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China Says Foreign Firms Won't Be Forced To Turn Over Technology (vice.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the contrary-to-popular-belief dept.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Bloomberg: A top Communist Party official said Friday that China won't force foreign companies to turn over technology secrets to gain market access, signaling attention to a key sticking point with U.S. President Donald Trump as he prepared to leave Beijing. The statement by Chinese Vice Premier Wang Yang, the Communist Party's No. 4 official, was made in an article published in the People's Daily newspaper under his byline. While other Chinese officials have made similar pledges in the past about foreign technology, Wang's statement stands out for the seniority of the person making it and its timing. In his article, Wang also pledged to improve the foreign investment environment and treat all companies equally. China will also increase access to its services and manufacturing sectors, wrote Wang, who was last month promoted to the country's top-decision making body, the Politburo Standing Committee.

40 comments

  1. They'll just steal it like always instead by Rick+Schumann · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Kind of impressive that they had the nerve to try to demand it all outright like that, though, but they'll just keep reverse engineering everything and stealing it like always.

    1. Re: They'll just steal it like always instead by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yup lawless society when dealing with non Chinese people and companies. Worst time of my life dealing with the low life's over there in a business level liers and cheats.

    2. Re:They'll just steal it like always instead by Zontar+The+Mindless · · Score: 3, Insightful

      What's wrong with reverse engineering?

      Let me guess, it's not about that at all, is it?

      --
      Il n'y a pas de Planet B.
    3. Re:They'll just steal it like always instead by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Reverse engineering has been at the core of every significant open source project ever created.

    4. Re: They'll just steal it like always instead by Applehu+Akbar · · Score: 1

      Chinee penis soooooo small they snort ground up rhino horn because that will magically make their cocks bigger.

      Not a problem. While we're scared-shitless busy labeling all our food No GMO, China ill be applying the same tech to give every man a pepperoni. Then watch them invade North Korea to get the women they now find themselves so short of.

    5. Re:They'll just steal it like always instead by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Why spend millions of dollars engineering something new when that money could be better spent on profits? Better to let tards do all the work and not pay them anything. After a while people give up trying to do anything new.

    6. Re:They'll just steal it like always instead by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      The hard push to transition into an IP-based economy was pretty stupid in retrospect, wasn't it?
      It works fine as long as you only deal with people who respect you and agrees to your terms.
      As soon as you run into someone who doesn't give a shit about your IP then you've got nothing.

      They have an economy based on physical items and work that can't be "stolen" by a simple ctrl-c + ctrl-v.
      If you want to compete with that you need an economy that isn't based on past merits.

    7. Re:They'll just steal it like always instead by Hal_Porter · · Score: 1

      It always strikes me as odd when Americans who like open source oppose IP. At least some of the difference in prosperity between the USA and say China comes from the fact that US companies own vast amounts of IP and the USA has rigged the international rules on IP to its benefit.

      Get rid of patents and copyright and the power won't move from Apple, Microsoft etc to open source projects, it will move to people who own factories in China.

      --
      echo -e 'global _start\n _start:\n mov eax, 2\n int 80h\n jmp _start' > a.asm; nasm a.asm -f elf; ld a.o -o a;
    8. Re:They'll just steal it like always instead by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yea, who would have bothered to put rounded corners on something if everyone was just allowed to copy it anyway.
      Maybe one day someone will be bothered to make icons that line up in nice rows and columns...

    9. Re:They'll just steal it like always instead by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      This isn't the 'clean room' reverse engineering that skirts IP laws. The Chinese currently do not respect IP laws.

      While the appropriate length of a patent can be debated, it is a reasonably popular idea that someone who invests time, money, and effort in developing something should be rewarded for it.

      Complex, expensive, long-term development projects will be greatly curtailed if there is no likelihood of recouping the development costs through product sales.

    10. Re:They'll just steal it like always instead by 0123456 · · Score: 0

      "The hard push to transition into an IP-based economy was pretty stupid in retrospect, wasn't it?"

      In retrospect? It was stupid at the time, as many of us pointed out.

      But MBAs didn't care, because they'd make their millions and move on before it became a problem.

    11. Re:They'll just steal it like always instead by drsquare · · Score: 1

      You call it stealing, they call it learning. Do you ever use paper?

