On March 5, 2022, the sessions of the National People’s Congress (NPC) and the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (two sessions) were held in Beijing. During the 7-day meeting schedule, several policy arrangements involving cross-border e-commerce were released. Premier Li Keqiang’s government work report mentioned that in 2022, the government will continue to implement corporate tax reduction policies to benefit e-commerce small and medium-sized enterprises; overseas, it will expand a high level of opening to the outside world, deploy overseas warehouse development, and overseas smart logistics platform construction; Cross-border logistics will continue to promote and build a more complete supply chain and logistics system.
WHAT WE READ FROM THE PRESS
Xicheng E-commerce Consulting released an interpretation of the new tax policy of the two sessions: “Tax reduction, e-commerce SMEs will continue to benefit”. The article summarizes the new tax policy in the government work report. In 2021, the government continues to optimize and implement the bailout policy to help enterprises, help strengthen innovation leadership, and stabilize the industrial chain and supply chain. In 2022, the tax policy will continue and upgrade to support manufacturing. The policy of tax reduction and fee reduction for industry, small and micro enterprises, the implementation of large-scale value-added tax refunds, and the implementation of the super-deduction policy for R&D expenses. China will continue to expand its high-level opening to the outside world, make use of two markets and two resources, continuously expand foreign trade and economic cooperation, and promote the steady development of foreign trade and foreign investment.
Wuxi Zhendao News reported on specific measures for foreign trade development issued by the State Council Information Office. The Ministry of Commerce’s policies will be appropriately advanced, and four special actions will be implemented, including cross-cycle adjustment and stabilization of foreign trade, market diversification, smooth foreign trade supply chain, and foreign trade innovation and quality improvement, and take various measures to stabilize foreign trade. The Beijing News summarizes the deployment of cross-border e-commerce in the 2022 government work report: the government will vigorously support the development of overseas warehouses, build and improve overseas warehouse networks, and promote the construction of overseas smart logistics platforms. Help foreign trade reduce costs and improve efficiency. At the same time, it will cultivate several offshore trade center cities (regions), develop and expand new formats and new models of foreign trade, and promote high-level and high-quality development of trade.
People’s Information summarizes the content of cross-border logistics in the government work report. In 2022, China will make full use of the resources of the two markets, continuously expand foreign economic and trade cooperation, and promote in-depth reform and high-quality development with high-level opening up. In the process of promoting the high-quality development of foreign trade, the government will build a more complete supply chain and logistics system.
Zhu Xiaojin, a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, pointed out: “cross-border payment and credit problems in the process of cross-border e-commerce transactions are increasingly prominent, and cross-border e-commerce support services and supervision systems should be optimized.” HuaShang.com reported that Gong Fuwen, member of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference in Shaanxi and vice president of the Higher People’s Court of Shaanxi Province, proposed that the digital renminbi pilot should adhere to “scenario-oriented”, “innovation-oriented” and “effectiveness-oriented” to increase the awareness of digital renminbi and acceptance so that the digital renminbi landing scene can really be used and come alive.
Focusing on the development of key foreign trade areas, the Central Bank Macroprudential Administration reported the “Opinions on Financial Support for the construction of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area”, which was jointly issued by the Party Central Committee and the State Council. The People’s Bank of China has successively introduced several trades and investment facilitation measures to simplify cross-border settlement, optimize cross-border investment and financing management, and benefit enterprises’ cross-border payment, investment, and financing activities. Policies were first implemented in the Greater Bay Area, including pilot programs for domestic and foreign currency pools, pilot programs for cross-border high-level opening-up, trade, and investment. The government will fully support the high-quality development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.
INFLUENCE MATTERS’ ANALYSIS
The 13th National Two Sessions mentioned cross-border e-commerce, cross-border logistics, and cross-border payment many times. The introduction of preferential tax policies for e-commerce small and medium-sized enterprises has greatly reduced the burden on e-commerce enterprises, which demonstrates the Chinese government’s policy to support small and micro-enterprises. The work report lists the development of overseas warehouses as the primary goal of overseas e-commerce deployment. This measure extends the frontline of foreign exports, provides a stable cargo storage position for e-commerce companies to go overseas, and solves the worries of cargo storage. It may also indicate that the Chinese government has firm confidence in expanding foreign trade. At the same time, it is supplemented by the development of a digital supply chain and logistics chain to build a digital cross-border delivery logistics platform. The Chinese government’s development of cross-border trade in the whole industry chain, including taxation, cross-border cargo storage, and cross-border logistics, is a golden period for the development of cross-border e-commerce.
