Zheng Nan: The road of Sino-Russian trade cooperation is getting wider and wider

Legal Evening News2017-11-3013:23:23

In the context of the lack of global economic growth in 2016, Bilateral economic and trade cooperation between China and Russia has still made positive progress, China imported 52.38 million tons of crude oil from Russia, accounting for 13.75% of the total crude oil imports, Russia has surpassed Saudi Arabia and become China's largest source of crude oil imports. At the same time, the sino-Russian trade structure has improved, the Sino-Russian trade in mechanical and electrical products and agricultural products increased by 17% and 11% respectively, and China has become the largest importer of Russian food. In addition, new formats such as cross-border e-commerce between China and Russia have developed rapidly, and direct investment in Russia has reached a record high. Bilateral trade between China and Russia was $69.5 billion in 2016, an increase of 2.2% over 2015, the first among China's top ten trading partners to achieve positive growth. In the first half of 2017, the total trade volume was 39.78 billion US dollars, of which China exported 19.44 billion US dollars and imported 20.34 billion US dollars from Russia, an increase of 26%, 22% and 30% respectively year-on-year.

Of course, there are some deficiencies and problems in Sino-Russian trade. First of all, the bilateral trade between China and Russia lacks a perfect service system, and the chaotic trade order makes it difficult for both sides to standardize the management of the market. Different product quality standards, different market access norms, differences in customs clearance speed of customs goods, inconsistent inspection and quarantine systems, unstable trade policies, and high tariffs are all manifestations of the imperfect trade service system between China and Russia. Second, there is a lack of an arbitration institution with strong enforcement power and a reasonable and effective consultation system. When there is a dispute in trade, it is difficult to get a fair and just solution in a short period of time. In addition, the legal systems of China and Russia are different. While continuing to use the statutes of civil law countries, Russia has continuously strengthened its own characteristics, absorbing the practices of common law countries and valuing the role of precedents, and the "transformation" is strong. China's legal system has been initially formed but needs to be developed and improved, and some legal provisions cannot be effectively integrated with international legal provisions. At the same time, the low and simplification of trade is also a problem that cannot be ignored. First, the trade structure is unbalanced. China mainly exports labor-intensive products such as textiles, clothing and footwear to Russia, and Russia mainly exports resource-endowment products such as logs and energy to China, with strong trade complementarity and dependence. Over-reliance on labor-intensive and resource-endowment products has led to a narrowing of the development space for economic and trade cooperation between the two sides. In recent years, bilateral trade between China and Russia has increased the proportion of mechanical and electrical products exports, but its export varieties are mainly concentrated in the fields of measuring instruments and aerospace equipment, and the driving effect on the overall economic and trade cooperation between the two countries is not significant. Second, the proportion of financial services trade is low. The clearing channels between the two countries in terms of interest rates, exchange rates, fees and local currency settlement are not smooth, bilateral cross-border settlement services are few, and there are insufficient correspondent banks to fully provide RMB settlement services. Third, the scale of bilateral trade is small. In 2016, the total bilateral trade between China and Russia was 69.5 billion US dollars, accounting for 2% of China's total foreign trade (US$3,475.7 billion) and 14.7% of Russia's total foreign trade (US$471.2 billion), which is inconsistent with the international status and economic development scale of the two countries.

Challenges exist, but the opportunities and potential for cooperation between the two countries are optimistic. China has been Russia's largest trading partner for seven consecutive years. In the context of the overall decline in global trade, Sino-Russian trade showed signs of stabilization and rebound in the first half of 2017, and bilateral trade volume increased by more than 30% year-on-year. In terms of agricultural cooperation, China and Russia are complementary in agriculture, and they can exchange and learn from each other and strengthen cooperation. In 2016, Russia vigorously developed agriculture, paid attention to the breeding of fine seeds, crop cultivation technology, and promoted import substitution projects. Russia is leading in the fields of chromosomal base fixation, remote hybridization to create new varieties, biological control and plant nutrition technology, and is worth learning and learning from China in the fields of biological fertilizer, agricultural environmental protection technology and pollution-free biological control of pests and diseases. Similarly, China's agriculture has a long history of development and has unique advantages in the reuse of farming experience, agricultural mechanization, agricultural technology promotion, agricultural product differentiation and the "agriculture + Internet" model. In terms of high-speed rail cooperation, Russia has been looking for international partners to improve the speed of railway transportation, improve the overall transportation status of the country, and build a fast and efficient transportation network. China is the country with the fastest development speed, the strongest integration ability, the strongest system technology, the highest operating speed, the longest operating mileage and the largest scale under construction in the world, and has strong advantages in technology and cost. China's complete technology, Russia's practical needs and the willingness of both sides to cooperate will promote the high-speed rail cooperation between China and Russia to a new level.

China and Russia should, in accordance with their respective development characteristics, gradually expand regional cooperation in industrial and infrastructure construction, overcome difficulties, and further deepen trade cooperation in various fields. The first is to pay close attention to the development of the China-Russia comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination, and understand the policy of trade model innovation between the two countries and the strategic deployment of key industries and industries. Under the basic line and framework of economic and trade cooperation between the two countries, we will formulate guidelines, policies, and specific measures that conform to the transformation of economic and trade cooperation from scale and speed to quality and efficiency. The second is to support the cooperation of state-owned enterprises in large projects, continue to strengthen the development of energy resources and the construction of key projects at ports between the two countries, guide funds to tilt to high-tech fields such as technology research and development, aerospace, and it, support enterprises of both sides to carry out multi-level exchanges, and improve the breadth and depth of cooperation as a whole. The third is to encourage and support private enterprises with excellent qualifications to develop and grow in Russia and participate in the development and competition of the Russian market. Improve the quality of Sino-Russian trade products, expand the scale of trade, and build a diversified and multi-level trade structure. The fourth is to pay attention to changes in the Russian market and business environment. Russia is one of the most promising markets, with high demand for commodities and a wide market capacity. At the same time, the Russian market is unpredictable, the business environment is relatively complex, such as the government, enterprises, financial institutions can achieve resource sharing, build an information sharing platform, the establishment of a Sino-Russian network of trade information network system, can avoid investment blindness and repetitiveness.

【About author】Zheng Nan is a Russian scholar and senior economist in the International Cooperation Business Bureau of the China Development Bank.