"Hey, have the Europeans learned to behave?"

National Development and Reform Commission, Wang Zhenbin's office, after listening to the introduction of Xu Zhenbo, director of the Ministry of Commerce, Feng Xiaochen grinned and commented.

EU trade officials asked China to tie offshore oil equipment and wind power equipment into negotiations, leaving the Ministry of Commerce in a blind situation, Xu Zhenbo had to go to the National Development and Reform Commission to discuss the matter with Wang Zhenbin, and demanded that Feng Xiaochen must attend the talks.

The export of the sixth-generation drilling rig to Europe is a major project promoted by the Ministry of Commerce in the past year or so. The value of this project lies not only in the export value of about 2 billion US dollars, but also in the fact that this is the first time that China has exported such high-tech large-scale equipment to Europe, which is of epoch-making significance.

In the past, most of China's exports to Europe were light industrial products, and even if there was some technical equipment, it was relatively backward in technology and only relied on price advantages to obtain orders. China, on the other hand, imports cutting-edge, sophisticated machinery and equipment from Europe, including some large-scale complete sets of equipment.

The sixth-generation drilling platform belongs to the category of high-tech equipment, and it is said that Europe has not been able to manufacture such equipment on its own. The significance of China's ability to break through this technology before the Europeans and sell its products to Europe cannot be overstated. After learning of this, the senior leaders made important instructions to the Ministry of Commerce, asking them to make every effort to ensure the completion of this project and achieve a "zero breakthrough" in China's exports of high-tech equipment to Europe.

According to the information presented to the Ministry of Commerce by the Equipment Industry Corporation, there are no obstacles to the completion of this project. The technicians of the importer, Norwegian Birtu, have been to China several times and have spoken highly of China's technology. And the price of the equipment is completely within the acceptable range of Biltu, and even makes them feel a little surprised. The two sides are currently negotiating some details, and the final signing is just around the corner. The penmen of the General Office of the Ministry of Commerce have even been drafting publicity circulars for use on different occasions, preparing to find the media to carry out hype once the two sides sign the contract.

However, at this juncture, the EU has developed a branch, claiming that the EU provides government support for Europe's offshore oil development, so the construction of facilities related to offshore oil development must meet certain localization requirements. To put it simply, the EU agrees with Birtu to import sixth-generation drilling rigs from China, but this platform must include products produced by European companies, and the proportion must not be less than 50%.

As for the reason, see the corresponding regulations proposed by China in the procurement of wind turbines, my EU is very cute, if we do something wrong, it is also because you Chinese have the same first, we just learned from you.

Of course, the Ministry of Commerce is aware of the purchase of wind turbines. When the NDRC first proposed this provision, it discussed it with the Ministry of Commerce and confirmed that this provision was actually a sideshow of the WTO rules. At that time, the two sides also agreed on the response to the dispute, and during this time, the EU challenged China on the localization rate of wind turbines, and the Ministry of Commerce has been dealing with the EU according to the agreed caliber at that time.

"The hand of the Europeans is called the spear of the son, the shield of the attacker, and we are also very difficult. Xu Zhenbo said to Wang Zhenbin and Feng Xiaochen.

Wang Zhenbin said: "These two things are still not the same, right? Wind power is a renewable energy source, while offshore oil is not a renewable energy source." It makes sense for us to subsidize wind power, and it is also in line with international practice. There is no reason for the EU to subsidize offshore oil extraction. ”

"Reasons are such things, and if you want to find them, you can always find them. Xu Zhenbo said, "In fact, their thoughts are the same as ours, they all want to delay time." If we want to question their reasoning, we have to negotiate with them. For this kind of thing, one negotiation is definitely not enough, but it is possible to repeat several rounds, or even ten or twenty rounds. After more than a dozen rounds of negotiations, it will take a year or two, and with these times, European companies have also come up with the sixth generation platform themselves. ”

"I can assure you that if you give the three Europeans a year or two, they won't be able to figure it out. Feng Xiaochen commented with a smile.

Xu Zhenbo had no intention of discussing the question of whether the Europeans could build a drilling platform, saying: "Even if European companies can't do it, it will be detrimental to us if the time drags on like this, right?"

Feng Xiaochen nodded: "That's right, Luo Ye's side is working hard to win this order from Biltu." With Biertu's order, plus several platforms that we are going to put in the South China Sea, Luo Ye can achieve large-scale production. They invested a lot of money in R&D in the early stage, and they were counting on the Biltu project to make it back. ”

"That's right. Xu Zhenbo said, "Therefore, we cannot be led by the nose by the EU, and we must solve this problem as soon as possible." ”

"How to solve it?" Feng Xiaochen asked.

