This is huge – a total game changer. Trump just got a huge concession from China, one that no one else could get and not for lack of trying.
It only took 30 years to get this done and it took a president like Trump to back up his talk with action in order for China to move.
Many have come before and many have threatened and complained and talked tough to the Chinese. But they were easily bought off or swayed by shady data (paid for by people desperate to keep the gravy train with China flowing) and nothing ever happened.
Or maybe it was the incompetence of our past leaders? We don’t know why they all rolled over on China and let them steal our jobs and worse, our intellectual secrets, our cutting-edge technologies and ideas that give us a huge advantage over the rest of the world.
It is why many pointed out that it was dumb for our companies to move production to China but it was damn treasonous to move research and development efforts over there because of this rampant IP theft.
Remember what China said to Boeing? Build your plants here or we won’t buy your planes. They did this with cars and electronics – basically stealing our competitive advantage out from under us.
It has to end and Trump made it a priority and it looks like China is finally going to step in and do something.
From Bloomberg:China announced an array of punishments that could restrict companies’ access to borrowing and state-funding support over intellectual-property theft, a key sticking point in its trade conflict with the U.S.
News of the measures came just days after President Xi Jinping promised to resolve the U.S.’s “reasonable concerns” about IP practices in a statement after meeting President Donald Trump at the Group of 20 summit on Saturday in Argentina. The White House said the sides agreed to hold off on tariff action for at least 90 days as they negotiate to resolve specific U.S. complaints.
China set out a total of 38 different punishments to be applied to IP violations, starting this month. The document, dated Nov. 21, was released Tuesday by the National Development and Reform Commission and signed by various government bodies, including the central bank and supreme court.
“I think it’s potentially significant if they are implemented and result in a reduction in IP theft,” Scott Kennedy, a China expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.
China says violators would be banned from issuing bonds or other financing tools, and participating in government procurement. They would also be restricted from accessing government financial support, foreign trade, registering companies, auctioning land or trading properties.
In addition, violators will be recorded on a list, and financial institutions will refer to that when lending or granting access to foreign exchange. Names will be posted on a government website.
“This is an unprecedented regulation on IP violation in terms of the scope of the ministries and severity of the punishment,” said Xu Xinming, a researcher at the Center for Intellectual Property Studies at China University of Political Science and Law. The newly announced punishments are “a security net of IP protection” targeting repeat offenders and other individuals who aren’t in compliance with the law, he said.
Chinese law enforcers have been hampered by insufficient means of punishment in the past, Xu said, but the new regulations could render IP violators “unable to move even a single step.”
IMO this is pretty significant. The big problem with Chinese intellectual property protection isn't lack of appropriate rules, it's weak enforcement: https://t.co/EXb0VN38kR
— David Fickling (@davidfickling) December 5, 2018
