The US urged China yesterday to wage a wider war against rampant patent and copyright piracy as it sought ways to reduce a growing trade imbalance that has become an election issue in the US.
Beijing needed to do much more to battle counterfeiting that had seriously harmed US firms and workers, US Secretary of Commerce Don Evans told reporters during a four-day visit to China.
PHOTO: EPA
"There needs to be much more efforts, much more resources put into the protection of intellectual property rights across the country," Evans told reporters during a visit to a factory in a Beijing suburb.
The Chinese authorities needed to do more at the provincial and city levels, he said, two months after Chinese Vice Premier Wu Yi (吳儀) pledged during meetings with Evans in Washington to intensify a crackdown on counterfeiting.
China's own State Council has estimated the market value of counterfeit goods in China at about US$19 billion to US$24 billion annually. The bogus trade affects a wide range of US products, including films, music, publishing, software, pharmaceuticals, information technology and automotive parts.
Washington also hoped to do more to reduce its trade deficit with the world's fourth-biggest trading nation, which hit a record US$124 billion last year and is expected to head higher.
"In the first four months of this year the trade deficit continued to grow, so we need to continue to work on ways to reduce those trade barriers," Evans said.
He also reiterated Washington's desire to see the yuan liberalized.
"We think it's very important to have a flexible, market-driven exchange rate. That coupled with free trade and free flow of capital," he said.
"There is a working group between the United States and China working on that and we will continue to work for it," he said.
Investors have speculated China may make the yuan more flexible as early as this year by pegging it to a basket of foreign currencies and letting it move more freely, a step many analysts expect would lead the currency to strengthen. Analysts say China will only do so in its own time, rather than bow to foreign pressure.
Evans also oversaw the signing of a series of deals between US and Chinese business yesterday, including an agreement by General Electric, the world's biggest maker of turbines, to sell two electric transfer systems to China Southern Power Grid Co.
Honeywell Inc, meanwhile, agreed to supply environmentally friendly refrigerants and other chemicals to home appliance maker Haier. No terms of the deals were given.
"These partnerships will grow American jobs and contribute to America's economic development," Evans said.
"These signings are an example of the strong commercial bonds being forged between the United States and China," he said
Also signed yesterday was a deal with United Solar Ovonic and Dawson International to provide and install a 300-kilowatt solar photovoltaic lighting system in the Beijing New Capital Museum.
Evans was scheduled to meet Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao (溫家寶) yesterday for talks that will also include US Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao who is in Beijing.
Today, Evans will meet separately with Vice Premier Wu Yi (吳儀), Vice Premier Zeng Peiyan (曾培炎) and Commerce Minister Bo Xilai (薄熙來) following a breakfast speech with US businesspeople.
CREDIT-GRABBER: China said its coast guard rescued the crew of a fishing vessel that caught fire, who were actually rescued by a nearby Taiwanese boat and the CGA Maritime search and rescue operations do not have borders, and China should not use a shipwreck to infringe upon Taiwanese sovereignty, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said yesterday. The coast guard made the statement in response to the China Coast Guard (CCG) saying it saved a Taiwanese fishing boat. The Chuan Yu No. 6 (全漁6號), a fishing vessel registered in Keelung, on Thursday caught fire and sank in waters northeast of Diaoyutai Islands (釣魚台). The vessel left Keelung’s Badouzih Fishing Harbor (八斗子漁港) at 3:35pm on Sunday last week, with seven people on board — a 62-year-old Taiwanese captain surnamed Chang (張) and six
LEVERAGE: China did not ‘need to fire a shot’ to deny Taiwan airspace over Africa when it owns ‘half the continent’s debt,’ a US official said, calling it economic warfare The EU has raised concerns about overflight rights following the delay of President William Lai’s (賴清德) planned state visit to the Kingdom of Eswatini after three African nations denied overflight clearance for his charter at the last minute. Taiwanese allies Paraguay and Saint Kitts and Nevis, as well as several US lawmakers and the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC) condemned China for allegedly pressuring the countries. Lai was scheduled to fly directly to Taiwan’s only African ally from yesterday to Sunday to celebrate the 40th anniversary of King Mswati III’s accession and his 58th birthday, but Seychelles, Mauritius and Madagascar suddenly revoked
RISKY BUSINESS: The ‘incentives’ include initiatives that get suspended for no reason, creating uncertainty and resulting in considerable losses for Taiwanese, the MAC said China’s “incentives” failed to sway sentiment in Taiwan, as willingness to work in China hit a record low of 1.6 percent, a Ministry of Labor survey showed. The Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) also reported that the number of Taiwanese workers in China has nearly halved from a peak of 430,000 in 2012 to an estimated 231,000 in 2024. That marked a new low in the proportion of Taiwanese going abroad to work. The ministry’s annual survey on “Labor Life and Employment Status” includes questions respondents’ willingness to seek employment overseas. Willingness to work in China has steadily declined from
The number of pet cats in Taiwan surpassed that of pet dogs for the first time last year, reaching 1,742,033, a 32.8 percent increase from 2023, the Ministry of Agriculture said yesterday, citing a survey. By contrast, the number of pet dogs declined slightly by 1.2 percent over the same period to 1,462,528, the ministry said. Despite the shift, households with dogs still slightly outnumber those with cats by 1.2 percent. However, while the number of households with multiple dogs has remained relatively stable, households keeping more than two cats have increased, contributing to the overall rise in the feline population. The trend
RSS