Xu Zhenbo said: "To solve this problem, there are only two ways. First, we agreed to the EU's request to export more than 50% of our rigs to Europe. ”

"It's absolutely impossible. Feng Xiaochen said, "We have worked hard to develop such a platform in the hope that it can drive the development of an industry." If 50% of the equipment is handed over to the Europeans, it is equivalent to working hard for the Europeans. Besides, even if we want to use European products, what products can they provide? As for the core equipment, their own Captain Cook project has been abandoned halfway, so they don't master the core technology at all, and they can't build the core equipment. And if we give them the auxiliary equipment, their cost will be more than double that of us, which is equivalent to us spending a lot of money to ask them to do things that we will do ourselves. At that time, the overall cost of equipment will rise by half, and I'm afraid the customer will have to flip the table, right?"

"I understand that. Xu Zhenbo said, "Then there is only the second way, that is, we give up the requirement of 50% localization rate of wind turbines in exchange for giving up the requirement of localization rate of drilling platforms." ”

"I think that's what they're really for. Wang Zhenbin commented.

"This is very clear!" Xu Zhenbo said, "As soon as we heard their request, we knew that they were coming for the fan." They can't build the rig themselves. Biltu is a private company and cannot be at the mercy of the EU. The EU's request is obviously to make things difficult for us and force us to make concessions to them on the issue of the localization rate of wind turbines. ”

"That's why I said that the Europeans have learned to be obedient, and they will actually play tricks with us. Feng Xiaochen said.

Wang Zhenbin smiled and teased: "They have suffered so many losses from your general manager Feng, they should also learn to be smart, right?"

Feng Xiaochen said: "They didn't become smart because they suffered losses, but the landlord's family had no surplus grain, and they couldn't pretend to be gentlemen." You see, a few years ago, when Europe was having a good time, they were talking about free trade rules, humanistic care, and international responsibilities in front of us all day long, and now they are completely exposed, right?"

"Mm-hmm, that makes sense. Wang Zhenbin said, "This is not philosophical, the economic base determines the superstructure, and Europe's competitiveness has declined, so all kinds of methods that were disdained to be used in the past have also been used." ”

"I said, you two, don't talk about it here. Xu Zhenbo couldn't stand it. The two in front of me are said to be classmates when they were graduate students at the Academy of Social Sciences, and among their classmates there are also well-known scholars such as Qi Ruicang and Ding Shikuan, so the theoretical level of the two of them is also very high. But now what Xu Zhenbo needs is to solve the problem in front of him, how can he have the leisure to listen to what philosophy they talk about.

"Uh-huh, off-topic, off-topic. Wang Zhenbin smiled and said, "By the way, Lao Xu, what is the attitude of your ministry towards this matter?"

Xu Zhenbo said: "We are only the trade department, and we have to listen to the opinions of your macro planning department and production department on what to do." Of course, we can also adopt neither option and drag the EU to the TO to fight a lawsuit. The EU is not reasonable in this matter, and if the lawsuit is really brought to the TO, they will also lose the case. ”

"But in this way, our fan localization policy will also be criticized. Wang Zhenbin said.

Xu Zhenbo said: "That's right, we are also a rat trap and dare not fight a lawsuit with the EU." As Xiaochen said just now, it is impossible to achieve 50% localization in Europe, and I don't think the EU wants to do that. If we promise them that, they will definitely find other reasons to stir things up and end up going back to square one. The only thing that is possible now is for us to exchange with them, abandon the requirement of the localization rate of wind turbines, or reduce the requirements a little, for example, to 40%, or 30%. ”

When he said this, his eyes were looking at Feng Xiaochen. The localization of wind turbines is something that equipment companies are promoting, and Feng Xiaochen is undoubtedly the most vocal on this issue.

Feng Xiaochen thought for a while and asked: "Director Xu, is the requirement of 50% of the localization rate of wind turbines really a violation of WTO rules? In addition, is there any difficulty on the part of the Ministry of Commerce on this issue?"

Xu Zhenbo said: "Regarding your latter question, I can clearly answer you, for this regulation, our Ministry of Commerce is indeed under a lot of pressure, and when negotiating with many countries, they will be questioned by the other side because of this regulation." As for whether or not WTO rules have been violated, I can only say that this is a sideline that has taken advantage of the loopholes in WTO rules, and it is not in violation of the law at present, but it is difficult to say whether it will be a violation in the future. As for the trade disputes related to new energy, there have been more and more in recent years, and the WTO will definitely make new regulations on these issues, leaving us with little time. ”

"Since that's the case, let's just do it in one step and cancel this policy. Feng Xiaochen waved his hand and said categorically.