Editor's note:As 2015 Guangdong Provincial Two Sessions will soon convene, generating a lot of media coverage, Sui Guangjun, member of the CPPCC Standing Committee of Guangdong Province, the Party secretory of GDUFS and the executive deputy director of Guangdong Research Institute for International Strategies (GRIIS) accepts an Interview with people.com.cn on the issues of how to improve Guangdong’s foreign trade, the role of Guangdong Free Trade Zone (FTZ) in the construction of “One Belt and One Road”, how the government help local industries, enterprises and institutions in the construction of “Maritime Silk Road”, and the role of new-type think tanks. Network media such as xinmin.cn, eastday.com, dayoo.com, 163.com forward the interview. And the news.com of GDUFS also forwards the written text and videos of the interview from people.com.cn.
Sui Guangjun Accepts an Interview with the Column “Representatives Have Words to Say” of People.com.cn
Guangdong is the birthplace of the maritime silk road in ancient China and forerunner of the reform and opening-up. Being the first hometown of overseas Chinese, Guangdong bears a long history of economic and trade cooperation and civil communications with the countries along the maritime silk road. Therefore, Guangdong enjoys exceptional advantages in geography and location in the construction of 21st Century Maritime Silk Road. Xi Jinping, General Secretary of the CPC Central Committee earlier clearly demanded that Guangdong should take an important role in the construction of 21st Century Maritime Silk Road.
Recently, Sui Guangjun, member of the CPPCC Standing Committee of Guangdong Province, the Party secretory of GDUFS and the executive deputy director of GRIIS expressed in the interview with the column “Representatives Have Words to Say” of people.com.cn that he hoped the government set up Guangdong Maritime Silk Road Construction Fund to further improve the level of foreign trade, and take full advantage of the new-type think tank in the construction of “One Belt and One Road”.
Improve the Quality of Foreign Trade
Sui Guangjun: open doors ≠”accept all”
We should improve the quality of foreign trade
Since the reform and opening-up, the foreign investments that Guangdong has absorbed accounted for one forth of the total volume of export and import nationwide. Guangdong has had a great foundation for increasing the growth rate of the export, import and foreign trade. What’s more, Guangdong needs to transform and upgrade to achieve constant rise. Sui Guangjun said that we should make full use of the existing trade tunnels and platforms to consolidate the current trade share.
Sui Guangjun remarks that to further open the borders doesn’t mean accept all the foreign investments. Guangdong should introduce high-end manufacturing industry, innovative technologies and high-end service industry. Meanwhile, it should go global and utilize the foreign resources and markets, absorbing new technologies and innovative factors to improve and transform the industrial strategies in a higher level.
Before then, Sui Guangjun investigated in Indonesia and found that its local government encouraged the linkage of ports and development zones, outsourcing and entrusting the construction of ports, development zones and enterprises to the foreign-funded enterprises. This formed a holistic development model including from the infrastructure, industrial zones and science parks. “We find that the price level in Indonesia is not low, but the consumption ability of the civilians is strong”, Sui Guangjun points out that this situation is not only existing in Indonesia, but also in many South-east Asian countries, more so in African countries.
Sui Guangjun said that Guangdong and the countries along the maritime silk road are greatly complementary in the industrial and economic cooperation. The key point lies in how the enterprises find out the entry point. He suggests that during the process of “going global”, enterprises should first get familiar with the rules and regulations of investment-receiving countries and have a thorough understanding of the investment risks and the cultures of the countries.
Build a ”Local Bank for Maritime Silk Road”
Sui Guangjun: suggests the construction of Local Bank for Guangdong Maritime Silk Road
In the last year, China got the support from 50 more countries for the construction of “One Belt and One Road”, involving ASEAN countries, South Asia, West Asia, North Africa, East Africa and other areas. Sui Guangjun remarks that recently, the GDP of Guangdong has surpassed one trillion dollars, getting close to those of South Korea, ranking 14th and Mexico, ranking 15th in the G20 Summit. According to the investigation, many enterprises in Guangdong have already gone global. Take a private company as an example, it invested more than 50 million dollars in Ethiopia to build a shoe factory, hiring 5,000 Ethiopian workers. The factory earned foreign exchanges in amount of almost 40 million dollars.
