(People's Daily Online) - Beijing, November 14 - The APEC
events are taking place in Beijing. People's Daily Online spoke
to Executive Director of the APEC Secretariat Dr. Alan Bollard
about China's APEC Chairmanship, the proposed APEC-wide free
trade initiative FTAAP and China's New Silk Road.
Before heading the Singapore-based APEC Secretariat, Dr. Bollard
served as the Governor of the Reserve Bank of New Zealand as
well as the nation's Treasury Secretary.
Host: As you know, China has assumed the chairmanship of APEC
2014. Then, what difference does it make? What implications does
China's chairmanship have for China, the other APEC economies
and the rest of the world?
Bollard: China is hosting APEC this year, and it's been a very
busy, very active year with a number of important initiatives
for boosting trade, investment and sustainable growth agreed and
more still to come. It's been a year when APEC has been
invigorated. Trade ministers from the region are meeting in
Beijing, and they will sign off on more initiatives to
strengthen our economies, job creation and wages, and those will
all go to the economic leader's meeting for them to be
announced. It's been a year when we had a lot of meetings and a
record number of ministerial meetings. They've all been
organized very well and very thoroughly.
We still have more to do, but I am hopeful that we will deliver
policies that will specifically address infrastructure
investment and connectivity gaps to ensure that people and goods
can move around the Asia-Pacific more cheaply and easily, for
example. Within some of policies being worked out, China has
been quite innovative in terms of looking for new drivers for
growth. We know that, in the past, APEC growth was driven by
strong trade growth. Since the global financial crisis, trade
growth has slowed down so we're looking for new growth drivers
in the region.
Host: Let's talk about the FTAAP and the trade landscape in the
Asia-Pacific. You know, the FTAAP has been talked about for many
years, but has not progressed as fast as some regional FTAs,
such as the US-led TPP and the ASEAN-led RCEP. So, based on your
inside knowledge and expertise, the proposed FTAAP, TPP and
RCEP, which one do you think will be the future?
Bollard: Well, I think that depends on how far you look. I know
that China is doing a lot of work, looking at the FTAAP. FTAAP
has been cited as a possibility for some years, but really at
the moment it's only a vision, and we want to work out what it
might actually mean. We know that it's a long-term objective. It
won't suddenly reach FTAAP. But we do see that as being the big
goal out into the future.
China this year would like to bring FTAAP to our attention, and
probably agree to work on a study that will help us understand
what it means; when we might achieve it; how we might achieve
it; and what paths would be followed to get there; could this be
the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP), the Regional Comprehensive
Economic Partnership (RCEP), or a different stepping stone. It's
still a work in progress.
Host: But for the benefits of the entire Asia-Pacific region, in
your opinion, which trade pact should the 21 APEC economies
really engage in, regardless of any political factors?
Bollard: Well, they have all seen it. They said in the past that
we are moving towards FTAAP. That's already been said. But we
don't know enough about what that means yet, and China wants to
clarify all that. At the moment, the only negotiations are RCEP
and TPP. Indeed, we cannot be sure about what those mean,
because it's still too early to know what's in the material.
Maybe TPP will be concluded this year, but it's still not
secure.
Host: Just as you said, the FTAAP is certainly still a vision,
but do you think it's feasible?
Bollard: Yes, but it will take some time, and it will take a lot
of commitment from leaders for us to get there. So, I think it
is achievable, but it will be somewhere in the future. What is
quite possible is that TPP and RCEP will both need to be
concluded first.
Host: Alright, let's move on to the topic about China's New Silk
Road strategy. As you know, Chinese President Xi Jinping has
proposed a so-called "One Belt and One Road" initiative, which
is meant to strengthen cooperation and economic ties between
China and its neighboring countries. So, what're your thoughts
on this initiative?
Bollard: I think that's very much in line with APEC's
initiatives for connectivity, which means physically connecting
our trade routes, and addressing more complex structural
barriers to make it easier for goods, services and people to get
across borders. I expect it will make use of some APEC trade
facilitation measures like the introduction of electronic forms
and customs single windows that reduce red tape at borders so
that those sorts of initiatives can happen. It isn't an APEC
initiative; it's a Chinese government's initiative. But it's
very much in line with what we are trying to do.
Host: So, what opportunities do you think the Silk Road Economic
Belt will bring to China and the other APEC economies?
Bollard: At the moment, most trade opportunities are around the
Pacific Rim, but when you start recovering and growing again,
there will be a strong demand for the export of merchandise and
other goods from East Asia. At the moment, most of that goes via
the Malacca Straits, between Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore.
But people are looking for new possible trade routes and if
those across China can be competitive, then there will be a lot
of demand for services for them.
Host: Lastly, I know you've travelled to China multiple times
this year because of the APEC meetings. So, would you care to
share with us some of your personal experience here in China?
Your impressions about the country?
Bollard: Ok. Well, this year I have come to China maybe a dozen
times for a lot of meetings. It's been a very interesting
experience. And I had the chance to have meetings in a number of
progressing cities, not just in Beijing and Shanghai, but in
Xiamen, Ningbo, Macau and Qingdao. That also means from a
personal point of view, I've been able to visit some other parts
of China that I haven't been to before, for example, Hangzhou
and the birthplace of Confucius - Qufu. So, it's been a very
enriching experience - seeing more places in China, seeing the
huge progress it has made on infrastructure investment and
seeing how cooperation in APEC is influencing development and
areas where we can do more.
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