China-EU investment and trade volume. The EU takes up 5% of FDI flowing into China, and China only takes up 3.4% of total FDI in the EU, while our trade volume exceeds 600 billion EUR annually. China and the EU will be able to better integrate their capital and innovation resources and build synergy between their development strategies.
协定的达成也从一个侧面印证了中欧全面战略伙伴关系的成熟、独立和韧性。近年来国际政治经济关系发生深刻复杂变化，2020年尤其是一个极其艰难的年份。但中欧在疫情中逆势前行，相继签署地理标志协定、如期完成投资协定谈判，再次证明中欧合作远大于竞争，共识远多于分歧。协定也再次释放了中欧共同维护多边主义、捍卫以规则为基础的开放型世界经济的积极信号，必将增强国际社会对经济全球化和自由贸易的信心。
The agreement showcases the maturity, independence and resilience of the China-EU comprehensive strategic partnership. Recent years have seen profound and complex changes in the international political and economic landscape. 2020 was a particularly difficult year across the globe. Yet China and the EU have advanced their agenda against all odds, by signing the Geographical Indications Agreement and concluding the investment agreement negotiations. All of this demonstrates that for China and the EU, cooperation and convergence far outweigh competition and divergence. The investment agreement, once again, conveys a positive message of China and the EU jointly upholding multilateralism and the rules-based and open world economy, thereby boosting global confidence in economic globalization and free trade.
2021年是全球经济疫后复苏的关键节点。中国14亿人口的庞大市场将迎来新一轮开放发展、提质升级的崭新机遇，欧盟经济复苏计划蓄势待发，绿色、数字新政齐头并进，这为中欧进一步深化各领域合作提供了很大空间。我们要只争朝夕，积极稳妥推动协定完成后续工作，让中欧工商界和广大民众早日从中受益。
2021 is a crucial year for global economic recovery. China, will embrace new opportunities for further opening-up and economic transformation. The EU is promoting green and digital transitions and will before long kick-start its recovery program. All this will open up a broader horizon for China-EU cooperation across the board. We must lose no time in pushing ahead with the next steps of the investment agreement, for the benefit of our businesses and citizens.
当然，协定不是解决中欧所有经贸问题的万能钥匙。中欧发展阶段不同、国情各异，但只要我们坚持平等协商、尊重包容，就可以找到妥善应对分歧挑战的办法。只要我们坚持全面战略伙伴定位，聚焦合作正能量，中欧在携手应对全球性挑战、维护多边主义方面就一定能干成很多事情。我愿和大家一道为之努力，不断释放中欧合作的红利。
Of course, the agreement is not the panacea to all the economic and trade issues between China and the EU. Despite differences in the level of development and actual circumstances, China and the EU should address their divergences through equal-footed consultation and in a mutually respectful and accommodative spirit. With a shared commitment to partnership and cooperation, China and the EU could get much done in terms of addressing global challenges and upholding multilateralism. I stand ready to join forces with my European colleagues to translate China-EU cooperation into concrete results on the ground.