译文
编者按：今年是中国改革开放40周年。中国日报推出系列专访，报道那些经历或见证这一重要进程的人物。
中国入世谈判中的美方关键代表
——与中国谈判并见证中国2001年加入这一国际贸易组织的查琳•巴尔舍夫斯基说，中美两国应谋求构建“互利稳定的双边关系”
中国日报华盛顿电 （记者 赵焕新 ）经过旷日持久的谈判，中国在2001年终于加入世界贸易组织。与中国就入世进行谈判的美方贸易谈判首席代表查琳•巴尔舍夫斯基在这一马拉松式的谈判过程中也为中国民众所熟知。
在她位于华盛顿市中心宽敞的办公室里，这位前美国贸易代表向记者回忆起中国历经15年的努力最终成功入世的往事，称对自己当时发挥的作用“深感骄傲”。
她表示，中国入世无论是对于中国自身还是对整个世界都具有“非常积极的意义”；她从未后悔过当时支持中国入世。
1999年11月15日，中美两国政府在北京就中国加入世界贸易组织达成了具有里程碑意义的双边协议，标志着中国入世迈出了关键一步。
在接受中国日报独家专访时，巴尔舍夫斯基说她支持全球化，经济全球化让美国受益匪浅。她警告称，加征关税带来的“不确定性”正在损害美国企业利益。她同时呼吁美中双方要坚守打造“互利稳定的双边关系”的共同目标。
引以为傲的一件事
今年1月，美国政府就中国履行入世承诺情况向国会提交的一份报告称，“似乎很明显，美国支持中国加入世贸组织是错误的；这些条款已证明未能确保中国接受开放的、面向市场的贸易体制。”
但是巴尔舍夫斯基说：“中国应该加入世贸组织，这难道还有疑问吗？当然没有。常有人问我‘这是不是一个错误？’我明确地回答，‘不，没有错！’中国加入世贸组织既发展了中国，也造福了世界。”
中国入世已经将近18年了，但68岁的巴尔舍夫斯基念念不忘那场谈判中的趣事和中国入世所遭遇的艰难。还有，更重要的是，忘不了那一历史性成就给她带来的自豪感。
其中有一件事发生在谈判桌外却同样使她深受触动。
有一天，巴尔舍夫斯基走在北京的街道上，听到有人喊她的名字。她停下脚步，只见一家三口朝她走了过来。
巴尔舍夫斯基说，“我转过身，那位男士向我道谢，为的是中国加入了世贸组织。我当然觉得很有趣，因为大多数美国人连世贸组织是什么都不知道。”
“他说他只想告诉我，他的儿子会过上更好的生活。这深深触动了我，很显然，入世与他个人发展，与中国振兴在他眼里都是密切关联的。”
巴尔舍夫斯基说，入世是中国完成的“跨越式发展”，但她也知道，中国为此也付出了代价。外交部前副部长傅莹8月29日在纽约的一次圆桌论坛上表示，2001年入世之后，国内企业突然直接面对国际竞争，不少产业陷入很大困难，有的甚至难以为继，大量工人下岗。
巴尔舍夫斯基指出，那时有大批国有企业职工失业，尤其是在刚刚进入新世纪的那几年。尽管出现了这种“破坏性的一面”，中国市场竞争力却日益得到提升。
她说，“中国是靠自己争取到入世的，因为我没有做什么改变，是中国自己做出改变。中国改革的力度和幅度是空前的，中国修改相关法律的量也是以前少有的。中国经历了巨大的改变。”
中国入世后经历了千辛万苦。傅莹提到，中国大规模进行法律法规的清理修订工作。在短时间内，中央政府清理了2000多件，地方政府清理了19万多件。
巴尔舍夫斯基说，“我是与中国谈判的代表，从这一点看，我感到相当自豪。”
美国是全球化的获益者
目前美国政府一直在对多边主义大加抨击，想要退出多边贸易体系，称贸易协定只对它的贸易伙伴有利，因此要推倒重来。
美国还声称是全球化的受害者。美国总统特朗普扬言，“如果不改革”，美国就要退出世贸组织。他还说美国上当了，美国的贸易伙伴占尽了便宜。
部分是由于这些理念的驱使，美国政府通过施压来修改贸易协议，或者肆意加征关税，以获得更多谈判筹码，或逼迫美国制造企业撤回美国。不过，巴尔舍夫斯基认为美国工厂搬回美国不大可能发生。
她表示，“美国能如此富裕，美国的经济能如此强劲，经济全球化功不可没。”
她说，很少国家能幸免于2008年金融危机冲击。尽管恢复期是漫长的，但如今美国经济已重现增长，中国在其中发挥了积极作用。
巴尔舍夫斯基说，“所以，美国并没有上当受骗，它的贸易伙伴没骗它，当然中国更没有。”她继续说，“受骗”这个词既不准确也没有什么效果。“你可以说中国的某些做法让美国不占优势，可是，也许中国同样觉得，美国的一些做法把中国置于不利地位。”
她还提到，中国在全球经济困难时期发挥的“关键作用”理应受到世界认可。
1997年，亚洲爆发了金融危机，那时中国还没加入世贸组织。中国决定人民币不贬值，一直保持稳定，因而中国在这场危机中发挥了至关重要的作用。