“40 million dollars equals half of one-year export foreign exchange of Ethiopia”, Sui Guangjun considered that the enterprises of Guangdong not only brought economic benefits to those places, but also solved the unemployment problem in many countries, helping the poor families to shake off the poverty.
But recently, many enterprises are confronted with a lot of problems and obstacles overseas in the process of going global, such as the shortage of information, capital and talents. Sui Guangjun hopes the Guangdong provincial government can take the construction of “One Belt and One Road” as a good opportunity to set up a Silk Road Fund or Maritime Silk Road Local Bank with the aim of supporting local industries, enterprises and institutions to actively take part in the construction of maritime silk road.
The Establishment of FTZ Deepens the Reform
Sui Guangjun: FTZ will become the strategic support for the construction of “One Belt and One Road” to deepen the reform.
The statistics show that there is a population of 4.4 billion along “One Belt and One Road” with the aggregate economic volume of 21 trillion dollars, which accounts for 63% and 29% worldwide respectively. At present, China has signed 12 free trade agreements, involving 20 countries and areas such as the China-ASEAN and China-Singapore agreements.
On December 12, 2014, the State Council approved to establish three more free trade zones in Guangdong, Tianjin and Fujian. Guangdong FTZ deeply incorporates with Hongkong and Macao, driving the development of the Pearl River Delta. Besides, Guangdong FTZ bears more lucrative investment opportunities in high-end service industry, becoming the vital bridgehead of the maritime silk road.
Sui Guangjun said that in terms of streamlining administration and delegating power to the lower levels, and reforming the state-owned enterprises, the enterprise approval system and the economic management system, Guangdong FTZ should utilize the mature experience of areas such as Hongkong and Macao or other countries to take the lead nationwide by promoting its economic integration and the process of legalization.
“Maritime silk road does not represent only an intensive physical road, but also new international ties and networks”, Sui Guangjun figured that during the process of building the maritime silk road, the decision-makers, entrepreneurs and scholars should have a more comprehensive and deeper understanding and realization of the significance of “One Belt and One Road” and the position of Guangdong.
The New-Type Think Tank as the External Brain Power, Microphone and Revolving Door of the Government
Sui Guangjun: The new-type think tank is the external brain power, microphone and revolving door of the government.
In recent years, the think tank has played a more and more important role in the major projects of the central and Guangdong provincial government such as the construction of “One Belt and One Road”. A few days ago, Gao Runsheng, the deputy director of the Science and Technology Department of Ministry of Education visited GRIIS and emphasized that the building of think tanks was an important part of strengthening Chinese soft power. Sui Guangjun says that the construction of think tank is the key to current innovative research on Chinese dream. And the interaction between the think tanks of universities and departments of central and local governments is vital to improve the research of think tank.
It is known that GRIIS, as the non-governmental think tank, has submitted 78 research reports on the countermeasures of major theoretical and practical problems of central and local governments to the Guangdong Provincial Party Committee and the provincial government. Among them, 66 reports were approved by the major provincial leaders and adopted by key departments, including significant projects such as maritime silk road, Chinese enterprises “going global” and the transformation and upgrading of Chinese foreign trade. GRIIS plays a pivotal role in the decision-making of the government.
“The new-type think tank is not the regular research institutions in the universities. It aims at meeting the major strategic needs of the country to provide strategic support”. Sui Guangjun holds that firstly the think tank as a external brain power should be built to provide valuable, scientific, systematic, and independent foundations and suggestions for decision-making. Secondly, it must have its own voice. Like the think tanks in western countries, they actually are regarded as the microphones, popularizing their values, strategies and measures. Besides, the new-type think tank can also be seen as the revolving door to communicate with the government. Recently, GRIIS has established the system of revolving door and the cross-post mechanism with the relevant departments of the government, and cooperation with the foreign think tanks.
