商貿往來參考譯文:第三篇 Passage 3

第三篇 Passage 3

(Selected from Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji’s Speech at MIT of the U.S. on Sino-US Trade Deficit)

Today I would like to focus on one issue of your concern to you—the Sino-US trade deficit.

First, the trade deficit figure has been greatly exaggerated. According to the US side, its trade deficit to China is US$56.9 billion, while the Chinese figure is US$21.1 billion. There is a very big difference. According to Prof. Lawrence Liu (Liu Zunyi) from Stanford University, who has made some in-depth studies, neither figure is accurate. Based on these factors, the professor puts the trade deficit at US$36.5 billion somewhere between the aforementioned two figures. If the volume of the US export of services to China is excluded, the figure will be around US$35 billion. I will not comment on the accuracy of this figure, which is smaller than that of the United States but bigger than China's. But for sure, the professor has done a lot of homework and has numerous statistics to back his conclusion.

My point is: Don't make such a big deal out of this trade deficit--it is not such a serious problem. Actually, the US trade deficit last year was only US$200 billion if other deficits were included. Accounting for merely two percent of US GDP, the figure is quite normal compared with that of other countries.

Second, most Chinese exports to the United States are labor-intensive, low value-added or resource-consumer goods. They pose no threat to US enterprises as the United States has ceased the production of such goods some 15 years ago. On the contrary, they have aided the United States in its economic structural adjustment and development of high-tech industries. If the United States had stopped such imports or turned to other exporters, the Americans would have paid an extra sum of US$20 billion last year.

Third, more than 70 percent of China's exports to the United States involve the processing industry. Foreign investors, including US enterprises, are running factories in China, which engage in processing and assembling imported raw materials and component parts, and then export the final products to the United States. Those raw materials and component parts are mainly imported from Japan, the Republic of Korea, Singapore, Taiwan and Hong Kong. Value added to export products processed in China is very little. China's exports of such products to the United States are in fact a transfer of exports of those countries and regions to the United States. The United States used to import consumer goods from those countries and regions. Now, those goods are no longer produced there because of their high local labor costs. So they shift the processing and assembling of their raw materials and component parts to China and then export their products to the United States. Therefore, though the United States' trade deficit to China increased, its local trade deficits have not increased.

Through these three points of view, I want to indicate that the trade deficit between China and the United States benefits not only China but also the United States. Now, China's investment in energy and environmental protection infrastructures is unprecedented. If China and the United States cooperate in these areas and the United States open exports and technological transfer to China, which will involve business worth hundreds of billions of US dollar, the Sino-US trade balance will improve in a few years. However, the improvement does not entirely lie with China. The United States should, first of all, truly do what it preaches, namely “free trade”.

Currently, the United States has posed overly intense limitations on exports to China. Satellite exports are not permitted; exports of computers needed by the China Meteorological Administration are also not permitted. Then, how can trade deficits between China and the United States be reduced? I'd like to remind everyone here that last year the United States exported US$8.9 billion worth of electro-mechanical goods to China, while the exports of such products by Japan and the European Union were valued at US$15.1 billion and US$14.8 billion respectively. The United States has pressed hard for exports of wheat and oranges to China. All right. We signed an agreement on farm issues this time, thus opening our market to your wheat and oranges. Now I'll ask: Can the Chinese people live on wheat and oranges only? Yes, we may survive. But we want to live a better life. Therefore, I think a thorough understanding of the strategic importance of the Sino-US relations is the key to the solution of some problems.

China is not a potential rival, nor an enemy, but a trust-worthy friend of the United States.The per-capita GNP of the United States is 10 times that of China. Even in 30 or 40 years, a considerable gap will still remain between the two. China will also remain the biggest potential market and a partner for the United States instead of a rival.