US fears China may lose appetite for reform
China risks drifting towards economic nationalism and interventionism amid calls for restrictions on foreign investment and the use of technology standards to promote local innovation, a senior US trade official said yesterday.
Franklin Lavin, undersecretary for international trade at the US Department of Commerce, highlighted the "good news" of rapidly expanding US exports to China, but struck a cautionary note on Beijing's approach to investment and standards.
"There is also . . . potential for policy drift, which we would not view as helpful, a policy drift towards the direction of economic nationalism and interventionism," Mr Lavin said.
His remarks reflected concern that China's economic growth and the country's looming completion of market-opening measures required under the terms of its 2001 accession to the World Trade Organisation could lessen Beijing's appetite for reform.
"Thought should be given to how we should keep the reform process energised," Mr Lavin said.
Chinese liberal economists have also expressed concern about the threat to reforms posed by a backlash against the economic clout of foreign and private investors and businesses in China. Some international trade partners are worried about Beijing's efforts to promote domestic innovation by imposing technology standards designed to give local companies an edge over international rivals.
Mr Lavin cited China's plans for the introduction of "third-generation" mobile telephone services as an area of concern.
China's 3G plans remain unclear, but regulators are believed to want to force at least one of the big four state-controlled operators to adopt the government-backed TD-SCDMA standard instead of rival technologies favoured by Europe and the US.
Mr Lavin said operators and customers should be left to choose the technology they preferred and that China could lose its chance of leadership if it chose a standard used by no other country.
"State intervention is likely to be perceived as unfair by those who lose out and can frequently lead one away from the best decision when it comes to setting a technology standard," he said. "If there is state intervention and a picking of winners and losers, then naturally the people who aren't picked are going to feel a grievance."
Mr Lavin struck a relatively upbeat note on intellectual property rights in China, saying Beijing had made progress in recent years. However, he noted Washington might move to file a complaint against Beijing at the WTO over IPR issues.
美国告诫中国不要干预经济
美国一位高级贸易官员昨天表示，随着中国国内出现要求限制外国投资的呼声，以及利用技术标准促进本土创新的做法，中国有陷入经济民族主义和干涉主义的危险。
美国商务部负责国际贸易的副部长雷文凯(Franklin Lavin)重点强调了美国对华出口迅速增长这一“好消息”，同时也针对北京处理投资和技术标准的做法发出了告诫。“也存在……政策变化的可能性，即政策朝着经济民族主义和干涉主义的方向变化，我们认为这没有益处，”他表示。
雷文凯的评论反映了人们的担心，即随着中国经济的持续增长，再加上国家即将完成2001年加入世界贸易组织(WTO)的条件所规定的市场开放措施，北京进行改革的意愿可能降低。“应考虑怎样才能使改革进程充满活力，”他说。
近几个月来，外资、私人投资者和企业对中国经济的影响力日益上升，面对这种情况，中国国内的民族主义和保守派出现了对抗情绪，这种情绪对市场开放改革构成了威胁，中国的自由主义经济学家对此也表示担忧。国际上的一些贸易伙伴国也对北京的某些措施感到忧虑，这些措施通过实施各种技术标准，旨在给予本国企业比国际对手更多的优势，以此促进国内创新。
雷文凯特别提到了中国推出“第三代”(3G)移动电话服务的计划，称这是令人担忧一个领域。
中国的3G计划尚不明朗，但外界普遍认为，中国监管当局打算强制要求四大国家控股电信运营商中的至少一家采用中国政府力推的TD-SCDMA标准，而不是欧洲和美国支持的WCDMA和CDMA2000技术。雷文凯表示，政府应让运营商和用户自主选择他们更加中意的技术，同时如果中国选择一个其它国家都不采用的标准，那么中国可能将丧失占据3G市场领导地位的机会。
“政府干预很可能令那些出局的人感到不公平，同时在设定技术标准时，也常常会使人错过最佳决策，”他说道。“如果政府进行干预、人为地选出获胜者，那么未被选中的人很自然会感到不公平。”
雷文凯对中国的知识产权给予了相对积极的评价，称中国政府近年来取得了进展。长期以来，知识产权是中美摩擦的根源之一。
但他指出，即使没有美国公司的公开支持，美国政府也可能采取行动，就中国的知识产权问题向世贸组织提出申诉。
美国官员称，向世贸组织提出申诉可能是推动中国进行更有力知识产权保护的一种有效方式，但由于担心可能会触怒中国政府，许多企业似乎不愿公开支持美国政府。
