"Professor Gao, could you please elaborate on how the Chinese government's first set of policies violated China's WTO accession commitments. Kantz asked, following the agreed script.

Gao Lei Zhengse said: "First of all, when China joined the world trade agreement, it promised to give national treatment to foreign companies and not to adopt discriminatory policies in procurement. However, the Chinese government's first set of policies requires all units to give priority to the use of domestic equipment when purchasing equipment, which is a violation of the principle of non-discrimination. Second, in order to help domestic companies obtain equipment orders, the Chinese government forced property and casualty insurers to launch their first insurance products, charging only a nominal 2% premium to the manufacturer, and the rest of the premiums were subsidized by the National Development and Reform Commission through special funds, which violated the countervailing provisions of the WTO rules. ”

"Professor Gao, as to your first point, we have carefully studied this policy of the Chinese government and found that it only proposes to give priority to procurement, and does not force all units to purchase Chinese products, does this mean that the Chinese government has not interfered in the procurement behavior of various units? Bernstein asked.

Gao Lei said: "The Chinese government's policy cannot be taken literally. When the NDRC issued this document, it also took into account the need to circumvent the WTO's doubts, so it played with some writing tricks. I've talked to NDRC officials about this, and they've made it clear that the policy is mandatory and that if local governments dare to disobey the requirements of this document, they will punish them severely. ”

"Can you take responsibility for what you just said?" Bernstein asked.

Gao Lei nodded firmly: "I can confront the officials of the National Development and Reform Commission." If you wish, you can also interview local officials and see if there is any difference between their statements and mine. ”

"Great, this is a very important piece of information. Bernstein quickly took notes in his notebook. In fact, he also knows that the words of a scholar are not enough to serve as a basis for the WTO to rule on violations, but with Gao Lei's words, at least they can muddy the waters and put the Chinese government under pressure.

"Second, you mentioned that the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) provided government subsidies for the first set of insurance, is there any clear evidence in this regard?" Koontz asked.

"Yes!" Gao Lei said, he stood up, walked to the bookshelf, flipped through it, found a few documents with the word "confidential" written on their heads, handed them to the two reporters, and said: "You see, this is an internal document of the China National Development and Reform Commission and the property insurance company, which they gave me advice when they designed the first set of products." In this regard, it is clearly stated that the Chinese government's subsidy standard for the first set of policies. ”

"Can we take pictures?" asked Koontz.

"Absolutely, everything I have here is not a secret. Gao Lei said magnificently.

At the end of the interview, Gao Lei sent the two reporters out of his office. Walking in the corridor, the colleagues who came over threw envious glances at Gao Lei: What a cow, we are interviewed by foreign reporters again, when will we be able to mix in such a realm!

A few days later, several guests came to the office of Wang Zhenbin, director of the National Development and Reform Commission. In front of him was Xu Zhenbo, director of the Ministry of Commerce, followed by two foreign guests and an interpreter sent by the Ministry of Commerce.

"Director Wang, this is the European Commission's Special Commissioner, Mr. Bovard, and this is Mr. Bovard's assistant, Miss Emmeline, who is here for the first set of policies released by the National Development and Reform Commission a few days ago. Xu Zhenbo introduced Wang Zhenbin with a wry smile on his face.

Before Xu Zhenbo came to the NDRC, he had already spoken to Wang Zhenbin on the phone, so Wang Zhenbin knew the intentions of Bovard and Emmeline, and also made some preparations. He beckoned the guests to sit down, and after a few more pleasantries, he asked with a smile, "Mr. Bovard, do you have any questions about the first set of policies we have issued?"

"Yes. Bovard's face was serious, he instructed Emmeline to take out a newspaper from her bag, handed it to Wang Zhenbin, and said: "Mr. Wang, the European Commission has received complaints from more than a dozen European companies, accusing the Chinese government of violating the principles of the WTO agreement in the procurement of industrial equipment in the Chinese market and adopting discriminatory policies against European companies. This issue is also explained in detail in this report, and it should be noted in particular that this information was disclosed by a well-known scholar in your country.

European companies have asked us to refer this issue to the WTO for resolution. For the sake of the overall situation of EU-China trade, the European Commission hopes to communicate with the Chinese side on this matter first to resolve differences. If the Chinese side does not solve the matter to the satisfaction of European business, the European Commission will have to resort to the WTO. ”

Wang Zhenbin took the newspaper, looked at it, and found that he couldn't read it at all, because it was a German newspaper, and Wang Zhenbin only knew English. The translator who came with Xu Zhenbo hurriedly stepped forward and gave Wang Zhenbin a rough explanation of the contents of the newspaper. This is exactly the part of the article in which Kontz and Bernstein interviewed Gao Lei, and the part about the Chinese government's discriminatory policies against foreign companies was highlighted by Bovard in a highlighter, and the translator also highlighted this part.

