Ambassador Qu Xing’s Remarks at BCECC Chinese New
Year Reception
Mr. Vice-Premier Minister and Minister Kris Peeters,
Mr. President Bernard Dewit,
Ladies and gentlemen,
Dear friends of BCECC,
I still have fresh memories of us getting together at this
beautiful palace last year for celebration of the Chinese Year of
Goat. Today, we are again getting together here to celebrate the
Year of Monkey. How time flies! In the Chinese culture,
Monkey symbolizes wisdom, vitality and promotion. So on this
occasion, I would like to wish everyone full of wisdom and
vitality with your business，and full of promotion with your
professional career.
As this is a gathering of those who work with China, I
would like to share with you my observations in three areas,
namely, the development of China-Belgium relations of the
passed year, China's current economic situation, and China’s
"Belt and Road initiatives".
Firstly, the development of China-Belgium relations in
2015. H.M. King Philippe and H.M. Queen Mathilde paid a
state visit to China in 2015. China had the honor to be chosen by
H.M. as the destination for the first state visit. As Chinese
ambassador to Belgium, I had the honor to accompany H.M. the
King for the visit. I heard with my own ears when President Xi
Jinping, Premier Li Keqiang, among other Chinese top leaders
expressed China’s desire for further cooperation with Belgium. I
personally experienced the grand hospitality and warm welcome
which H.M. the King and H.M. the Queen received in different
Chinese cities and provinces. I was glad to be there to see the
King and Queen witness the signing of over 90 cooperation
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agreements.
Shortly after the King's visit to China, Chinese Premier Li
Keqiang came to Brussels for the EU-China Summit. Although
he only had one day in Brussels, and his schedule was extremely
tight, Premier Li still had a fruitful meeting with Prime Minister
Charles Michel. They witnessed together the signing of 12
cooperation agreements, which were worth of over 20 billion
US dollars.
In September, Chinese Vice-Premier Liu Yandong, who is
in charge of education, culture, science and technology affairs,
came to Brussels. Vice-Premier Liu inaugurated Chinese
Cultural Center in Brussels together with Deputy Prime Minister
Didier Reynders.
In terms of trade between China and Belgium,
China-Belgium trade maintained stable growth despite of
sluggish global demand and the euro falling against the dollar.
In 2015, bilateral trade stood at 21.43 billion Euros, an increase
of 1.8%. China remains to be Belgium’s most important
investment destination in Asia, and Chinese companies have
great confidence in Belgium. A few days ago, the world's largest
bank, namely the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China
(ICBC) opened a branch in Antwerp, which is perfect proof to
my point. This year, we expect new breakthrough with China
Belgium Technology incubator in the Louvain-la-Neuve Science
Park.
This year of 2016 marks the 45th anniversary of
establishment of diplomatic relations between China and
Belgium. A series of celebration activities will be held. On
February 6, the Chinese Embassy and Brussels city government
jointly held the Chinese New Year Parade and Chinese New
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Year Reception at the Grand Place and the City Hall, which is
unprecedented in the history of China-Belgium relations, and
underlines the sound development momentum of bilateral
relations. This year, Belgian Prime Minister Michel will pay an
official visit to China, and will address the Asian Forum in Boao,
enhancing the link for business opportunities between Belgium
and Asian countries. I believe this will provide more
opportunities for Belgian entrepreneurs to do more business
with China.
Now the second area I would like to expound on is China’s
economic situation in 2015. In a nutshell, medium-high rate
growth will become the "new normal" of China’s economy. In
2015, three phenomena caused great concern of the international
community. The first is the volatility in the Chinese stock
market. The second is China’s economic growth rate falling
below 7%. And third is the depreciation of Chinese Yuan against
US dollars. There are concerns about whether China’s economy
is having a big problem. Since China is now the second largest
economy in the world, taking up 15% of the world economy,
and with a contribution rate of 25% to the global economic
growth. People wonder if China sneezes, the world will not
catch a cold.
In the beginning of 2015, China’s stock market in Shanghai
and Shenzhen kept going strong, up by 60% and 122%
respectively within six months. Then in June, there was a
sudden market plunge. Within one month and a half, Shanghai
and Shenzhen stock index were down by 35% and 40%
respectively, causing people to panic. The causes include the
rules of stock market itself, the major context of international
economic situation, speculations, and some lack of government
regulation. The Chinese government has adopted a series of
"rescue" measures to avoid the so-called "stock market crash".