    12. Re:They'll just steal it like always instead by Rick+Schumann · · Score: 1

      Implying that they were the only culture to 'invent' paper

      Do you even history?

  2. I will laugh and cry by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    They've already got enough of it and are now developing their own.

  3. Of course not... however: by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Troll

    No... of course foreign firms won't be forced to turn over technology.

    However, they will employ Chinese nationals in China and certain things will "walk out the door" of their own accord. That happens even with companies that have no presence in China t all.

    That's not to cast too harsh of light: countries simply act in their own best interests. It is expected and normal. But do not mistake it.

    http://money.cnn.com/2012/11/08/technology/security/counterfeit-tech/index.html

  4. Re:This is for real by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    ohnoes. yearses.

    wtf? looser

  5. a matter of character(s) by harvey+the+nerd · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Ji says its ok. Communist Party official has his fingers crossed and doesn't has that authority. Surely after 2000 yrs, there are chinese characters for "fingers crossed while lying" and "double crossed", for dealing with foreigners if not everybody generally.

    1. Re:a matter of character(s) by Zontar+The+Mindless · · Score: 1, Troll

      I've visited China many times over the last decade, and I've always been treated extremely well there.

      Since AFAIK I'm not especially important, I suspect it has something to do with my attitude. Perhaps you might try adjusting yours.

      As for the announcement referenced in the story, I'm completely unsurprised--that's a negotiating tactic that is in no wise exclusive to China or the Chinese.

      --
      Il n'y a pas de Planet B.
    2. Re:a matter of character(s) by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Either you

      a) spent 5 mins on a stopover at a Chinese airport
      b) are lying

      Chinese are nice people, but when it comes to money, politeness gives way to ruthlessness.

    3. Re:a matter of character(s) by rtb61 · · Score: 1

      Of course foreign companies will not be 'FORCED' to hand over the data, they will do it 'VOLUNTARILY' because say, another competitor has done so, adding value to their bid and so to compete, well, enough said. The whole China US thing was nothing but an empty charade, no matter how well XI maintains that inscrutable demeanour, the contempt of Trump as a nothing puppet of the US deep state and shadow government, totally exuded through (visibly leaning away from Trump many times).

      Seriously with the CIA/NSA not to mention the straight up shenanigans of US corporations, why would any government trust them, it is fucking stupid. Do you want to know what that announcement really is, oh here you stupid fucking moron, is the empty announcement you wanted that we will totally ignore but that you need because you are an idiot. That announcement was delivered as an inscrutable to many westerners insult and make no mistake ie placate the idiot as an idiot and deservedly so.

      --
      Chaos - everything, everywhere, everywhen
  6. Wang Yang by rmdingler · · Score: 4, Interesting
    Whether or not you believe the Chinese, this apparent caving to a key tenet in trade negotiations is a win for the American President, its release timed just as he was scheduled to leave the country.

    Interestingly, this places Wang Yang in the unenviable position of meteoric rise or cataclysmic fall within the Communist Party.

    More interestingly, does this mean the Chinese were won over by Trump, or do they think this concession is a way to play him?

    --
    Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.

    Ernest Hemingway

    1. Re:Wang Yang by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It does not mean anything. The statement is just a political gesture towards the guest, void of any real content or commitment.
      Their are plenty of ways to achieve technology transfers while still being able to maintain that it was neither forced, nor for the sake of the technology transfer itself.

    2. Re:Wang Yang by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      > does this mean the Chinese were won over by Trump, or do they think this concession is a way to play him?

      the either or choice you see there is
      something that reflects on you, on us, on culture and mindset.

      it is not the chinese way. they win/won by being in the game.
      they play 'endless', we play 'win/loose'.
      guess which side is easier to 'play'.

  7. a horse long bolted by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Having spent the past 20 years plundering "Western" technology and knowledge, they are far ahead enough in their own labs to leave the "West" in the dust. If anything new comes up of strategic significance, they'll steal it (business as usual). At this point the silly "West" have no more manufacturing of their own* and the politburo can jack the prices (already noticeable in the stores). Now the eco-parasite can suck all the hosts dry at will. "Tank yu missur Crinton, 1995."
    * - even shoes and simple things, all MiC, not any country locally. Spades, hoses, roofing, you name it.

