China is to bar government authorities from demanding that overseas companies hand over technology secrets in exchange for market share, a top economic official said yesterday, addressing a key complaint at the heart of a China-US trade dispute.
The provision is contained in a foreign investment law to be debated at the ongoing annual session of the Chinese National People’s Congress, Chinese National Development and Reform Commission Vice Chairman Ning Jizhe (寧吉喆) told reporters at a news conference.
The law would “clarify the system for advancement and protection of foreign investment,” Ning said.
The legal system would ensure that foreign businesses “cannot be required to transfer technology by administrative means, providing a more encompassing and beneficial legal guarantee,” he said.
The rubber-stamp legislature is expected to pass the law during its 11-day session, although the central government has routinely said that it has little control over commercial agreements between Chinese and foreign firms.
Ning’s statement came a day after Chinese Premier Li Keqiang (李克強) announced a robust annual economic growth target and promised in a speech to the congress’ opening session that foreign companies would be “treated as equals” with their Chinese competitors.
Accusations that China demands the disclosure of technology secrets are a key stumbling point in the US-China trade dispute that has significantly disrupted commerce between the world’s two largest economies, affecting farmers, liquor exporters and China’s key manufacturing industries.
Li on Tuesday set this year’s economic growth target at 6 to 6.5 percent. Such a growth rate, if achieved, would be among the world’s strongest.
Yet, it would be slightly less than last year’s 6.6 percent growth in China and would mark a new three-decade low.
China’s emergence as a competitor in smartphones, telecom equipment, solar power and other technologies has increased the range of products available to consumers and helped to drive down prices.
However, it has rattled Washington and other governments that worry Chinese competition is a threat to their industries and employment.
Such concerns underscore a standoff between the US and China over Huawei Technologies Co (華為), the world’s biggest maker of telecom infrastructure for new high-speed 5G networks.
Washington has been pushing hard to exclude the Chinese company from building the backbone of the future Internet.
News reports have said that Washington and Beijing might be close to an agreement to end the trade battle and avoid further tariff hikes, although no firm agreements have been announced on the core of the dispute: US pressure on Beijing to roll back its plans for the state-led creation of global competitors in robotics and other technology.
In June last year, the US levied import taxes of 25 percent on US$50 billion of Chinese imports. That was followed in September with 10 percent duties on an additional US$200 billion.
The US tariffs cover about half of what the US buys from China.
Washington, Europe and other trading partners have said that China’s policies violate its market-opening obligations and give an unfair advantage to domestic firms.
Some US officials worry that they might erode US industrial leadership.
MANAGING RISKS: Taiwan has secured LNG sufficient to cover 95 percent of electricity demand for next month, UBS said, describing the government’s approach as proactive UBS Group AG has raised its forecast for Taiwan’s economic growth this year to 8 percent, up from 6.9 percent previously, and said expansion could reach as high as 8.6 percent if external energy shocks are avoided. The upgrade reflects a stronger-than-expected first-quarter performance and sustained momentum in artificial intelligence (AI)-driven exports, which UBS said are providing a firm foundation for growth despite geopolitical and energy risks. Taiwan’s GDP expanded 13.69 percent year-on-year in the first quarter, the fastest growth since the second quarter of 1987, the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) reported on Thursday. On a seasonally
The Fair Trade Commission’s (FTC) ongoing review of Grab Holdings Ltd’s US$600 million acquisition of Foodpanda Taiwan’s operations, announced on March 23, has taken on fresh urgency as industry experts warn that the transaction could embed significant Chinese cybersecurity vulnerabilities into Taiwan’s digital infrastructure through Grab’s deep ties to autonomous-driving firm WeRide (文遠知行). Less than 16 months after the FTC blocked Uber Eats’ direct attempt to acquire Foodpanda Taiwan — citing potential combined market shares of 80 to 90 percent — the emergence of Grab as the buyer has prompted questions about whether the same competitive harm is simply being rerouted
The list of Asian stocks that benefit from business partnership with Nvidia Corp is getting longer, as the region further integrates into the artificial intelligence (AI) chip giant’s business ecosystem. Just in the past week, South Korea’s LG Electronics Inc, Taiwan’s Nanya Technology Corp (南亞科技), as well as China’s Huizhou Desay SV Automotive Co (德賽西威) and Pateo Connect Technology Shanghai Corp (博泰車聯) have become the latest to rally on news of tie-ups, supply-chain participation or product collaboration with the US chip designer. Asian suppliers account for about 90 percent of Nvidia’s production costs, up from about 65 percent last year, data compiled
POWER BUILDUP: Powered by Nvidia’s B200 Blackwell chips, the data center would support MediaTek’s computing power demand and business growth, the company said Smartphone chip designer MediaTek Inc (聯發科) yesterday launched a new artificial intelligence (AI) data center with a maximum capacity of 45 megawatts to meet its rising demand for computing power required to develop new advanced chips for AI applications. The company has completed the first-phase computing power buildup at the data center in Miaoli County’s Tongluo Township (銅鑼), providing 15 megawatts of capacity to support its research and development (R&D) capabilities, despite an industrywide shortage of key components, MediaTek said. Supply constraints have plagued a wide range of key components, including memory chips, solid-state drives, power supply units and central
RSS