China denies forcing foreign firms to transfer technology

China recently denied US charges that it unfairly forces foreign firms to transfer technology as the price of admission to its huge market, saying its policies were in line with world trade rules. "Countries around the world have taken a lot of measures to encourage technology innovation," a commerce ministry official, who declined to be named, told AFP. "The Chinese policies are in line with relevant WTO rules." The comments were in response to a US Chamber of Commerce report this week that accused China of abusing the allure of its vast market to push foreign companies to transfer their latest technologies to Chinese competitors.

This was a "blueprint for technology theft on a scale the world has never seen before", it said. The chamber's report is the latest in a chorus of complaints by foreign businesses and governments over perceived unfair policies and market restrictions in the world's third-largest economy.

US Trade Representative Ron Kirk joined the fray on Wednesday, responding to the chamber's complaints by saying Washington planned to push Beijing on the issue.

"That is going to be one of the top items that we continue to engage China on," Kirk told reporters in Washington.

China committed at high-level Sino-US talks in May that its innovation policies would be non-discriminatory, protect foreign intellectual property rights (IPR), and ensure open markets and trade, according to Washington.

Beijing also pledged to leave the terms and conditions of technology transfer, production processes, and other proprietary information to individual enterprises, Kirk's deputy Demetrios Marantis said earlier this month. China launched its "indigenous innovation" campaign in 2006, officially to encourage the development of domestic technology and thereby reduce its reliance on foreign know-how. Courtesy AFP