WASHINGTON-The top U.S. business lobbying group told the Bush administration China needs to remove barriers to telecommunications trade and to better protect intellectual property rights of American companies.
In its fourth annual report on China’s implementation of World Trade Organization rules, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce said it continues to be concerned about China’s use of discriminatory standards to block foreign competition in wireless and other sectors. The report was submitted to the office of the U.S. trade representative.
In addition, the Chamber of Commerce said excessive capitalization requirements remain a barrier to market entry for U.S. and other foreign telecom investors.
The business lobbying group was especially forceful in criticizing China on IPR enforcement oversight.
“China’s IPR enforcement did not markedly improve for our companies in 2005,” said Myron Brilliant, Chamber vice president for East Asia. “While we recognize increasing efforts and attention by China’s central government to address this problem, current measures have failed to significantly reduce epidemic levels of piracy and counterfeiting. China should also take immediate steps to increase imports of legitimate products that are now distributed and used illegally.”
China, with 1.3 billion people (many of whom lack any telephone service), is already the world’s largest cell-phone market. U.S. wireless vendors have fared well in recent years, snagging billions of dollars in contracts. However, U.S. government and industry officials have expressed concern over whether China will embrace a homegrown technical standard for third-generation mobile-phone networks.
