To innovate, China needs more than standards
When China moved to impose a national standard for wireless communications two years ago, it swiftly provoked a high-level diplomatic fracas. Objecting that the plan would close the country’s market to Intel, the leading maker of wireless chips, the US threatened action in the World Trade Organisation.
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China backed down but it did not give up. Instead, it switched to campaigning to get its standard recognised in international forums, only to be rebuffed again. Beijing’s delegates stormed off, complaining that the rules were rigged against them, but with their determination to fight on apparently undimmed.
The incident has spawned warnings of an impending global standards war
