“世贸组织的下一步是什么？”
“What’s ahead for the WTO?”
李成钢大使在新加坡南洋理工大学拉贾拉特南国际研究院与世贸组织线上议员研讨会上的发言
Remarks by H.E. Ambassador LI Chenggang at the RSIS-WTO Virtual Parliamentarian Workshop
2021年5月19日
19 May 2021
感谢新加坡南洋理工大学拉贾拉特南国际研究院和世贸组织邀请，感谢主持人罗克韦尔司长（世贸组织秘书处新闻司司长）。女士们先生们，上午、下午和晚上好！今天，我将用4个以“R”开头的词来分享我对世贸组织下一步工作的看法：修复（Repair）、回应（Response）、再平衡（Rebalance）和相关性（Relevance）。
Thank you Keith and RSIS, for having me today. Good morning, good afternoon and good evening, ladies and gentlemen. I would share my observations using four “Rs” to describe the way forward for the WTO: repair, response, rebalance, and relevance.
第一，世贸组织的正常功能应得到修复。
First, the WTO’s normal function needs to be repaired.
众所周知，规则制订、争端解决和贸易政策监督是世贸组织三大支柱功能。中国有个成语，叫做“未雨绸缪”。很不幸，规则制订和争端解决这两大支柱已经岌岌可危有一段时间了：过去25年新规则乏善可陈，上诉机构而今也陷入瘫痪。但是中国还有一个俗语，“亡羊补牢，犹未为晚”。
As known to all, rule-making, dispute settlement and trade policy monitoring are the three key pillars of the WTO. We have a Chinese saying: to repair the house before it rains. Unfortunately, the two main pillars, rule-making and dispute settlement, have been stuck for quite a period of time: the Organization has barely made new rules during the past 25 years, and people appeal to the paralyzed Appellate Body. However, there is also another Chinese saying that, to avoid further damages, it’s never too late to mend the sheepfold after some have been lost.
今年，一项延宕20多年之久的谈判——渔业补贴谈判为我们提供了机会：一次诠释世贸组织谈判功能的机会，一次重振世贸组织信誉的机会，一次展现世贸组织对可持续发展做出贡献的机会。目前，这一谈判在日内瓦的势头已经建立起来了。伊维拉总干事已宣布要“撸起袖子加油干”，谈判主席也开始了密集磋商。尽管很难，还有不少分歧没有弥合，但希望通过大家的努力，我们可以达成一份相对清洁的文本供7月渔业补贴部长会决策，以期在年底第十二届部长级会议（MC12）上结束谈判。
This year, a twenty-year-plus negotiation of fisheries subsidies provides us with an opportunity: an opportunity to demonstrate WTO’s negotiating function, an opportunity to demonstrate WTO’s credibility, and an opportunity to demonstrate WTO’s contribution to the sustainable development. The momentum in Geneva has been building. The DG rolled up her sleeves, and the negotiating Chair started intensive consultations. Though many gaps remain and some are quite controversial, we hope, through our joint efforts, we could have a relatively clean text for Ministers’ consideration in July, and bring the negotiation to a conclusion by MC12.
另一个不得不提的领域是上诉机构僵局。没有运行完善的上诉机构，世贸组织争端解决机制无异于“纸上谈兵”。当然，跟任何其他机制一样，上诉机构并非是完美的。但是，它的不完善不能被当做是阻止机构成员遴选并导致机构瘫痪的借口。从《关贸总协定》的一级机制到当前世贸组织两级争端解决机制，全世界都见证了上诉机构的有效性。过去几十年间，上诉机构有效解决了120多个争端案件。我们不能对其过度贬低。因此，我们应该立即恢复上诉机构运行。当然，整个争端解决机制的改革也可以进一步讨论。
Another area I have to mention is the Appellate Body impasse. Without a functioning AB, the dispute settlement system of the WTO is basically only on paper. Like any other mechanism, AB is not perfect. But its imperfection cannot be used as the mere excuse to block the selection process of the AB members and paralyze the system. From the one-step mechanism in GATT time to the current two-tier dispute settlement system of the WTO, the world has witnessed the effectiveness of the AB. Over the past decades, more than 120 disputes have been effectively resolved through the Appellate Body, and we cannot simply overwrite its credit. Therefore, we should restore its function without further delay. Meanwhile, reforms on the whole dispute settlement system should be explored as well.
第二，世贸组织对健康危机应有回应。
Second, the WTO should respond to the health crisis.
全世界正在饱受新冠肺炎疫情之苦。这是一项公共健康挑战。如果我们回忆一下去年个人防护装备的短缺，并审视一下今年疫苗的可及性和分发情况，很明显，世贸组织在应对公共健康危机方面可以发挥不可或缺的作用。迄今为止，世贸成员已经提出了一些倡议，如减少和消除出口限制和禁令、最佳使用关税和非关税措施、提高政策透明度以及加强关键医疗物资和粮食持续供应和自由流动等。当然目前最重要的问题是，世贸成员正在扩大疫苗生产和分发以挽救生命方面做出巨大努力，包括《与贸易有关的知识产权协定》（TRIPS）部分知识产权义务豁免的提案、通过更多许可协议扩大生产的“第三条道路”讨论等。
We are now suffering the COVID-19 pandemic. It is a public health challenge. But if we recalled the PPEs shortage last year, and see the accessibility and distribution of vaccines this year, it is clear that the WTO has its indispensable role to play in combating the public health crisis. To date, some initiatives are already on the table in the WTO, such as the reduction and elimination of export restrictions and prohibitions, best use of tariff and non-tariff measures, enhancement of transparency, and the continued supply and undisrupted flow of essential medical supplies and food. Most importantly for now, the WTO members are making great efforts in order to scale up vaccine production and distribution to save lives, such as TRIPs wavier proposal and the third way of expanding production through more licensing.
