Donald Evans ended his fourth and final visit to Beijing as the US secretary of commerce on Thursday with the same demand he brought on three previous visits in the last three years: that China strengthen its protection of copyrights and patents.
Evans' contention that China must do more to stamp out the unlicensed reproduction of software, industrial designs, drugs and other patented products has been a mantra of his visits to Beijing. This time, however, the courteous reception he has always received was mingled with signals of a more assertive China, impatient to have its own trade concerns addressed.
PHOTO: AFP
Those signals included a jocular but public swipe in front of television cameras on Wednesday by China's Commerce Minister Bo Xilai (薄熙來), who awarded Evans 7 marks out of 10 for his tenure, a grudging approval in China. Bo stressed his disappointment that the US had refused a formal recognition of China as a market economy.
Evans said in prepared remarks on Thursday that the issue of China's commercial practices was "straining our trading relationship."
"It's time for China's leaders to forcefully confront the problem" posed by the theft of intellectual property rights, he said.
US trade officials, lawyers and companies generally agree that the message has not fallen on entirely deaf ears, and that China has developed an impressive arsenal of laws and rules to fight industrial piracy. But they also say those weapons are rarely used, and piracy remains as widespread in China as it was four years ago, if not more so.
"The facts are that piracy and counterfeiting in China continues to increase," Evans said in an interview.
He raised the example of the QQ, a mini-car made by the Chinese company Chery that GM Daewoo, General Motors' South Korean operation, contends is a clone of its Chevrolet Spark design. Late last year, GM Daewoo announced it was suing Chery. The similarity between the two cars "defies innocent explanation," Evans said at a news conference on Thursday.
Estimates vary wildly of how much of China's industrial production involves unlawful copies of patents, trademarks and copyright. The Development Research Center, a Chinese government policy research institute, estimated in 2003 that the value of pirated goods made in China was US$19 billion to US$24 billion a year.
Chinese officials said they were fighting commercial piracy more vigorously. They also said that the US must accept that China is a huge, developing country where any change takes time.
As in his previous visits, Evans and his staff stopped short of explicitly threatening to lodge a complaint against China's commercial piracy with the World Trade Organization, but held open that possibility.
"Without trying to raise speculation, there comes a point where we have to exercise our rights," said Grant Aldonas, the under secretary of commerce in charge of international trade.
RETHINK? The defense ministry and Navy Command Headquarters could take over the indigenous submarine project and change its production timeline, a source said Admiral Huang Shu-kuang’s (黃曙光) resignation as head of the Indigenous Submarine Program and as a member of the National Security Council could affect the production of submarines, a source said yesterday. Huang in a statement last night said he had decided to resign due to national security concerns while expressing the hope that it would put a stop to political wrangling that only undermines the advancement of the nation’s defense capabilities. Taiwan People’s Party Legislator Vivian Huang (黃珊珊) yesterday said that the admiral, her older brother, felt it was time for him to step down and that he had completed what he
Taiwan has experienced its most significant improvement in the QS World University Rankings by Subject, data provided on Sunday by international higher education analyst Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) showed. Compared with last year’s edition of the rankings, which measure academic excellence and influence, Taiwanese universities made great improvements in the H Index metric, which evaluates research productivity and its impact, with a notable 30 percent increase overall, QS said. Taiwanese universities also made notable progress in the Citations per Paper metric, which measures the impact of research, achieving a 13 percent increase. Taiwanese universities gained 10 percent in Academic Reputation, but declined 18 percent
CHINA REACTS: The patrol and reconnaissance plane ‘transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,’ the 7th Fleet said, while Taipei said it saw nothing unusual The US 7th Fleet yesterday said that a US Navy P-8A Poseidon flew through the Taiwan Strait, a day after US and Chinese defense heads held their first talks since November 2022 in an effort to reduce regional tensions. The patrol and reconnaissance plane “transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,” the 7th Fleet said in a news release. “By operating within the Taiwan Strait in accordance with international law, the United States upholds the navigational rights and freedoms of all nations.” In a separate statement, the Ministry of National Defense said that it monitored nearby waters and airspace as the aircraft
UNDER DISCUSSION: The combatant command would integrate fast attack boat and anti-ship missile groups to defend waters closest to the coastline, a source said The military could establish a new combatant command as early as 2026, which would be tasked with defending Taiwan’s territorial waters 24 nautical miles (44.4km) from the nation’s coastline, a source familiar with the matter said yesterday. The new command, which would fall under the Naval Command Headquarters, would be led by a vice admiral and integrate existing fast attack boat and anti-ship missile groups, along with the Naval Maritime Surveillance and Reconnaissance Command, said the source, who asked to remain anonymous. It could be launched by 2026, but details are being discussed and no final timetable has been announced, the source