By The Korea Herald
Feb. 22, 2018
根据韩国先驱报编译
Korea and China on Thursday began the first round of talks to expand the scope of the bilateral free trade agreement to better cover the service and investment sectors and increase business opportunities for both sides.
韩国和中国周四开始旨在扩大双边自由贸易协定范围的第一轮会谈，以更好地覆盖服务和投资领域，增加双方的商业机会。
The two nations implemented the FTA, which is focused on lowering tariffs on goods, in December 2015 and recently agreed to hold negotiations to upgrade the trade deal.
这两个国家于2015年12月实施了自由贸易协定，该协定侧重于降低商品关税，最近同意举行谈判以升级贸易协议。
Kim Young-sam, a deputy minister of trade and investment at the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, and Wang Shouwen, vice Chinese commerce minister, attended the first dialogue held in Seoul.
贸易，工业和能源部贸易和投资副部长Kim Young-sam和中国商务部副部长王守文参加了在首尔进行了第一次对话。
"The time has come for Korea and China to put tough times behind them and raise their economic and trade relations to a new level," Kim said in an opening address. "The (follow-up FTA) negotiations will help further expand the fast-growing services trade and create a stable investment environment in the two nations."
Kim在开幕致辞中表示：“现在是韩国和中国面临困难时期，应将经贸关系提高到一个新水平的时候了。（后续FTA）谈判将有助于进一步扩大快速增长的服务贸易，并为两国创造稳定的投资环境。”
China has been reducing its focus on manufacturing to restructure itself as a more service-oriented economy. China's service industry was rated at $5.6 trillion in 2016, making it the world's second-biggest market.
中国一直在减少对制造业的关注，将其自身调整为一个面向服务的经济体。2016年，中国服务业估值为5.6万亿美元，成为世界第二大市场。
The value of services trade between the two nations has risen from $2.7 billion in 1998 to $36.7 billion in 2016, roughly quadruple the growth rate of global services trade, according to Seoul's trade ministry.
根据韩国贸易部的数据，两国之间的服务贸易价值从1998年的27亿美元上升到2016年的367亿美元，大约是全球服务贸易增长率的四倍。
The two sides will exchange their views on the service sector and on legal issues in the first talks before moving on to market access and investor protection measures in following dialogues, the ministry said.
双方将在第一次会谈中就服务部门和法律问题交换意见，然后在接下来的对话中转向市场准入和投资者保护措施。
"The government will seek to expand market access in tourism, culture and finance through the negotiations to improve the competitiveness of the Korean service industry and create new jobs in the sector," the ministry said in a release.
“政府将通过谈判扩大在旅游，文化和金融方面的市场准入，以提高韩国服务业的竞争力，并在该部门创造新的就业机会，”该部在一份新闻稿中表示。
China defended free trade and open markets, calling for Korea to collaborate its efforts to stand up against the rising protectionism, a thinly-veiled comment aimed at US President Trump's "America First" policy.
中国坚持自由贸易和开放市场，呼吁韩国合作应对日益高涨的保护主义，这是针对美国总统特朗普的“美国优先”政策的一种含蓄的评论。
"At the moment, the global recovery of trade growth is very fragile and the trend of trade protectionism is on the rise," Wang said in a speech. "As such as a background, it is very important for China and Korea, two important economies in East Asia, to send a positive signal for our further market opening."
“目前，全球贸易增长势头非常脆弱，贸易保护主义正在抬头，”王受文在演讲中说。 “在这样的背景下，中国和韩国这两个东亚重要经济体发出积极信号，对进一步开放市场具有举足轻重的作用。”
The Chinese official called for engaging talks in "programmatic manner" to have a "balanced relationship" in investment and services in addition to the trading of goods.
这位中国官员呼吁以“程序化”的方式进行谈判，在投资和服务贸易以及货物贸易方面保持“平衡关系”。
"We should fully tap the potential in our bilateral services and investment by producing a credible investment and services package in the second stage of the negotiations," Wang said.
“在谈判的第二阶段，我们应该充分挖掘我们双边服务和投资的潜力，制定可信的投资和服务方案，”王部长提到。
Since Korean companies have grappled with non-trade barriers like investment restrictions and regulations, industry experts expressed hope that follow-up negotiations will pave the way for greater access to a market of 1.4 billion Chinese consumers.
由于韩国企业已经面对诸如投资限制和法规等非贸易壁垒，业内专家表示希望后续谈判将为更多地进入14亿中国消费者市场铺平道路。
Local companies stressed the importance of the Chinese government's transparency and consistency in implementing regulations on foreign companies and investors to create a stable business environment regardless of diplomatic relations between the two nations.
韩国公司强调中国政府在实施有关外国公司和投资者条例方面的需要提高透明度和一致性，以创造一个稳定的商业环境，希望贸易关系不受到两国外交关系的影响。
Last year, Korean retailers and tourism agencies suffered from weak sales and unfavorable sentiment in China over Seoul's deployment of an American missile system, which has soured two-way relations and triggered a boycott of Korean-made goods.
去年，因受首尔部署美国反导系统影响，韩国零售商和旅游机构在中国销售疲软。
