Sino-Russian Economic and Trade Cooperation in the context of World change. By student from ITS18-Xuhui
The Sino-US trade war has triggered a great adjustment in the global economic pattern and will have a profound impact on the long-term development of Sino-Russian economic and trade cooperation. Based on the changes in the current international economic environment and the current situation of cooperation between China and Russia, Sino-Russian economic and trade cooperation in the future needs to adjust the thinking of development, and make up for the institutional shortcomings of cooperation. The path of cooperation has changed from a single project cooperation to a two-wheel drive between system construction and project cooperation, which helps to transform Sino-Russian economic and trade cooperation into high quality, and provides long-term institutional guarantee for sustainable development.
1. Actively participate in the Reform of multilateral Trade rules of the World Trade Organization
Both China and Russia are members of the World Trade Organization and spokesmen of emerging economies. They should shoulder the corresponding responsibilities in the process of adjusting the multilateral trading system and the reform of multilateral trade rules, actively participate in the consultation of relevant rules and issues, at the same time, explore new areas of global governance. For example, subject to the economic sanctions imposed by the United States and Europe against Russia, the existing SWIFT international settlement payment system has formed obvious constraints on the economic and trade cooperation between the two countries and needs to be adjusted urgently. Therefore, the two countries can actively explore the construction of a new international settlement payment system. It provides new institutional guarantee for expanding bilateral economic and trade cooperation, and also makes beneficial attempts to build a new global financial order. In addition, the two sides can also explore new rules of international cooperation in the process of jointly building “Belt and Road” Initiative.
2.Extensively expand the field of cooperation
Taking advantage of the gap in the Chinese market caused by the Sino-US trade war, China and Russia actively expand cooperation in agriculture, manufacturing, service trade, high and new technology and other fields, innovate the way of cooperation, and improve the level of cooperation.
- The conditions for expanding the trade of agricultural products and expanding agricultural cooperation have matured. In recent years, China's agricultural imports from Russia have been on the rise year by year, and agricultural products are expected to become a new growth point of trade between the two countries. On November 8, 2018, the agricultural ministers of China and Russia met in Beijing and jointly signed “the Agricultural Development Plan for Northeast China and the far East and Baikal region of Russia”, and decided to further strengthen cooperation between the two countries in the fields of soybeans, processing of agricultural products, warehousing and logistics, and promote agricultural cooperation between the two countries to a new level. The two sides will also explore joint investment, jointly establish soybean production facilities in Russia, and expand Russian soybean exports to China. In addition, there is also room for cooperation between China and Russia in wheat, seafood, meat and dairy products.
- Manufacturing industry can become a new bright spot of bilateral cooperation. The trade characteristics of energy products and mechanical and electrical products between China and Russia show that the industries of the two countries are highly complementary, and the prospects for cooperation in the manufacturing field between the two countries are broad. In the process of jointly building "Belt and Road” Initiative, China has actively promoted enterprises in the fields of iron and steel, non-ferrous metals, building materials, railways, electricity, chemical industry, light textile, automobile, communications, construction machinery, and other fields to "go out" and expand foreign investment. This provides a guarantee for the expansion of Sino-Russian cooperation in the field of manufacturing. At present, China's Haier Group and Hisense Group have set up home appliance production bases in Russia, China Chemical Engineering Company has established refineries in Russia, and the cooperation between China and Russia in the field of manufacturing has shown a positive development trend.
- High and new technology should become an important field of cooperation between the two sides. Taking advantage of Russia's technological advantages in aerospace, nuclear technology, new materials, biotechnology, instrument manufacturing, two countries need to expand the cooperation in the fields such as new energy, new materials, life sciences, nanotechnology, environmental protection and energy conservation. In 2017, The Sino-Russian High-tech Center, a joint venture project between China Enlightenment holding Co., Ltd. and the Skolkovo Innovation Center of Russia, has been officially launched. The center has established five key areas of development such as energy conservation, nuclear technology, space technology, medicine and information technology, which will become the display window of China's high-tech achievements and products in Russia and the cooperation base of Sino-Russian high-tech innovation industries in the future. The project has opened the process of promoting the marketization of Sino-Russian high-tech cooperation. In addition, the Guangzhou-CIS International Technology transfer Center has established close cooperative relations with the far East Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the Ural Branch, the Siberian Branch, the St. Petersburg Scientific Research Center, and the all-Russian Business Union. Many kinds of international scientific and technological cooperation modes, such as "joint research", "joint test verification", "joint R & D center", "intelligence introduction", "high-end talent introduction", "joint construction of high-tech enterprises", and "building international scientific and technological cooperation park", have played an active role in introducing applied technology to help China's industrial transformation and upgrading.
