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The United States warned China Thursday that it risked
"technological isolation" for developing unique technical
standards of its own that also are shutting out foreign competition.
Despite widely accepted
international standards, China developed standards mandated by
government regulations amid a lack of transparency and due process,
said Under Secretary of Commerce Christopher Padilla.
"These requirements
certainly provide Chinese domestic companies an unfair advantage,
but they also carry great risks for China," he told a
conference in Washington on standards and innovation in China.
In the 1980s, he said, Japan
thought its market was large enough to justify unique technology
standards that would eventually move the world in its direction, to
the benefit of its companies.
"It was wrong," he
said.
"Now China runs the same
risk of turning itself into a lonely island of technological
isolation, cut off from the world by government-mandated,
China-unique standards that are out of line with where the
market-driven global economy is heading."
Many American companies have
expressed concern about security standards for information
technology products that made it costly for them to enter the
Chinese market, said Padilla, who is policy chief for international
commerce.
"We see this happening in
other areas as well, including telecommunications, electronics,
digital media, and software," he said.
Citing as an example, he said it
appeared that Beijing favored a China-specific third-generation (3G)
mobile phone standard over internationally recognized standards.
"While China's approach may
appear to provide a competitive advantage in the short term, it in
fact inhibits collaboration, limits product development, reduces
consumer choice, and hinders China's competitiveness and
growth," he said.
--AFP
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