My Interview in China Radio International on the occasion of the 70th Anniversary of the Founding of The People's Republic of China

On the occasion of the 70th Anniversary of the Founding of The People's Republic of China, I was interviewed by several leading Chinese media including “China Radio International. In a nutshell, I indicated that:

• The Sino-Swiss Free Trade Agreement (FTA) has been a test for China. It is better to start with a small, friendly country far away like Switzerland than with a larger economic bloc. More generally, this agreement has strengthened a positive general movement of cooperation between Switzerland and China.
• There is a lot of complementarity between China and Switzerland. Traditionally, Switzerland has a strong capacity for innovation and a strong image of quality. By contrast, China has a very large domestic market and traditionally the ability to produce at competitive costs. China of course also has a history of innovation (paper, powder, compass, ...) but more distant. Obviously, all of this is changing in China as China becomes more and more innovative.
• Regarding this FTA, I would say that the degree of satisfaction of Swiss companies is relatively high, but it depends a lot on the sectors. The most important benefit is not tariff reduction as it is often limited and gradual; in addition, these reductions require specific documentation (certificate of origin, ...). The key benefits of the FTA are rather the increase of mutual trust, mutual “publicity” and guanxi.
•  To update this agreement, regular Sino-Swiss meetings take place, in particular to simplify administrative procedures.

Link (French version); link (Chinese version): follows

@PhilippeMonnier