On n'est pas forcé d'y croire, mais il semble qu'une certaine volonté existe au niveau du pouvoir central. Il ne peut pas faire grand chose, tant les mauvaises habitudes sont profondément ancrées, aussi bien au sein du parti que dans les pouvois régionaux et locaux. Il compte donc sur la répétition des annonces, la persusasion, la durée. En espérant aussi pouvoir faire un exemple de temps en temps.
By EDWARD WONG New York Times 1 mai 2013
Voila qui en dit long sur les coutumes locales.. J'avais personnellement vu, en 1991, des voitures volées à Hong Kong (conduite à droite) qui se retrouvaient dans le Nord de la Chine avec des plaques militaires et des généraux à bord. Et, en 1993, il y avait déjà eu une remise à plat des plaques mililtaires. Ce qui est aussi intéressant, c'est de constater que les militaires s'achètent réglementairement des Bentley, Porsche et autre Jaguar. Cà fait rêver les militaires français.
In their latest attempt at cracking down on corruption, Chinese leaders are taking aim at license plates, specifically those on military vehicles. The military is issuing new plates and generally excluding luxury cars from receiving them. As of Wednesday, all military vehicles were supposed to have the new plates.
The campaign has ignited significant interest because many Chinese complain about regular abuses of privilege by people driving cars with military plates - speeding through traffic, taking the emergency lane and running red lights, for instance.
Police officers generally do not stop cars with military plates. Drivers with the plates can also avoid paying road tolls and parking fees. Because of the privileges attached to them, military officers have been known to sell them or pass them on to friends and relatives. An entire industry has arisen devoted to the creation and sale of counterfeit military plates.
Cars that will not receive military plates unless they are officially purchased as military equipment include models made by Bentley, BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Jaguar, Porsche and Land Rover, Gen. Zhao Keshi, director of the army's General Logistics Department, said in an earlier Xinhua report.
Le Monde.fr avec AFP | 09.10.2012
[...] M. He, membre du Comité permanent du Bureau politique du Comité central du Parti communiste chinois (PCC), a cependant reconnu qu'assainir le système serait une tâche de longue haleine, en assurant que personne ne serait à l'abri d'éventuelles poursuites. "Les personnalités corrompues, quel que soit leur rang, seront poursuivies de façon implacable et ne pourront échapper à la sanction", a-t-il affirmé. Selon lui, sur 660 000 cadres sanctionnés par le Parti pour corruption en cinq ans, 24 000 ont été jugés pénalement.[...]
La corruption en Chine est un fléau de nature à entamer la légitimité du parti unique au pouvoir et les dirigeants ne cessent de promettre son éradication, en étant démentis dans les faits. Le président chinois, Hu Jintao, ou le premier ministre, Wen Jiabao, ont ainsi déclaré à de nombreuses reprises qu'il était vital pour le parti communiste d'éliminer la corruption de ses cadres.[...]
D'après des sources chinoises variées,début Août 2012
A Shenyang, de nombreux petits commerces ont baissé le rideau depuis le 13 juillet, suite à des rumeurs sur des contrôles de police particulièrement sévères contre la contrefaçon. Les autorités locales ont tenté de calmer la population en minimisant les contrôles
Associated Press 04:47 AM Dec 31, 2011
BEIJING - Prosecutors said yesterday that they had indicted a former fugitive at the centre of China's biggest corruption scandal and that he has confessed to bribery and smuggling.
The move brings authorities a step closer to a conclusion in one of China's most lurid, long-running corruption cases in which the chief suspect fled to Canada in 1999 and fought extradition for more than a decade.
China's state broadcaster CCTV reported that Lai Changxing, who was indicted in Xiamen, and other key members of the syndicated have confessed to masterminding a network that smuggled everything from cigarettes to cars and oil between 1996 and 1999.
Chinese media have said Lai's alleged smuggling operation was valued at US$10 billion (S$13 billion).
