SCIO briefing on China's commerce development in 2015

NHK:

China is leading the arrangement of the Japan-China-South Korea Free Trade Agreement, but the level of its liberation is not very high. The negotiation has made little progress. Some people in Japan think this is because China is not willing to accept the high level of liberation. I welcome Mr. Gao's response. Thanks.

Gao Hucheng:

China has paid great attention to the negotiations with Japan and South Korea on the FTA. You all know, we have successfully signed and implemented a free trade zone agreement with South Korea and reduce tariffs twice. I recently got some statistics from the customs, and I can see the agreement has been implemented very well. The negotiation for the Japan-China-South Korea Free Trade Agreement, with efforts by all three parties, is making positive progress and we have basically reached a consensus on several aspects. We hope we can work out some leftover problems during the pattern bargaining and text negotiation and arrive at the phase of substantial negotiations. I would love to clarify some problems on standards, as the driving force of the negotiations depends on the economic complementarity among our three countries. As for the openness of the markets, as we can see from the expressed aspirations and the initial discussion during the pattern bargaining, this is a high-level free trade zone agreement. In negotiations between China and South Korea, and between China and Australia, we don't have to mention trade in goods, which is relatively easy and simple even in the aspects of investment and the trade in services, China has a high level of demand. Currently, in the negotiations between China, Japan and South Korea, no one will stand out to say whether it is high level or low level before entering substantive negotiations. There is no such point of view or a conclusion. But speaking for the Chinese side, we hope you notice that we have proposed at the Fifth Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee, that we will build a high-standard free trade zone network globally. So, the China-Japan-South Korea free trade zone agreement will follow this way to reach a comprehensive, open and high-level free trade zone agreement benefiting people's welfare in the three countries and meeting the demands of their economic and social development. Thank you.