Trade disputes ranging from product piracy to rules blocking Euro-pean companies from winning construction contracts for the 2008 Olympics in Beijing dominated the agenda as Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao (溫家寶) began the second leg of his European tour.
After four days promoting political and business ties in Germany, Wen arrived in Brussels on Wednesday to meet Belgian and EU officials worried about an exploding trade deficit with China and endemic counterfeiting that international trade groups estimate costs Western companies US$16 billion in sales each year.
Wen urged the EU yesterday to lift restrictions on technology exports to China -- an issue linked to an EU arms embargo imposed after the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre.
In a speech to European business leaders in Brussels, Wen also vowed firm action to protect the intellectual property rights of foreign companies doing business in China.
In a veiled reference to the arms embargo, he called for the removal of "out-dated barriers and obstacles" hampering the burgeoning trade relationship between China and Europe.
"China will continue to faithfully honor its WTO commitments, stepping up protection of intellectual property rights and increasing the fairness and transparency" of its laws, Wen said.
"The EU is also expected to ease its restrictions on high-tech exports to China, and lift its import bans that are inconsistent with WTO rules," he said.
Wen is also pushing European leaders to grant China full market economy status, which he said would "undoubtedly boost a fresh round of expansion in China-EU trade and economic cooperation."
Yesterday, Wen was to initial a agreement that EU officials called a "crucial step forward" in stopping product piracy. In preparation since 1997, the deal will offer administrative assistance to help customs officers work together.
China recently began what it portrays as a full-scale assault on theft of trademarks, copyrights and other intellectual property in the wake of repeated complaints from Europe, the US and elsewhere.
While the US recently filed the first complaint against China at the WTO in a dispute over taxes on imported semiconductors, EU officials said they preferred "quiet diplomacy" for now.
"We don't wave the stick all the time," one EU official said on condition of anonymity, "but we are very clear in the end" that WTO obligations must be met.
Other disputes involve new Chinese rules that make it difficult for European construction companies to bid on large contracts.
National Taiwan University (NTU) yesterday said it disqualified a person from an entrance examination for using AI smart glasses to cheat, along with two others for making untruthful statements in their curriculum vitae. The three applicants were given null scores, Taiwan’s highest-ranked university said, calling on prospective students to be honest in the admissions process. NTU registrar Lee Hung-sen (李宏森) said that the cheating applicant wore a hat and thick-rimmed glasses to the second written exam for medical school, claiming that they felt cold. Suspicions were aroused when the applicant stared oddly at the test for long stretches while steadily bringing the paper
A magnitude 7.8 earthquake struck off the southern coast of Mindanao in the Philippines at 7:38am today, prompting the US Tsunami Warning System to issue an alert for neighboring countries, including Taiwan. The system issued a purple alert indicating a "tsunami threat." The potential threat zone includes Taiwan, the Philippines, Papua New Guinea, Yap and Palau. Philippine authorities were assessing the damage from the quake, with the office of civil defense seeking to verifying initial reports that 15 people had been killed and 129 injured in the region, mostly from falling debris. Arlene Hollero, disaster chief of Maasim town in the Philippines' Sarangani Province,
‘GRAY ZONE’ PRESSURE: Beijing’s activities are intended to create the deceitful impression that China has jurisdiction over the area around Taiwan, the CGA said Taiwan’s rights over its territorial waters and exclusive economic zone must not be violated by any country, the Mainland Affairs Council said yesterday, adding that it will not accept any unprovoked actions. The council issued the remarks in response to the China Coast Guard conducting maritime enforcement drills near eastern Taiwan and claiming to fully exercise China’s maritime administrative law enforcement authority. The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) has been closely monitoring the situation and is taking concrete steps to defend the nation’s sovereignty and secure its waters, the council said. China has no sovereign rights over the waters off eastern
Heavy rain is expected to affect parts of Taiwan this week, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday as a meteorologist said the active part of the annual plum rain season has started. A stationary plum rain front and southwesterly winds would bring unstable weather and abundant moisture to Taiwan from today for about a week, with the heaviest rainfall forecast for tomorrow and Wednesday, the CWA said. The agency said western and northeastern Taiwan, and mountainous areas in the east and southeast, could expect showers or thunderstorms on those two days, with localized heavy rain possible. Other parts of
RSS