    1. Re:a horse long bolted by Applehu+Akbar · · Score: 1

      China doesn't have to plunder anything. They are building the technologies that to a large extent we are no longer bothering to develop.

    2. Re:a horse long bolted by thinkwaitfast · · Score: 1

      You've got to be pretty stupid to develop something when you can more easily take (steal) it.

    3. Re:a horse long bolted by Cyberax · · Score: 1

      Why would you steal something that has no value for you? For example, the US is rapidly losing expertise required to build nuclear reactors while China is gaining it. The same for high-speed rail.
      The US still has several tricks up its sleeves: biotech and pharma research, R&D for computer software and hardware, airspace and so on. But at this point China probably is not worried that these areas give the US a crippling advantage over China.

    4. Re:a horse long bolted by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      We can just buy high-speed rail, e.g. from the French. But you can't just buy the ability to create technology on your own in a timely fashion. That takes a cultural shift. The USA was long the nation that people defected to when they defected from somewhere, which brought us many fine engineers who helped us remain technologically advanced. This tendency must be decreased of late due to our political condition, but the people who aren't coming here sure as hell aren't going to China.

      If China wants to be creative, China is going to have to permit more creativity.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    5. Re: a horse long bolted by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      The US treats scientists, engineers, and tech people very poorly. And by 'US' I mean US corporations and fatcats and by 'scientists, engineers, and tech people' I mean especially native born US citizens. The result is fewer people interested and those same corps screaming about an alleged skills shortage that they caused. (Also, what, you think all the press all at once blathering how we need more women in tech was coincidence? It's just a manufactured attempt to dilute salaries now that the H1B river is starting to recede from flood stage.)

      This whole international trade globalist fiasco is a deliberately engineered race to the bottom which besides adversely affecting citizens economically will leave the US in a very bad strategic position overall. Trump is right to do what he can to stop it.

    6. Re:a horse long bolted by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The prices are going up because the wages are going up. China has by far the biggest middle class in the world and they are constantly getting more prosperous/wealthy. How about your middle class...

    7. Re: a horse long bolted by John.Banister · · Score: 1

      I have to wonder how successful he'll be when he seems to think that this "international trade globalist fiasco" was not deliberately engineered by US corporations and fatcats, but rather by foreign corporations and fatcats pulling the wool over the eyes of domestic SJWs. By directing his followers to look for an external origin, he often seems to be attempting an ideal job of keeping people from looking while the representatives of those same corporations and fatcats remove any legal hindrance to the speed of the race to the bottom.

    8. Re:a horse long bolted by John.Banister · · Score: 1

      I've heard the fine engineers like Singapore pretty well.

  8. Trump finally has a friend by aberglas · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    It is cold in Washington. The left hate him. The mainstream republicans despise his buffonery. The Tea party hates him for not killing Obama-everything and bringing back slavery.

    He dare not show his face in Britain, let alone Western Europe. He is in trouble over Russia and cannot go there.

    But those wonderful Chinese finally treat him with the respect he most certainly deserves. They understand just how important a man Trump is. They put on a fine banquet, even applaud his grand daughter. And because they respect him, they have given him the oh so important concession that only a man of Trump's standing could achieve.

    As to North Korea, Chinese human rights, Document nine, the South China Sea, .... technical details.

    1. Re:Trump finally has a friend by rmdingler · · Score: 1

      Ah.

      So, you're going with "play."

      --
      Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.

      Ernest Hemingway

  9. Foreign investment by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    BB explained the loosening of Financial rules to allow foreign financial firms to own > 50% due to PRC desire for foreign investment. Foreign banks will unlikely be a threat to the mega state sponsored banks and PRC wants capital inflows.

    IP situation similar. PRC knows they can not continue the over reach and attract investment. PRC prefers investment now vs a practice that was likely to result in backlash on broader trade, so sensible to relax now.

    PRC also developing their own IP so have something to protect and counter trade. So positive progress but long over due and skeptical there will be any large in roads now in areas China wants to dominate rather some modest concessions in non strategic areas.

  10. No force needed by MoarSauce123 · · Score: 1

    The Chinese already have all that technology obtained by other means.

  11. [NT] Yeah, yeah. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Yeah, Yeah.