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Now the stock market is relatively stable, the Shanghai index
fluctuates steadily around 3000 points.
As for China’s economic growth in 2015, China’s economic
growth rate was 6.9%, the lowest in 25 years. This is partly
because China now has a big size of economy. From 1978 to
2013, China's economy maintained an average growth rate of
9.8 % for 35 years. China's GDP increased from 0.37 trillion
Yuan in 1978 to 67 trillion Yuan in 2015, and its portion to the
world economy rose from 1.8 % in 1978 to 15% in 2015.
Economics tell us that the larger an economy becomes, the
harder it is to sustain a high growth rate.
More importantly, the current growth rate is result of the
Chinese government’s measures to adjust the economic structure
and transform the mode of development. Over the past 30 years,
China's economic development was mainly driven by foreign
trade and investments, now we are trying to shift to an economy
driven by domestic consumption and innovation. Ten years ago,
Chinese economy’s dependence on foreign trade was nearly
70%. In 2015, the figure dropped to 45%. In the past thirty years,
China’s economy grew at the cost of energy and environment,
which has caused a lot of problems. Now that we have realized
this problem, the current Government has decided to sacrifice a
little speed of development for a green, environmentally friendly
and sustainable development. In recent years, a lot of
investments went in new energy to replace outdated production
capacity, which also affected the current pace of economic
development.
As for the depreciation of Yuan against US dollars, that is a
temporary phenomenon which happened when all the emerging
economies had their currencies fall against US dollars due to the
Federal Reserve’s raise in interest rates, which allows the
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dollar-denominated assets to flow back to the US. There is no
basis for continued depreciation of the Yuan, because China is
among the top growth rates in the world, with a contribution rate
of 25% to the world economy. Last year, China’s trade surplus
stood at 3.68 trillion Yuan, a year-on-year increase of 56.7%. We
have ample foreign exchange reserves. Last year, the Yuan was
included in the basket of currencies which make up the IMF's
Special Drawing Right, or SDR, pushing up market demand for
the Yuan. Therefore, although the Yuan depreciated a bit against
the US dollars, it has actually slightly appreciated against the
basket of currencies.
As a matter of fact, the overall situation with China’s
economy is rather desirable. There are several facts that we
should not overlook.
Firstly, the Chinese government has achieved its growth
target. The target growth rate for 2015 was set at around 7%.
Thus, 6.9% has met up with the expectation.
Secondly, China has secured all the 24 mandatory
indicators set out in the Twelfth Five Year Plan, including
energy conservation, emission reduction, urbanization, high-tech
production capacity, and social security.
Thirdly, China’s economic structure has been improved.
The service sector now accounts for half of China’s GDP, and
contributes 54% of entire tax revenue, and 80% of the increased
tax revenue. High-tech industries grew by 10.2%, new-energy
cars rose by 60%, industrial robots increased by 42%, and
e-commerce went up by 31.6%. The industries that went
downwards were especially the energy-intensive ones, such as
steel, chemical and oil refining industries. And that is the price
China has to pay in order to upgrade its economy.
Fourthly, China's independent innovation capability has
been enhanced significantly. Some breakthrough progress has
been made in such areas as manned spaceflight, lunar
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exploration, manned deep submergence, new regional aircraft,
large LNG ships, and high-speed rail transportation.
Fifthly, China’s share of global exports went upward.
Although China's exports in absolute value declined due to
sluggish global trade, China's share in global exports market
reached 13.4%, which was one percentage point higher
compared with 2014. In 2015, China's overseas direct
investment was more than 118.02 billion US dollars, a
year-on-year increase of 14.7%. China’s accumulated overseas
non-financial direct investment reached 863.04 billion dollars.
Sixthly, employment and people’s income have both
increased. 13 million new jobs were created in China in 2015.
Per capita disposable income grew by 7.4%. In that context,
Chinese tourists spend more money to enjoy life.
In the past 30 years, people have got used to China’s
economy growing at a "normal" rate of 9-10%. But in the future,
China's economic growth of around 7% will become a "new
normal", a healthier, environment-friendly, and sustainable
"normal." As long as China’s growth stays above 6.5%, China
will be on the right track to achieve the goal of doubling its
2010 GDP and per capita income by 2020.
Now the third area I would like to touch upon is about
China's "Belt and Road initiatives”. This is a systematic project
which should be jointly built through consultation to meet the
interests of all. I think you may want to know why China wants
to achieve through "Belt and Road initiatives", how to achieve it,
what are the specific plans, and what progress it made till now.