巴尔舍夫斯基称，之后是2008-2009年的金融危机，在全球需求萎缩的情况下，中国成了重要的需求来源，是中国经济的发展促使全球经济起死回生。
她说，但现在美中之间出现了“巨大分歧”。“即便是在贸易关系紧张时期，经济全球化和一体化趋势加深激化摩擦和竞争压力，我们也不能对哪个国家做过的重要贡献视而不见，它们都应该得到赞扬，”她说。
“错误的举措”
巴尔舍夫斯基说，“（美国）政府认为美国对华存在贸易逆差就表明贸易中存在不公平行为，事实并非如此。美国经济增长时，贸易逆差就会增大；经济衰退时，贸易逆差就会减小。而在美国经济遭受重创的大萧条时期，美国是处于贸易顺差状态的。”
她表示，贸易逆差与美国经济状况和失业水平并不相关。
“所以我认为美国政府不应该以此为判断标准。美国应像过去一样，最好是通过谈判的方式，找出并解决自认为的‘不公平’行为。”
她指出，对中国加征关税实际上等同于对美国消费者征税，此举并不能解决问题。
巴尔舍夫斯基说，她担心随着贸易战愈演愈烈，战线不断拉长，由此会产生一些不确定因素。“经济的不确定性无论对于商界还是政界来说，都是相当棘手的问题。这既关乎美国的利益，也关乎中国的利益，因此美中两国应该回到谈判桌前解决问题。”
她表示，美国关心的是，中国经济改革是否将继续发力，一些在美国看来让中国企业获得所谓的“不公平优势”的政策是否会改变。
中国承诺将继续深化改革和扩大对外开放。对外开放是近几十年来中国经济飞速发展的关键所在，这是中国社会的普遍共识。
傅莹在纽约的讨论会上指出，中美关系的变化会带来挑战，也会推动中国的改革。美方各界提出来的市场准入等问题，许多正是中方需要通过改革着力解决的。
习近平主席今年四月在博鳌亚洲论坛宣布进一步开放金融业后，央行的11项具体承诺，迄今已落实8项，包括取消银行和金融资产管理公司的外资持股比例限制，内外资一视同仁，允许外国银行在我国境内同时设立分行和子行。
“特殊责任”
有报道称，有人试图让中美经济“脱钩”。当被问及如何看待这一报道时，巴尔舍夫斯基说：“我不明白这么做的意义何在，这只会让我们两败俱伤。”
她表示，虽然中国和美国存在激烈的竞争，但是双方都承担着对对方以及对国际社会的特殊责任，“也就是说，美中双方要共同携手寻求共识，当然，分歧也需要解决。”
“我希望美中两国领导人都明白这两个国家有特殊的责任要承担。”
中美已经建交多年，可是中国并没有被美国同化，美国有些人对此感到沮丧。巴尔舍夫斯基则表示：“中国永远不会走美国的路，因为中国和美国有着不同的历史背景。”
巴尔舍夫斯基说，她一直都希望看到美中两国能有更大的“相容性”，而非“相似性”。
“但是想要更大的相容性，就需要像我说的那样，大国必须找到解决分歧的途径，必须尊重其他国家的利益，以缓解紧张局势，营造稳定的国际环境。”
在她的职业生涯中，巴尔舍夫斯基经历了无数次的谈判，积累了丰富的经验。她说，中国和美国在为“切实可行的目标”努力时，必须保持灵活性，尤其是当双边关系处于“起起伏伏”中的“伏”的状态时。
“各方都要保持灵活性，要对共同目标怀有信念。这里的‘共同目标’是广义上的，在当前，这个目标就应该是构建互利稳定的双边关系。在我看来，对于中美双方而言，这是一个相当明确且切实可行的目标。”
巴尔舍夫斯基说，她还记得小时候在父亲的花园里，用母亲的汤匙玩“挖到中国去”的游戏，希望能挖穿地球到中国去。
从“挖到中国去”到与中国打交道几十年，巴尔舍夫斯基说她揭开这个位于地球另一端的国家的神秘面纱，看到原来中国人和美国人一样心怀愿景，那就是他们都期待着明天会更好。
中国人谈到入世就会谈起巴尔舍夫斯基，并相信入世会继续让中国变得更美好。
原文：
US NEGOTIATOR WHO WAS KEY TO CHINA JOINING WTO
Charlene Barshefsky paved the way for entry to the global trading bloc in 2001 and says both countries should pursue a 'mutually beneficial, stable relationship'
ZHAO HUANXIN
Editor's note: This year marks the 40th anniversary of the launch of China's reform and opening-up policy. China Daily profiles people who experienced or witnessed the important drive.
