Old traditional neighbourhoods are flanked by modern skyscrapers in Chinese cities. China's rapid growth has boosted its position among the world's major economies. Photo by Marie-Claire Holmes, 2005.
China needs to improve its market access and reduce piracy of foreign goods and intellectual property, Peter Mandelson, European Union Trade Commissioner said Thursday. Addressing students at Renmin University in Beijing, Mandelson warned that China faces a looming backlash in Europe unless it acts to "apply rather than cirumvent the rules."
"The more the Chinese door swings open and the world sees a responsible China playing by the rules, the more our citizens will be able to understand our shared interest in deepening our relationship," Mandelson told the students. The trade commissioner was in Beiijing for a meeting with his Chinese counterpart Bo Xilai.
Pirated goods for sale in China, as well as various trade issues have been the source of repeated disagreements with European and American businesses. Recently both Brussels and Washington have restricted import quotas after accusing China of flooding their markets with clothing and shoes. China claims it is able to produce goods cheaply and should not be stymied by Western trade protections.
The large volume of counterfeit goods available in China - including movies, fake designer-brand clothes and medicines - seemingly has been unaffected by government clamp-downs. Meanwhile, this week the US government threatened to bring China's "abuse of intellectual property rights" before the World Trade Organisation.
Historically China has an atrocious record of human rights abuses. Supposedly the government abandoned the practice of discouraging birth of girls, when it became difficult to find enough Chinese women for men to marry! China also has a bad record vis a vis the environment and is one of the world's worst polluters. But while all these issues are being reviewed, China is becoming a major economic power, leaving its competition in the dust. China's economy is expected to surpass the US economy by 2020! China's economic might is already causing severe distress for some European countries. If the US decided not to talk to every country with whose policies we disagreed, nothing would ever be accomplished. Dialogue is the only way forward for positive change and development in all aspects of international relations.
Posted by: Paris Parfait | 08 June 2006 at 19:20
i agree but it is difficult for the chinese government, which itself is full of corruption on every level, to crack down and keep tabs on over a billion people. its increasingly capitalist market is still young and part of the problem lies in the ethics and morality because it is well known that billions of dollars are "wasted" as they fall into the hands of officals who'd rather keep it for themselves than allocate resources. i think that china wants very much to be valued and respected on the international market but the fact remains that yes, they can produce vast amounts of goods for cheap because their labor is cheap. they've got more people than jobs and essentially everyone is just trying to make a living regardless of methods. i'm not saying i have a solution but the problem of the chinese market is much more internal and multi-dimensional. so much stuff has to be fixed for the problems of piracy to decrease...
ah, anyway, i've rambled. sorry.
Posted by: paradise | 08 June 2006 at 19:12
For me, the whole killing baby girls by the thousands, and tossing them in dumpsters thing, seems to bother me a little bit more than the copy rights of movies. I don't know. I say, lets try to get that fixed if they want to play with the modern world. ;) That would be nice.
:)
Posted by: amber | 08 June 2006 at 17:16