Well, China put forward the "Belt and Road initiatives" for
the following purposes:
First, to cultivate new economic growth point of the world
economy, in order to reverse the weak world economic recovery
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from the global financial crisis, rising protectionism, and
fragmented trade agreements. China firmly believes that in the
context of globalization, the mankind is living in the community
of shared interests. Only through common development can
every individual country achieve real development.
Second, to promote regional cooperation, the connectivity
of Asian, European and African continents and their adjacent
seas, tap market potential in this region, secure favorable
position in the global supply chain, industrial chain and value
chain. Compared with Europe, the current transport
infrastructure connectivity among Asian countries is still lagging
behind. China believes that the "Belt and Road initiatives" will
help narrow the gap and create better conditions for the stability
and development of Asia.
Third, to strengthen the connection between Chinese
economy and the world economy, promote integration of
China's economy with market, resources and investment in the
world. It is also to create better conditions for the development
of China's western regions, narrow the gap between China's
eastern and western regions.
China’s "Belt and Road initiatives" is a five-way progress
in policy communication, infrastructure connectivity, trade link,
capital flow, and understanding among peoples. The key lies in
infrastructure connectivity. The Silk Road Economic Belt
focuses on enhancing the connectivity between China and
Europe, that is from China to Baltic Sea, through Mongolia,
Russia, Central Asian and Eastern European countries; from
China to Mediterranean Sea through Western Asian and
Middle-East countries, and from China to Indian Ocean through
Southeast and south Asian countries. The 21st-Century Maritime
Silk Road is designed to go from China's coast to Europe
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through the South China Sea and the Indian Ocean in one route,
and from China's coast through the South China Sea to the
South Pacific in the other.
How do we achieve this goal? "Belt and Road" is not a
Chinese strategy that requires support from other countries, but
rather a Chinese initiative that welcomes participation of all.
This project will only succeed when it is jointly built through
consultation to meet the interests of all. The "Belt and Road
initiatives" will be funded by AIIB ($100 billion), Silk Road
Fund (initiated by China and already has $40 billion),
government investment of concerned countries and
public-private partnership program (PPP). China's new overseas
investment over the next decade will reach $ 1.5 trillion, which
will mean a lot to "Belt and Road initiatives". China’s current
investment to countries along the Belt and road only accounts
for 17% of its overseas investment. We believe that in the
coming years, this ratio will be greatly improved.
So what progress has been made so far?
At present, "Belt and Road initiatives" has received positive
international response. 60 countries along the Belt and Road
have expressed a positive attitude. Over a dozen countries have
appointed special envoys to work with Chinese side.
International organizations such as ASEAN, SAARC(South
Asian Association for Regional Cooperation), the Arab League,
the SCO, the GCC(Gulf Cooperation Council), UNESCAP(UN
Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific),
Eurasia Economic Commission and the International Road
Transport Union have agreed to joint cooperation with the
Chinese side. China has signed “Belt and Road" cooperation
agreements with countries in Central Asia, and West Asia.
This year, The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB)
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has been open for business since January 16. 57 countries
(including 14 EU member states) have become founding
members. Besides, the Silk Road Fund has been officially
established and set out for fund-raising.
Under the "Belt and Road" framework, a number of
cross-border infrastructure has started construction this year,
some even has been put into use, such as China-Laos Railway,
China-Thailand Railway, Hungary-Serbian Railway, Jakarta Bandung high-speed rail, the second phase of the Karakoram
Highway between China and Pakistan, Gwadar Port Expressway,
China-Myanmar gas pipeline, line C and line D of gas pipeline
between China and Central Asia.
I would like to conclude by emphasizing that Belgium is
located in the western end of the Eurasian continent, and enjoys
convenient transportation and well-developed logistics, thus has
great advantage in carrying out cooperation in this regard.
During President Xi Jinping’s visit to Belgium in 2014, the two
sides agreed to strengthen cooperation under the framework of
"Belt and Road initiatives". I hope our Belgian friends will
continue to contribute your talents and efforts to promote
bilateral cooperation in the field of connectivity, and inject new
vitality for the development of bilateral relations.
Last but not least, I wish you new progress in your
cooperation with China in the year of Monkey. Thank you!
Enjoy the evening.
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