第三，世贸组织对历史欠账应进行再平衡。
Third, the historical asymmetries should be rebalanced.
农业一直是《关贸总协定》和世贸组织历史上最重要的问题之一，特别是对于发展中成员而言。在过去的很多年中，发展中成员一直在呼吁纠正世贸组织《农业协定》中的不对称和不平衡。例如，协定允许发达成员无限制地对单个产品提供补贴，但对于大多数发展中成员来说，他们没有集中补贴的权益；尽管随着产量的增加、补贴总量有所增加，但单个产品补贴是有百分比上限的。以棉花和糖为例，某些发达成员的补贴最高可达生产总值的70%，但对于大多数发展中成员来说，协定只允许补贴最高10%。因此，迫切需要对这些历史欠账进行再平衡，解决规则赤字和公平竞争问题。
Agriculture has remained one of the most important issues in the history of GATT/WTO, especially for developing members. In the past so many years, developing members have been calling for correction of asymmetries and imbalances in the Agreement on Agriculture. For instance, the Agreement allows developed members to subsidize one single product without limitations. For most developing members however, they don’t have the entitlement of concentrated subsidies. Though the overall amount of subsidies increased with the increase of production, the subsidies to one single product is ceilinged by a certain percentage. Like cotton and sugar, in some developed countries, the subsidies are up to 70% of the value of production. But for most developing counties, the Agreement allows only 10%. So, there is an urgent need to rebalance the asymmetries to solve the rules deficits and level the playing field.
反映巨大规则赤字的另一个领域是特殊与差别待遇（S&DT）。我们对当前16项世贸协定中的155条S&DT条款进行了初步研究，发现至少有105条过于模糊而无法执行，占67.7%在其余的50条中，至少有一半与过渡期或技术援助有关。也就是说，现有世贸协定中只有25项S&DT条款与成员的权利和义务直接相关，仅占总数的16.1%。因此，可以公平地讲，目前的S&DT条款中绝大多数都是“画饼充饥”，一些成员宣称的“无所不能的空白支票”从不存在。
Another area that reflects huge rules deficits is Special and Differential Treatment(S&DT). We did a preliminary review on the current 155 S&DT provisions contained in the 16 WTO agreements, finding that at least 105 provisions are too vague to operate, accounting for 67.7%; for the remaining 50 provisions, at least half of them are related to transitional period or technical assistance. So, there are only 25 S&DT provisions in existing WTO agreements that are directly linked to individual members’ rights and obligations, accounting for 16.1% of the total. It is therefore fair to say, the overwhelming majority of current S&DT provisions are only pie in the sky. There has never been an almighty blank check.
第四，世贸组织应显现与21世纪经济现实的相关性。
Fourth, members should strive to make WTO relevant to the twenty-first century.
可持续发展是世界大势，世贸组织应发挥作用。在这方面，世贸成员正在讨论一些倡议。例如，联合国贸发会议数据显示，2018年全世界各种形式的塑料贸易超过1万亿美元，占全球贸易的5%，比先前估计的数字高出近40%，而且还存在一些我们根本不了解的潜在的塑料贸易。为此，部分世贸成员发起了“塑料污染和环境可持续塑料贸易”非正式对话，讨论提高透明度、监测贸易趋势、倡导最佳实践、加强政策一致性、确定共同行动的范围、评估能力和技术援助需求及与其他国际进程和努力合作等问题。通过这项讨论，我们希望探讨世贸组织能够做出贡献，减少塑料污染，促进向循环的、更环境可持续的塑料贸易转型。
Sustainable development is the trendy needs of the world. The WTO should have a role to play. In this regard, there are several initiatives under discussion. For instance, according to UNCTAD’s statistics, trade in plastics in 2018 – in all its forms – amounted to more than 1 trillion dollars or 5% of global trade, almost 40% higher than previously estimated. And there is still some potential trade in plastics that we are simply not aware of. That is why some WTO members initiated the Informal Dialogue on Plastics Pollution and Environmentally Sustainable Plastics Trade. Several topics are included in the discussion, including: improving transparency; monitoring trade trends; promoting best practices; strengthening policy coherence; identifying the scope for collective approaches; assessing capacity and technical assistance needs; and cooperating with other international processes and efforts. Through this discussion, we hope to explore how the WTO can contribute to reduce plastics pollution and transition to a circular, more environmentally sustainable plastics trade.
目前，世贸成员还在其他领域讨论联合声明倡议议题，包括电子商务、中小微企业和投资便利化等。我们期待这些议题在MC12能取得实质性进展。
There are also some other on-going Joint Statement Initiatives (JSIs) discussions within the WTO, such as the electronic commerce, Micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs), and investment facilitation. We hope those JSIs could have substantial progress by MC12.
最后，我想以另外两个以“R”开头的词结尾。目前，世贸组织正经历最困难时期，世界经济正受到疫情沉重打击，我们所有人都有责任对世贸组织进行必要改革（Reform），使其成为实现复苏（Recovery）的解决方案中最重要的工具之一。
Lastly, I want to add two more “Rs”. The WTO is now going through the most difficult time, and the world economy is severely hit by the pandemic. We all have the responsibility to reform the WTO where necessary, making it become one of the most important tools of final solutions for recovery.
谢谢！
Thank you for your kind attention!