President and CPC Chairman of the People's Republic of China, Hu Jintao, has visited Africa and pledged greater cooperation between the PRC and the continent. The PRC maintains good relations with the Republic of South Africa.
Originally uploaded by Pan-African News Wire File Photos
By Kathrin Hille in Beijing
December 14 2010 10:57
The US has raised the pressure on China to improve market access for foreign companies with the release of a highly critical report
examining Beijing’s policies on the eve of bilateral trade talks in
Washington.
A package of Chinese policies aimed at encouraging local innovation
are “expected to make it difficult for foreign companies to compete on
a level playing field in China”, said the International Trade
Commission, a US government agency, in a report released on Monday night just ahead of the annual meeting of the Joint Commission on Commerce and Trade.
The ITC report is the first of two which, on the request from the US
Senate, will attempt to measure the impact of intellectual property
rights infringement in China and Chinese innovation policies on the US
economy. If the second one, due next May, diagnoses sizeable damage to US companies and jobs, it could become the basis for US trade action against Beijing.
The ITC also said US receipts of royalties and licence fees from
exports to China suggested widespread infringement of intellectual
property rights and market access problems.
In addition, it criticised Chinese policies aimed at promoting
innovation that had spurred a boom in opportunistic and predatory
patent filings used against foreign companies, and that China’s
practice of establishing rival standards often amounted to a
discrimination against overseas suppliers.
The ITC’s findings echo growing complaints from foreign companies
operating in China, most clearly expressed in a rare outburst by
Jeffrey Immelt, GE chief executive, earlier this year. In July, Mr
Immelt accused the Chinese government of becoming increasingly
protectionist.
Chinese officials have repeatedly addressed this mood with public
pledges that foreign companies continue to be welcome.
However, key Beijing policy measures which could have an opposite
effect are still looming.
These include the creation of a catalogue of products eligible for
favoured status under an innovation programme in government
procurement and a definition of information security related products
which could determine the range of future market access for foreign
investors in the technology sector. Industry executives believe either
could come before the end of the year.
Therefore Washington hopes to extract more concrete commitments to
openness from Beijing during the trade talks.
Max Baucus, chairman of the Senate finance committee, and Chuck
Grassley, ranking member, who requested the ITC investigation, accused China of trying to fob off American businesses with small steps and empty promises.
“This week’s US-China trade talks are the perfect opportunity for
China to make serious commitments to address these issues. It is time
for action,” said Mr Baucus.
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2010.
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