I. The closed protection trade policy before the reform and opening up after the founding of the PRC (1949-1978)
The platform of the CPPCC adopted in September 1949 stipulated that China's foreign trade policy was "to exercise control over foreign trade and to adopt a protection trade policy", clearly stating that China's foreign trade policy was to "exercise control over foreign trade and adopt a protection trade policy". At the same time, the economic blockade and embargo policies of the developed capitalist countries against China made self-reliance and self-sufficiency the guiding ideology of China's economic development. Under the socialist planned economy system, China chose the industrialization strategy of giving priority to the development of heavy industry in an economy short of capital, making foreign trade a means of transferring surplus and deficit, and the goal of foreign trade policy was to exchange foreign exchange necessary for importing necessary machinery and equipment, basically ignoring the principle of efficiency in foreign trade.
At this stage, China implemented a state-controlled closed protection trade policy. Specifically, in the foreign trade system established the traditional "highly centralized, exclusive management, government and enterprise" form, completely by the government to replace the market for resource allocation; in the government's foreign trade management tools, basically administrative plans, mainly by planning and quantitative restrictions to directly intervene in the import and export, and do not participate in the world trade organizations, rarely bilateral economic trade. trade organizations, and seldom engaged in bilateral economic and trade cooperation (except for early economic exchanges with the Soviet Union); at the same time, the purpose of foreign trade was mainly to generate foreign exchange, and in order to satisfy the demand for foreign exchange from necessary imports, the exchange rate policy of overvaluing the RMB and foreign exchange control was adopted (analyzing the data on China's foreign trade, the overvaluing of the RMB in fact encouraged imports and suppressed exports, which led to an import profit in the 20 years after the founding of the country, and a decline in exports). (Analyzing the data on China's foreign trade, the high value of the yuan actually encouraged imports and discouraged exports, leading to an import profit and export loss in the 20 years after the founding of the PRC).
In terms of foreign trade strategy, China at this time basically adopted an "import substitution" strategy. The import substitution sectors chosen before 1960 were basically heavy industries, which complemented China's industrialization strategy at that time, and then began to systematically introduce some basic industries. However, similar to the experience of Latin American countries, the complete import substitution policy also led to the deteriorating balance of payments situation, foreign exchange receipts do not cover expenditures; the introduction of technology and equipment digestion and absorption of poor; lack of incentives for enterprises to develop, even if the introduction of advanced technology and equipment, and then, after a period of time, become backward.
At this stage, the government also adopted specific trade measures such as import and export control, tariffs, customs supervision and commodity inspection. The purpose of the tariff policy is to "protect national production" and increase fiscal revenue, to protect national production is to increase the cost of imported goods with higher tariffs, in order to protect China has a certain foundation of handicrafts and light industrial products, as well as other new industrial products, normal production and development, not to suffer from the competition of foreign goods.
Second, after the reform and opening up of the planned commodity economy system under the state-controlled open protection trade policy (1978-1992)
In December 1978, the Third Plenary Session of the Eleventh Central Committee of the Party made clear the strategic position and guiding ideology of foreign trade in China's economic development. As the economic system shifted from a strictly planned economy to a commodity economy, it made China's foreign trade policy begin to change. Two major landmarks of foreign trade policy at this stage were the meeting of the Party Central Committee Secretariat in January 1982, which defined the theoretical basis and guiding ideology for foreign economic work, and the public release of the "Seventh Five-Year Plan" in 1986, which provided a clear blueprint for foreign trade strategy. In addition, in July 1986, China formally submitted the Memorandum on the Foreign Trade System of the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), requesting the restoration of China's status as a founding party to the GATT.
Based on the strength of the reform of the foreign trade system, this phase can be distinguished into two periods, 1978-1987 and 1988-1992. The former period was the early stage of the reform, and the reform of the foreign trade system was mainly reflected in the decentralization of the right to operate foreign trade, the start of the pilot project of combining industry and trade, the simplification of the content of the foreign trade plan, and the implementation of the responsibility system of contracted export operations. In the latter period, the reform of the foreign trade system focused on the liberalization of the foreign exchange control system, the implementation of the export tax rebate policy, the establishment of the import and export coordination service mechanism, and began to encourage the development of processing trade.
The foreign trade policy was emphasized on the policies of awarding and restricting import and export: (1) adopting an export-oriented strategy, encouraging and supporting export-oriented industries and importing corresponding technical equipment, implementing preferential material distribution, taxation and interest rates, and setting up an export production system; implementing the system of foreign exchange retention and exchange rate compounding; restricting the domestic sales of commodities by foreign-funded enterprises; implementing the system of tax rebate for exports; and setting up a mechanism of coordinating services for import and export, and a series of measures. service mechanism and a series of other measures. (2) Implementing stricter traditional import restriction measures, through tariffs, import licenses, foreign exchange controls, classified management of imported goods, state trading and other measures to implement import restrictions. (3) Policies to encourage the absorption of foreign direct investment, encourage the use of two resources, two markets and the introduction of advanced technology.