- The digital economy will become the focus area of cooperation between the two countries. In 2017, the Russian federal government promulgated the outline of the digital economy plan. It is necessary to vigorously develop e-commerce, develop distance education and telemedicine, and build electronic information platform for small and medium-sized enterprises. China is the country with the fastest development of digital economic applications and the greatest potential for growth. In the future, China and Russia can carry out extensive cooperation in cross-border e-commerce, software development, network security and electronic payment systems. On September 11, 2018, the Alibaba Group of China and the Russian Direct Investment Fund, Russian telecom operator "MegaFon" and Internet giant "Mail.Ru” announced the establishment of a new joint venture, "AliExpress Russia", to accelerate the development of Russia's digital economy, establish cross-border e-commerce infrastructure, and expand the development of cross-border e-commerce between the two countries.
- China and Russia need to vigorously improve the level of development of trade in services. Within the framework of "Belt and Road” Initiative, China and Russia vigorously promote cooperation in tourism, finance, international transport and other fields to enhance cooperation space. During January-July of 2018, the number of Chinese tourists to Russia increased by 150 percent over the same period in 2017. China continues to maintain its status as the largest tourist source country in Russia, and will increase all kinds of tourism value-added services in the future, including personalized tourism services such as self-driving tours and high-end tours. It is necessary to explore diversified financial services, establish market-oriented financing mechanism, establish a new settlement and payment system, and try to use PPP model to carry out project construction. In addition, two countries should also vigorously develop cross-border transport represented by CEIBS, giving full play to the functions of the existing infrastructure, and realize the facilitation of transport management and reduce transport costs through the unified and coordinated document management system to improve the quality and efficiency of transport services, expand the scale of trade in transport services. In addition, China and Russia can also vigorously expand health care, education, culture and other services trade cooperation.
3. Actively improve the business environment
Both China and Russia are emerging economies and are in the process of market-oriented reform. Perfecting the business environment is a common task facing the two countries, and it is also an indispensable prerequisite for expanding mutual investment and improving the level of economic and trade cooperation.
Cross-border trade index has a direct impact on bilateral trade costs, in this index, China and Russia ranked 97th and 100th, in the middle level. The export cost of Russia is 1 / 3 higher than that of China, and the import cost is three times higher than that of China. Too high trade cost will inevitably restrict the development of bilateral trade and investment, and is not conducive to expanding the scale of trade. Therefore, the two countries still have great potential for cooperation in improving the business environment. At present, China vigorously promotes the construction of free trade experimental zone, promotes the "one window" system and the rapid customs clearance model. Over the past few years, the operation of the free trade test zone has achieved remarkable results. By 2018, the number of goods declaration data for enterprises in the Shanghai Free Trade Test Zone, China, has decreased by 24%, resulting in cumulative cost savings of more than 2 billion yuan. The customs clearance efficiency of Nansha area in Guangdong Free Trade Experimental area has been increased by 50%. These experiences provide a model for China and Russia to improve the business environment.
In May 2018, within the framework of "Belt and Road” Initiative cooperation, China and the Eurasian Economic Union Commission signed “the Agreement on Economic and Trade Cooperation between the people's Republic of China and the Eurasian Economic Union”. The agreement covers customs cooperation and trade facilitation, intellectual property rights, sector cooperation, government procurement, e-commerce and competition. China and Russia can take the lead in implementing the contents of the agreement, simplifying customs clearance procedures, reducing trade costs, raising the level of trade facilitation, creating a good environment for enterprise investment, and providing institutional guarantees for bilateral economic and trade cooperation. A demonstration will be made for other members of the Eurasian Economic Union.
Looking forward to the future, Sino-Russian economic and trade cooperation will stand at a new starting point. In the face of the great changes that have not occurred in a hundred years, both sides need to work hard and plan ahead of time. While vigorously promoting project cooperation, China and Russia should explore new ways of cooperation, seize the new opportunity of jointly building "Belt and Road” Initiative, take “the Agreement on Economic and Trade Cooperation between the people's Republic of China and the Eurasian Economic Union” as an opportunity, deepen the cooperation between the two countries based on economic and trade rules, and raise the level of trade and investment liberalization and facilitation with its aim to promote bilateral economic and trade cooperation to achieve sustainable, high-quality and healthy development.