After listening to the introduction, Wang Zhenbin looked at Gao Lei's fat face on the photo accompanying the report, and a sentence of MMP poured up from the dantian, and he was almost about to blurt out. Nima, where the hell are you? Do you know how to speak? Western countries are staring at China all day long to find fault, and we are tired of dealing with it all day long, and you, as China's own scholars, do not help us speak, but instead hand guns and cannons to foreigners, where has the country treated you badly?

How to greet the generations of women of Gao Lei's family in my heart is also useless at this moment, and the current priority is to answer Bovard's question. Wang Zhenbin had already asked the leader for instructions just now, and he had spoken with Feng Xiaochen on the phone, so he was also prepared for this problem. He handed the newspaper back to Emmeline, smiled at her, thanked her, and then cleared his throat and said to Bovard:

"Mr. Bovard, I don't quite understand what the EU side means. This report in the newspaper is just the personal opinion of a scholar and is not true. The Chinese government has always kept its promise that there are no such problems as alleged in the report, and I would like to ask Mr. Bovard to clarify this with the European companies on his behalf. ”

"Is it true that the newspaper says that China's National Development and Reform Commission is forcing local governments to purchase domestically produced equipment?"

"It's all rumor. We only proceed from the perspective of encouraging the development of national industries, and suggest that they give priority to domestic equipment under the same conditions, which is also allowed by the WTO rules. If you don't believe me, Mr. Bovard, I can show you the NDRC documents. ”

"But Mr. Gao Lei said that you did say so in the public documents, but in addition to that, there were secret requirements, which did not appear in the documents. ”

"If it's a secret request, how did Mr. Bovard know about it?"

This is what Mr. Gao Lei said. ”

"He's just a scholar, maybe that's his imagination. ”

"As far as I know, he is a very famous scholar in China, is his words not true?"

I am not in a position to comment on this, but in this case, his words are merely unfounded conjectures. ”

"So, how do you explain that your government is offering high premium subsidies to domestic companies in their first insurance package?"

"I don't understand what you mean. Wang Zhenbin shook his head and said. There are many units and personnel involved in the matter of premium subsidies, and he is not sure that all units can keep their mouths shut. In this case, the best thing to do is to listen to how much information the other person has before responding to it, so as not to fall into reactivity.

Bovard gestured to Emmeline again, and Emmeline took out a stack of materials again and handed it to Wang Zhenbin. Wang Zhenbin took the information and looked at it, and his face was a little stiff. It turned out that this was a copy of the document that Gao Lei provided to Kantz. Wang Zhenbin is very familiar with these documents and knows that they involve premium subsidies. Since the other party has already obtained these documents, it is inappropriate for him to deny them again.

At this moment, the secretary pushed the door in, and behind him, followed by two people, namely Feng Xiaochen, general manager of the National Equipment Company, and Qi Ruicang, a researcher at the National Development Research Center. Wang Zhenbin's eyes lit up when he saw the two, he got up and beckoned them to sit down, and then introduced Bovard and Emmeline:

"Mr. Bovard, Miss Emmeline, let me introduce you. This is Mr. Feng Xiaochen, general manager of China's State Equipment Industry Corporation, and the first set of policies that you are concerned about was put forward by the equipment company, and he knows more about some issues than I do. As for this gentleman, Mr. Qi Ruicang, a researcher at the National Development Research Center, is an internationally renowned economist who has studied the transformation of old industrial bases. He knows the rules of international trade, so I brought him over as well. ”

"Qi Ruicang, are you the Mr. Qi Ruicang who proposed the 'Qi-Ding Industrial Revival Curve'?"

Without waiting for Bovard to say anything, Emmeline shouted first. There are little stars in her eyes, and she looks like a fan of an idol.

"That curve was proposed by me and my colleague Mr. Ding Shikuan, and his contribution to this theory was far greater than mine. Qi Ruicang said modestly.

"What industrial revival curve?" asked Bovard, a little confused, to Emmeline.

"This is one of the greatest discoveries in the field of industrial economics in recent years," Emmeline said. Based on the experience of industrial revival in the old industrial base in northern China, Mr. Qi and Mr. Ding proposed a new path for industrial rejuvenation, which was named the Qi-Ding curve. European countries are now also facing the problem of reviving the old industrial base, and the theoretical community is very respectful of the Qi-Ding curve. ”

"I see...... Bovard began to get a little impressed, and he bowed slightly to Qi Ruicang as a sign of respect.