CPPCC members playing their roles
2019-03-14 08:28:57 China Daily Mo Hong'e
The closing meeting of the second session of the 13th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference is held at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, March 13, 2019. [Photo by Zhu Xingxin/chinadaily.com.cn)
Editor's note: The following are excerpts from proposals put forward by four members of the 13th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, the nation's top political advisory body, at its annual session in Beijing on March 3-13.
Opening up to foreign tourists
Wang Yu, president of Spring Airlines
Last year, the number of overseas trips made by Chinese tourists increased 14.7 percent year-on-year, while the number of inbound trips by tourists from outside the mainland grew by only 1.2 percent, among which more than 78 percent were tourists from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan. The number of visits by foreign tourists is limited.
Last year, the number of foreign tourists visiting France was nearly three times the number visiting China, and the tourism revenue from foreign tourists visiting the United States was about eight times that of China.
To attract more foreign travelers, China needs to further expand its opening-up. It is suggested that the central government make a national strategy to boost inbound tourism, which would not only deepen foreigners' understanding of China and boost the country's soft power but also reduce China's services trade deficit-80 percent of China's services trade deficit last year, or 237.4 billion yuan ($35.4 billion), stemmed from its tourism deficit.
Only after the initiative is upgraded to a national strategy will it prompt the authorities at various levels to treat it seriously as a job that they are duty-bound to do, by attaining certain objectives before a fixed deadline. Otherwise, the task, which could produce considerable benefits for the economy and cultural exchanges, will continue to be overlooked.
If it is adopted as a national strategy, local governments should pay more attention to improving tourism-related infrastructure facilities and services and do more publicity work for their local culture and tourism resources around the world.
The country can also take advantage of its strengths in big data to promote the development of smart tourism and enhance its tourism management and services, so that tourists can enjoy better travel experiences in China.
An influx of foreign travelers would attract more investment to tourism and related industries, which would help China upgrade the whole industrial chain.
Also, the authorities should improve their supervision and regulation of the market to make sure the rights and interests of foreign visitors are well protected. If well tapped, a boom in foreign visitors would be seen in a short time.
Law on overseas investment required
Zhang Guiping, president of Suning Group
With the strengthening of economic globalization, more domestic private enterprises are joining the tide of overseas investment. However, the overseas investment activities of Chinese private enterprises face some obstacles that make it difficult for them to safeguard their rights and interests overseas.
The country's legislation to protect the rights and interests of domestic private enterprises that have investments overseas lags behind those of other countries, as there is no specific law or regulation related to overseas investments.
Due to the unclear demarcation of power among different departments, current administrative regulations and departmental rules cannot provide a guarantee for the overseas investments of domestic private enterprises. The absence of a sound overseas investment insurance system, the lack of policy consistency in some foreign countries resulting from unstable political situations, and the weak self-protection awareness of some small enterprises, have also brought various problems and challenges, highlighting the need for legal protection of their overseas investment activities.
China needs to accelerate the establishment of an overseas investment legal protection system. It should formulate a basic overseas investment law that clarifies the basic concepts of overseas investment and the legal relations and power division among government departments, and enact, revise or abolish administrative regulations and departmental rules. It should try to dovetail domestic laws and regulations with multilateral and bilateral agreements, and make timely amendments to domestic legal clauses that do not match these agreements to ensure their synergy.
The government should strengthen guidance and provide consulting services to solve the problem of blind investment by domestic private enterprises due to information asymmetry. And an overseas investment insurance system should be formulated as soon as possible, making special provisions on such issues as the scope of insurance, underwriting conditions, amount of insurance and subrogation for overseas direct investment.
Practical measures should also be taken to improve overseas investment enterprises' intellectual property management and protection, and to establish an early warning mechanism. At the same time, close attention should be paid to the legal risks arising from the signing and execution of contracts, and such important provisions as breach of contract, compensation claims, force majeure and arbitration put in place.
Support for aviation industry's takeoff
Tan Ruisong, chairman of Aviation Industry Corporation of China Ltd
The aviation industry is an important part of the high-end manufacturing industry and the one with the highest strategic value. It is also an indispensable strategic pillar industry for China's sustainable development. To promote China's economic and social development and guarantee the strategic target of national security, China's aviation industry should take the lead in international competition.
China's military and civil aviation demand accounts for 15 to 20 percent of the overall global demand for aircraft. If China's aviation industry could effectively meet the domestic aviation demand as well as a part of the global demand, it is expected that China's aviation industry could increase its ratio in China's overall GDP from 0.14 percent to 1.4 percent, a comparatively high level.
To achieve this goal in the next three decades, we need to carry out strategic research on the development of the aviation industry and draw up a clear and practical aviation industry development strategy. Such a plan is crucial for the development of China's aviation industry and its high-end manufacturing.
Second, we need long-term strategic investment in aviation technology so as to gain the commanding height in the industry. We should establish a strategic and long-term aviation R&D system to provide a stable technological basis for the aviation industry. Innovation is needed if the country is to take the lead in the global aviation industry competition.
Third, we should conduct fundamental research and attract excellent innovative resources from around the world to participate in the aviation research projects funded and dominated by China, which are crucial for China's aviation industry to compete globally. Only with the cooperation of and competition with global talents will China's aviation industry be able to rank among the world's aviation leaders.
Fourth, we should improve the quality of our own talents in the aviation industry and join the global aviation supply chain. The United States has 550,000 people working in the aviation industry. China still lags far behind in terms of cultivating aviation talents. We should increase the cost advantage of China's aviation industry and improve China's status in global aviation product supply chain, in order to improve the quality and quantity of talents in the aviation industry.
Fifth, we should build a world-class aviation industrial cluster like Seattle and Toulouse to improve the aviation industry's efficiency and promote technological innovation.
Drafter of global governance rules
Zhou Hanmin, vice-chairman of the CPPCC Shanghai Committee
China has always proudly shouldered its responsibilities as a member of the World Trade Organization and it is a leading advocate of reform to ensure the organization dealing with the rules of trade between nations is in step with the times. There is ample reason to be confident that China will continue making more contributions to WTO reform and be a firm defender and a drafter of new global rules.
For that purpose, I have three suggestions:
First, China should play a significant role in global economic governance. For the past 18 years since it became a member of the WTO, China has been actively participating in negotiations in all fields, and in the future it will change its role from a follower of rules to a drafter of rules, so as to better protect its own interests and the interests of developing economies as a whole. Chinese values should be embodied in the making of international rules.
Second, China is participating in improving the problem-solving mechanisms. Different economies have different interests, and how to balance them is a key principle of the WTO rules. More conflicts would be solved more easily, even avoided at the very start, if the problem-solving mechanisms were improved. The most fundamental rule is that cooperation leads to common prosperity while conflicts lead to lose-lose results.
Third, China should promote the rules of the WTO being expanded. Currently, the negotiations of the WTO have already expanded from the tariff to nontariff sectors, and from the trade in goods to the trade in services. Certain important rules must constantly be updated and expanded to new fields as they develop. These are where China can play a significant role.
To sum up, China must render new efforts to propel reform of the WTO forward and help improve the rules so that they fit the changing times.