The theory of comparative advantage has gradually become the theoretical basis for China's foreign trade. The country structure of China's foreign trade and the commodity structure of imports and exports clearly reflect this. China exports mainly labor-intensive products and imports mainly capital- and technology-intensive products. Compared with the pre-reform and opening-up period, the foreign trade policy of this stage pays more attention to the combination of awarding out and restricting in, and implements conditional and dynamic trade protection means, so it is called the foreign trade policy of this stage as the open protection trade policy under the state control.
Third, the protection trade policy with the tendency of trade liberalization under the socialist market economy system before WTO accession (1992-2001)
China entered the stage of socialist market economy after October 1992, and the foreign trade policy began to carry out a wide range of reforms.
China's reforms in import restrictions included: (1) adjustments to tariff policy, with the adoption on January 1, 1992 of a tariff code adjusted in accordance with the Harmonized System of International Commodity Names and Codes (HSIC), and reductions in import tariffs for 225 tariff lines. A number of tariff reductions followed, and by 1996 China's total tariff level had fallen to 23 percent. (2) Reduction and standardization of non-tariff measures, including the reform of the foreign exchange system for imports, the implementation of a single managed floating exchange rate system, the substantial elimination of quota licensing and import control measures, and the shift of quota allocation to public bidding and a standardized allocation system. (3) Improvement of China's foreign-related legal system in accordance with GATT/WTO rules, including the establishment of a large number of technical regulations and anti-dumping regulations.
Reforms in export promotion include: (1) continuing to implement the export tax rebate policy; (2) establishing the Export-Import Bank of China (EXIM Bank) to support enterprises' foreign exports; (3) adopting a managed floating exchange rate system; (4) setting up various types of chambers of commerce and associations, as well as actively organizing and participating in international trade fairs and exhibitions, etc.; and (5) vigorously developing export assistance, etc.
In export promotion, China's foreign-related legal system has been improved in accordance with GATT/WTO rules, including the establishment of a large number of technical regulations and anti-dumping regulations.
At this stage, although the Chinese government's purpose of intervening in foreign trade was different from that of the pre-reform and opening-up period, it was still influenced by the classical mercantilist concept, and practiced the "surplus is the achievement, and surplus is the purpose" of the "surplus is supreme" mercantilist ideology, sparing no effort. The idea of mercantilism, sparing no effort to engage in the export of foreign exchange at a loss. It should be said that this viewpoint has not departed from China's traditional economic thinking - "save for a rainy day", "prevention is better than cure" and other conservative concepts. However, the long-term growing trade surplus, although China has brought a certain degree of "peace of mind", but also for China to "create" more and more trade friction.
The basic guiding theory for China's participation in the international division of labor and international trade in the past 10 years has actually been the theory of comparative advantage, and it has begun to shift from the theory of static comparative advantage to the theory of dynamic comparative advantage. According to the theory of static comparative advantage, or exogenous comparative advantage, China is a country with abundant labor force, and some figures show that the average annual wage of Chinese labor force is about $1,371, which is 2.2% of the average annual wage of American labor force. So China vigorously develops labor-intensive industries and encourages the export of labor-intensive products. Since 1996 China's exports of electromechanical products have replaced traditional textiles as the most important export products, and on the surface it seems that China has stepped out of the circle of exporting labor-intensive products. However, because of the global economic growth in the 1990s, as well as the globalization of the economy and the transfer of the global production chain of multinational corporations, China has become a link in the global production, multinational corporations enter China's main resource allocation is to take advantage of China's cheap labor. The cheap labor referred to here is not the same as simple labor, it includes multinational corporations cheaply hire senior technicians and knowledge workers in China. This is manifested in two points: First, China's export trade mode is mainly based on processing trade, OEM trade, and the second is the proportion of exports of three-funded enterprises is rising year by year.
Four, the direction of China's foreign trade policy after accession to the WTO (after 2001)
China formally became a member of the World Trade Organization (WTO) in December 2001, and in order to fulfill the commitment of accession to the WTO, as well as adapting to the new international economic environment, there has been a drastic adjustment of China's foreign trade policy. The goal of foreign trade policy has become: to promote the development of foreign trade, to construct an industrial structure conducive to the balanced development of the economy, to realize the continuous upgrading of industries, and to promote the high-speed development of China's economy on the basis of moderate internal and external balance. The commodity structure and country structure of China's foreign trade, as well as its domestic and foreign political and economic relations, determine the orientation of foreign trade policy.
Since 1996, the export of electromechanical products has occupied the first place in the commodity structure of China's foreign trade, but the main mode of export is processing trade or OEM trade, and the proportion of three-funded enterprises in the total import and export volume has been rising year by year, plus the value-addedness of the export products is still not high, so the choice of the foreign trade policy should be inclined to the optimization of the structure of the export commodities or the optimization of the domestic industrial structure. optimization of China's domestic industrial structure.
China's main trade targets are the United States, Japan, the European Union, ASEAN and South Korea, and the foreign direct investment attracted mainly comes from these countries or regions, so China's foreign trade policy must be based on the political and economic situation of these countries or regions and changes. For example, when the United States, Japan and the European Union questioned and criticized China's exchange rate system, in order to maintain the stable and healthy development of the national economy, may be coordinated from other foreign trade measures.
