Our policymakers and scholars related has been paying high attention to TPP since TPP was reached. On 28 November of 2015, our institute held the Seminar “TPP and Chinese Stated-owned Enterprises Going Global ”to discuss those potential influences exerted upon trade、economy、politics etc. of China especially upon state-owned enterprises (SOEs) by TPP and our dean-Tu Xinquan presided over the whole seminar. More than 20 scholars from large-scaled SOEs、governmental departments and universities made keynote speeches, and more than 50 participants attended the seminar.

The seminar mainly consisted of three topics: Potential influences of TPP upon our SOEs and corresponding strategies、the principle of competitive neutrality and reform of China’s SOEs、meaning and influences of state-owned enterprise-related regulations SOEs of TPP. Those topics closely connected with our current reform of SOEs, accurately reflected the problems faced by SOEs in the process of internationalization, many good ideas were come up with through the communication between experts related and enterprise administrators.

Highlights of experts were as follows:

In the first section, of which the topic was the potential impact of TPP on Chinese SOEs’ going global and the countermeasures. Speakers of this section included Wang Haixia, deputy chief engineer of Research Institute of Water Transportion Planning, Professor Lu Jinyong, the director of International Investment Research Center of University of International Business and Economics, He Yadong, the director of Policy Research Office of Commerce Chamber and Zhang Huanbo, the associate researcher of Communication Center for International Economy of China.

Wang Haixia, the deputy chief engineer, said when intending to invest in developed countries, China's SOEs often meet political considerations, but Chinese SOEs were often warmly welcomed by developing countries and less developed countries when they were intending to invest for their local construction. In addition, she mentioned that the state-owned enterprise was the spokesman for the image of the country, when carrying out foreign direct investment (FDI), SOEs tended to pay more attention to enterprises’ social responsibility, and to comply with the local law and order.

 Lu Jinyong, the director said that for China’s joining the TPP, there were three major views. The first one was not to join TPP, China can join the RCEP、bilateral or regional free trade agreements to respond to it instead. The second one was to join, and the reform of related fields would be improved. The last argument was to  take a bypass to distract the impact of TPP. He believed that although confronted with many difficulties, the reform of SOEs was imperative, and was significant for the long-term development of China's society. He concluded that joining TPP in the long term, was conducive to China's development.

He Yadong pointed out that the U.S. government was especially concerned with those local investment activities of Chinese SOEs and they preferred to use the competitive neutrality principle to restrict the access of our SOEs. And he also mentioned that in fact, when carrying out overseas investments, China's SOEs strictly abide by laws and regulations, and showed the good image of a responsible country.

Zhang Huanbo believed that currently in China both policymakers and scholars were too nervous about TPP, the agreement was in fact not the “tit for tat” between China and U.S., but it was one step of the global expansion strategy of the U.S. In addition, he mentioned that the reform of SOEs was to achieve the separation of the government and enterprises.

In the second section,of which thetopic was the principle of competition neutrality and the reform of China's SOEs, speakers of this section included Xiang Anbo,the researcher of Enterprise Research Institute of the State Council Development Research Center, Nie Xiudong,the assistant dean of the Institute of Economic Management of Mechanical Industry, Lan Qingxin,the researcher of International Economy Research Institute of the University of International Business and Economics, and Chen Liqiang the professor of the Law School of Zhejiang Industrial University.

Xiang Anbo said that non-commercial support to SOEs should be limited, the power of the capital should be strengthed while that of the state should be weakened. Nie Xiudong analyzed current situations and opportunities for Chinese enterprises’ going global. He believed that currently GPA participants prevented China's enterprises from participating in the competition of the market procurement since China’s failure to join the GPA, , to join the GPA was equivalent to a ticket to take part in government procurement of other countries, and expanded the market of domestic suppliers, and improved the possibility of winning the bidding.

Lan Qingxin stressed that the reform of SOEs had been slow, the government should distribute power to achieve separation of government and enterprises. SOEs were often carriers of the national strategy of foreign investment, and also shouldered the responsibility to transfer excess capacity, and governments should play a leading role in private enterprises’ going out to achieve the upgrading of the whole industrial chain.

Chen Liqiang made a comprehensive analysis of the Sino-US economic and trade relations, combined with his experiences in the U.S.,heanalyzed the essence of the Sino-US trade disputes from the angles of China and the United States respectively. And he made relevant recommendations on how to make use of current trade situations to develop China’s economy.

The topic of the third section was the meaning and influence of the rules of TPP related to SOEs. Speakers of this section included Shi Xiaoli, the professor of Institute of International Law of China University of Political Science and Law, Ying Pinguang, the Doctor of WTO Research and Education Institute of Shanghai University of International Business and Economics, Shen Minghui, the associate researcher of the Research Institute of Global and Asia-Pacific strategies of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Chen Weidong, the professor of Law School of University of International Business and Economics, and Yang Rongzhen, the researcher of WTO Research Institute of our school.

Shi Xiaoli, from the perspective of the application and practice of the legal provisions, analyzed those relevant issues we may encounter in the process of the internationalization of SOEs, such as the settlement of disputes and temporary arbitration system. Ying Pinguang expressed his views on the competition neutrality principle, and introduced different treatments for China's SOEs by different states of the U.S., combined with the problems China’s enterprises encountered in the process of expansion in the U.S.

Shen Minghui said, Joining TPP was beneficial for the long-term development, and the requirements of the TPP had been exergarated by people related. Shen Minghui also analyzed the potential impacts of China-Japan-ROK FTA and RCEP on China.

In the end, Tu Xinquan, our dean sconcluded the speeches of experts and scholars. How to deal with the TPP and the reform of SOEs have attracted widespread attention in recent years? We believe this seminar will bring aspiration to experts and scholars.                                                                                       Contributor：Wang Da   Translator: Chenyu   Reviser: SongYida