Charlene Barshefsky is known in China for her role as the chief US negotiator in the marathon talks that led to Beijing's accession to the World Trade Organization in 2001.
In her spacious office in downtown Washington, the former United States Trade Representative said she looks back with "great pride" on her role in helping China achieve WTO membership after 15 years of trying.
She said it has been "extremely positive" for the country and the world, and she has never regretted supporting it－in stark contrast to the Trump administration's attitude.
Barshefsky's role in the process culminated in the signing of a landmark market access deal between the US and China in Beijing on Nov 15, 1999, that paved the way for the country's entry to the global trading bloc.
In an exclusive interview, Barshefsky defended globalization, which she said has benefited the US tremendously. She also cautioned on the "uncertainty" caused by escalating tariffs, which is hurting American businesses, while urging Beijing and Washington to stick to the common goal of a "mutually beneficial, stable relationship".
'A point of great pride'
In a January report to the US Congress on China's compliance with its WTO commitments, the US administration said, "It seems clear that the United States erred in supporting China's entry into the WTO on terms that have proved to be ineffective in securing China's embrace of an open, market-orientated trade regime."
But Barshefsky said: "Could there be any doubt that China should be in the WTO? Of course not. I'm often asked, 'Was it a mistake?' And I'm answering you unequivocally: No. It was not a mistake; it was an extremely positive move for China and for the world."
Nearly 18 years after China joined the WTO, Barshefsky, now 68, said she remembers anecdotes from the talks, the difficulties China experienced in satisfying membership requirements, and, most of all, the pride she derived from the historic achievement.
She also recalled a moment that had nothing to do with the negotiations, but one she feels strongly about.
One day, while walking in Beijing, Barshefsky heard a man call her name in the way a Chinese speaker would say it. She stopped, only to find a family of three walking toward her.
"I turned around, and it was this gentleman, and he thanked me for WTO, which of course made me laugh, because most people in the United States would have no idea what the WTO is," Barshefsky said.
"He simply wanted me to know that his son would have a better life. This was completely overwhelming to me. Obviously, he equated WTO entry with personal development, with that rise as part of this process for China."
Barshefsky said joining the WTO was a "leap" for China, and she understood membership came at a price.
Chinese enterprises were suddenly thrown into direct competition in the global market. Some did not make it, leading to massive layoffs all over the country, Fu Ying, vice-minister of foreign affairs in the late 2000s, told a roundtable discussion in New York on Aug 29.
Barshefsky said there were substantial job losses in the State-owned sector, particularly in the early 2000s. But despite the "disruptive side", the Chinese market became increasingly competitive, she said.
"China brought itself to the WTO and the reason is that I didn't change my behavior one bit; China changed," she said. "It did not have experience with the nature and extent of reforms that had to be made, it didn't have experience with rewriting so much of its legal code. It was a leap."
Following its WTO accession, China went through a painful overhaul. In a short period of time, Fu said, more than 2,000 laws and regulations were revised or abolished at the national level, and about 200,000 more below national level. "To the extent that I was the negotiator with China, it's a point of great pride for me," Barshefsky said.
Globalization benefits US
The current US administration has been lashing back against the multilateral system, trying to withdraw from or revamp agreements it claims have worked only to the advantage of its trading partners.
It has portrayed itself as a victim of globalization, and US President Donald Trump has threatened to retreat from the WTO "if they don't shape up", claiming the US has been cheated and taken advantage of by its trading partners.
The perception in part animates the US administration's policy of renegotiating those agreements under threat, or arbitrarily imposing tariffs, either as a means of gaining leverage or to force US-owned manufacturers back to the US－which Barshefsky doesn't think will happen.
"It's globalization that has helped to make the US as wealthy as it is, our economy as robust as it is," she said.
Few countries could have survived the 2008 financial meltdown that the US had to weather, she said. And even though there was a lengthy and slow period of recovery, the US has adapted and adjusted to grow again, and China played a positive role in that.