In addition, in response to the tendency of regional blocs in the international community, China has also begun to gradually participate in regional economic integration organizations through bilateral and multilateral consultations in recent years, in order to create a good neighboring and national environment for China's economic development and foreign trade development. For example, China and ASEAN countries signed a free trade zone agreement of intent, and actively carry out economic cooperation in the Mekong River Basin and so on.
China's accession to the World Trade Organization, of course, can bring considerable benefits to China's economic development and the growth of Chinese enterprises, but to obtain the benefits at the same time must pay a certain price -- that is, China's commitment to the World Trade Organization and its members. From the existing information and two years of development, China's protocol has three aspects that will have a considerable impact on China: First, the special product safeguard measures provisions, India and the United States have already used this provision on China; second, in the anti-dumping investigations and other procedures in China's accession to the WTO within 15 years of the WTO members can still be equated with China's non-market economy countries to treat; third, the WTO membership of the WTO after the accession of 8 years after the annual trade policy on China. China's trade policy will be reviewed annually for eight years after WTO accession.
These all mean that China's foreign trade policy will be substantially adjusted. For example, with regard to trade in agricultural products, China's WTO accession protocol states that "China shall implement the provisions of the Schedule of Concessions and Commitments for Goods of China, as well as those provisions of this 'Protocol' specifically relating to agricultural products. In this regard, China shall not maintain or adopt any export subsidies for agricultural products. China shall make notifications of financial or other transfers between state-owned enterprises in the agricultural sector (whether at the national or local level) and other enterprises used in the agricultural sector as operators of state monopoly trade, or between each of the above enterprises, as provided for in the 'Mechanism for Review during the Transitional Period'." From these provisions can be seen, China's agricultural export subsidy policy can no longer be used, according to the WTO Agreement on Agriculture, China's agricultural support policy can only start from the domestic support, or can only take the "green box measures" and "yellow box measures". For the import of agricultural products, China has agreed on tariff rates and tariff quotas, but according to a number of exceptions to the WTO - such as national security exceptions, environmental exceptions and balance of payments exceptions, etc., can be taken to some temporary restrictive measures, but only in line with the exceptions to the WTO.
Countries formulate their foreign trade policies mainly by taking into account the domestic political and economic situation, the international economic environment as well as the political and economic situation of each major trade target country, and the requirements of international or regional economic organizations in which the country participates. For China, national security and sustainable development should be important factors in considering its foreign trade policy. Due to the development of economic globalization, China has become the "factory of the world", integrated into the global production chain, capital chain, product chain, China relies on the traditional comparative advantage of the labor force can not be maintained for a long time because the comparative advantage of the labor force is very easy to be replaced by other countries, or by the machine to save. From the experience of the United States, Germany, Japan and South Korea, the guiding theory of China's foreign trade policy should be shifted from the traditional theory of exogenous comparative advantage to endogenous comparative advantage, and from static comparative advantage to dynamic comparative advantage.
In short, it is: first of all, realize that comparative advantage is not innate, but can be formed through the cultivation of later life, so the government can take various measures to support the formation of comparative advantage industries; secondly, comparative advantage is not static, but constantly changing, in the whole life cycle, the products and technology will be shifted from knowledge-intensive to capital-intensive and then to labor-intensive, so a country's products of a certain kind will be more competitive than others, so it will be more competitive than others. intensive, so a country cannot always have a comparative advantage in the production of certain products and technologies. This means that every country has to work on the innovation and imitation of products and technology. Moreover, according to Porter's theory of national competitive advantage, it can be known that the more advanced and specialized the elements are, the more lasting the competitive advantage or comparative advantage they bring, and the enterprise's own management and competitive situation can also bring a strong competitive advantage. Therefore, China's foreign trade policy choices should be centered on cultivating more durable competitive or comparative advantages, in other words, discretionary adoption of certain strategic trade policies.
Since the 1990s, the United States, Japan, the European Union and other developed countries began to free trade or trade liberalization tendency gradually shifted to the implementation of "fair trade" policy. The so-called "fair trade" mainly refers to the creation of a level playing field for enterprises, and the adoption of a series of trade remedies, such as anti-dumping, countervailing or safeguard measures, when necessary, in order to restore the competitiveness of the market. the rules of the WTO are to a large extent in accordance with the practices of the United States, Japan and the European Union, and, therefore, the foreign trade policy of China after accession to the WTO must be strengthened in this regard. Therefore, China's foreign trade policy after its accession to the WTO must be strengthened in this area of policy measures to improve and perfect, to prevent the domestic industry and enterprises or products in the event of similar damages can not be relied upon, in the event of the trade object country's accusation of the response, of course, the first and foremost is the "Anti-Monopoly Law" introduced.
In summary, China's foreign trade policy should be based on the basic principles of the WTO and the exceptions to the provisions of the domestic economic development requirements as the basis for taking into account the interests of regional economic development to improve the tendency to take an open trade policy of fairness and protection coexist.