Chinese and U. S. envoys sparred at the World Trade Organization on Monday over U. S. President Donald Trump’s claims that China steals American ideas, the subject of two lawsuits and a White House plan to slap huge punitive tariffs on Chinese goods.
GENEVA (Reuters) – Chinese and U. S. envoys sparred at the World Trade Organization on Monday over U. S. President Donald Trump’s claims that China steals American ideas, the subject of two lawsuits and a White House plan to slap huge punitive tariffs on Chinese goods.
U. S. Ambassador Dennis Shea said “forced technology transfer” was often an unwritten rule for companies trying to access China’s burgeoning marketplace, especially if they were partnering with a state-owned or state-directed Chinese firm.
China’s licensing and administrative rules forced foreign firms to share technology if they wanted to do business, while government officials could exploit vague investment rules to impose technology transfer requirements, he said.
“This is not the rule of law. In fact, it is China’s laws themselves that enable this coercion,” Shea told the WTO’s dispute settlement body, according to a copy of his remarks provided to Reuters.
“Fundamentally, China has made the decision to engage in a systematic, state-directed, and non-market pursuit of other (WTO) members’ cutting-edge technology in service of China’s industrial policy.”
It was a lose-lose proposition for foreign investors, he said, and not just Americans.