"So, no, the US has not been cheated, not by our trading partners and certainly not by China," Barshefsky said, adding that the word "cheated" is neither accurate nor productive. "You can say we've been disadvantaged by certain Chinese practices, and China may believe it's been disadvantaged by certain American practices."
She also recalled the "critical impact" China has had in difficult times, saying such areas should be acknowledged.
Well before its WTO accession, China played an important role during the 1997 Asian financial crisis by keeping its currency stable.
Then, in the 2008-09 global financial crisis, the country became the source of critical demand in a world that was demand-deficient. It was China's economy that helped bring the global economy back to life, Barshefsky said.
But now there is "substantial friction" between the US and China, she said. "Even amid trade tensions, we cannot lose sight of the important contributions every nation makes－they are to be complimented wherever they come from, as the world works through this intense globalization, intense degree of integration, and all of the frictions and competitive pressures that arise from it."
'Wrong measure'
The world's top two economies have been embroiled in blistering trade tensions since early this year.
"The (Trump) administration has the view that trade deficits are a measure of unfairness in trade," Barshefsky said. "This is not the case. Our deficit goes up the more the economy grows; our deficit goes down when we're in recession. So the US had a trade surplus in the Great Depression－our economy was decimated."
The US economy and job losses tend not to correlate with trade deficits, she said.
"So I think the administration is using the wrong measure. What it should do, and as it has done in past, is to identify the practices it believes are 'unfair' and address them, through negotiation preferably."
In her view, the imposition of tariffs is in effect the imposition of taxes on US purchasers and not an effective policy.
Barshefsky said she is worried about the uncertainties created by a ratcheted-up and protracted trade war. "It's the creation of economic uncertainty that is extremely difficult for businesses to deal with, and for governments to deal with. This is not in either country's interest, and both countries should get back to the table and try and sort these differences out."
Among the concerns on the US side, she said, are whether China's economic reform process is becoming more robust and whether policies that it alleges give an "unfair advantage" to Chinese companies will change.
China has vowed to stay the course of reform and increase opening-up. It has been a consensus in China that opening-up was key to the phenomenal economic growth in recent decades.
Speaking at the Boao Forum for Asia in April, President Xi Jinping said, "Our next step in development can only be achieved with deeper reform and wider openness."
At the New York panel discussion, Fu Ying, the veteran diplomat, said: "The changes in China-US relations, though presenting a challenge, can actually help push China's reform. Some of the requests raised by US businesses, like market access, are also what China is trying to address through reform."
She cited the series of market opening measures China announced for the financial sector in April as an example, and said eight of 11 items have been implemented, including the removal of restrictions on foreign ownership of banks and asset management companies, equal treatment of domestic and foreign capital, and allowing foreign banks to establish branches and subsidiaries in China.
'Special responsibility'
Asked to comment on reported attempts to "delink" to some extent the US economy from the Chinese economy, Barshefsky said: "I don't see the point in that. They would just make both countries poor."
She said China and the US are in sharp competition, but they also have a special obligation to each other and to the world, "which is to say, to get along－find the areas of common ground, but the differences do need to be addressed".
"My hope would be that the leaders of both nations would understand they have a special responsibility to work it out," she added.
Some people in the US appear frustrated that, after years of relations between the two countries, China has not become similar to the US. But Barshefsky said: "China is never going to be the way America is. It has no history being the way America is any more than America has a history of being Chinese."
As a WTO chief negotiator, she said her goal was always to see greater compatibility between China and the US, not similarity.
"But greater compatibility goes along with my theory that large powers have to find a way to work out their problems," she said. "They have to act in a manner more compatible with each other's interests, as a means of diffusing tensions and as a means of creating a stable environment."
Drawing experience from countless negotiations in her career, Barshefsky said both China and the US must maintain flexibility in working toward a "sensible goal", especially in the face of what she said was "a down in the cycle of ups and downs" in bilateral relations.
"Each side has to maintain flexibility, each side has to believe in the same goal, the same goal in very broad terms," she said. "The same goal in this case would be a mutually beneficial, stable relationship－seems to me that's a completely set, sensible goal, both for China and for the United States."
Barshefsky said she remembers playing the game "digging to China" in her father's garden when she was a child, using her mother's soup spoons, hoping that she could dig all the way through the Earth to China.
From "digging to China" to dealing with China for decades, Barshefsky said she had unveiled the mystery of a country half the world away and had found that Chinese people, just like those in the US, have the same aspiration that tomorrow will be better than today.
The Chinese people, in return, will forever link her with China's WTO accession, an event they believe is continuing to change the country for the better.
