Premier Li Keqiang interacts with American friends in New York

By HU YONGQI (chinadaily.com.cn) Updated: 2016-09-22 15:48

Premier Li Keqiang speaks at a welcoming dinner in New York.[Photo provided to China Daily]

Robert Hormats, former Under Secretary of State: Premier Li, first, let me thank you for your very thoughtful and comprehensive speech. You've honored us by your leadership and your vision. My question is about global trade. As you correctly pointed out in your speech that global trade growth has been sluggish over the last several years. You also pointed out how interdependent our two countries and many others are. One of our concerns is that in many countries throughout the world, we see increased economic nationalism; we see huge domestic pressures for localization of production; we see people who are against globalization rather than improving the global trading system. Those pressures occur in the United States, China, and many other countries. So my question is what can China and the US do together to reverse this deterioration in support for the global trading system, to make sure that it thrives and becomes more open? And in particular, how can the United States and China seize the opportunities brought by the bilateral investment treaty negotiation to take the lead together in strengthening international trading rules and create more opportunities for prosperity and growth?

Premier Li: I believe China and the United States should send a common message to the international community. Both of our two countries are strong supporters of the existing global trading regime. And we both believe that we need to advance trade liberalization and investment facilitation under the WTO framework. So China and the US should work together with all other countries to send out a strong and common message. And I believe this will help prevent the anti-globalization trend from further evolving and help prevent the trade barriers and a beggar-thy-neighbor approach from emerging, so that they will not stand in the way of global economic recovery.

Secondly, I believe our two countries need to further open up to each other in both trade and mutual investment. China is sincere in further opening up its market. We have completed the quarantine procedures for the import of US beef. And we will soon have imports of beef from the United States. China is a large producer of agricultural products and animal husbandry. The US also has very good beef. Why should we deny Chinese customers more choices? (Applause.) I'm sure there would be louder applause if I say this in the US Midwest. (Laughter and applause.) As I'm in New York, I would also like to mention that we have decided to designate a Chinese bank as a RMB clearing bank in New York. We also welcome banks in New York that meet the eligibility requirements to apply for the setting up of RMB clearing banks. I'm sure that will enable smoother cross-border settlement between us. Now China and the United States are engaged in the BIT negotiation. The negotiation in itself has sent out a positive message to the business communities of both countries. China has exerted strong effort in this respect, and in just two years, has put forward revised offers three times. Now, the two countries are engaged in the 29th round of negotiation. We need the US side to meet us halfway. I believe that as long as both sides take a pragmatic and flexible approach, we will be able to arrive at a high-standard and mutually beneficial BIT.