Before fleeing to Canada, Lai lived a life of luxury in China complete with a bulletproof Mercedes Benz. He is alleged to have run a mansion in which he plied officials with liquor and prostitutes.
In Canada, Lai argued that he could face the death penalty and would not get a fair trial in his home country if he was deported, but a federal court in Vancouver ruled in July Lai should not be considered a refugee and upheld his deportation.
In 2001, China promised Canada that Lai would not get the death penalty if he was returned.
Commentaire : Cettte affaire, brièvement décrite ici, est révélatrice de beaucoup de choses. D'abord la possibilité de commettre des escroqueries à très grande échelle -10 milliards de dollars, 1% du PIB chinois de l'époque, détournés en trois ans-, avec des réseaux de complicité dans toute l'administration locale, et sans doute à des niveaux très élevés. Ensuite, la volonté du gouvernement central de reprendre la main sur ces directions locales corrompues. Enfin, ce qui est très grave pour une démocratie, la lâcheté des dirigeants canadiens qui ont cédé au chantage de Pékin et fait semblant de croire aux promesses qui auraient été faites.
By Jamil Anderlini , FT.com 2011-11-25T00:59:27Z CNN.com
(Financial Times) -- The Chinese government has launched a crackdown on hundreds of unregulated electronic equity and futures exchanges that have sprung up in recent years to trade everything from fine art and commodities to insurance products.
The country's State Council, or cabinet, published a notice on Thursday announcing a campaign to "clean up and consolidate" the many exchanges that have been approved by local governments hoping to foster financial markets in their jurisdictions. [...]
Although there is no official estimate for the number of unregulated exchanges or the volume of trading conducted through them, Chinese analysts say there are well over 300 of them today, up from just a handful five years ago.[...]
In the early 1990s, Beijing launched a crackdown on hundreds of equity and commodity futures exchanges that mushroomed across the country and eventually consolidated them into the handful of large, regulated exchanges that exist today.
Encore une fois, on constate que le gouvernement central "découvre" qu'il existe des choses totalement illégales, mais qui prospèrent sans se cacher.
Eric Meyer (www.lepetitjournal.com/shanghai.html) mardi 22 novembre 2011
Le 6 novembre dernier, le pouvoir chinois fêtait le succès de sa campagne « Dégainer le sabre » : dans 182 métropoles, pelleteuses et rouleaux-compresseurs écrasaient des monticules de cigarettes, alcools et médicaments frelatés, faux T-shirts. 25 millions de faux produits anéantis, fruit d'un an de saisies
L'image est forte et calculée, instrument de propagande, annonçant une tolérance zéro, à onze mois du XVIIIème Congrès. Mais ici aussi, on voit passer le spectre de la récession. [...] l'acheteur de copies ne peut se payer du Lanvin ou du Vuitton. Il est surtout source d'inflation, c'est pour cela que l'Etat le traque. Justement, le 9 novembre, il a ouvert un Bureau de répression du piratage intellectuel pour intensifier les contrôles dans 7 domaines industriels, et la coopération interrégionale.
La reprise en main touche aussi la finance. Le 9 novembre dernier, un promoteur immobilier de Lishui (Zhejiang) a été condamné à mort pour délit de banque grise, après avoir drainé, de 2003 à 2008, quelque 5,5 milliards de ¥ d'épargne, avec des taux d'intérêts allant jusqu'à 120% par mois. [...].
By Associated Press, 4/09/2011
BEIJING - China says it seized about 13 million illegal video, music and print products over the past year in a campaign to tackle fakes and copyright theft.
The official Xinhua News Agency reported Sunday that 663 shops producing pirated products, including movies, music CDs, software and books, were shut down from late last year to June.[...]
Trade groups say illegal Chinese copying of music, designer clothing and other goods costs legitimate producers billions of dollars a year in lost sales.
JURIST Eryn Correa at 10:36 AM ET
[JURIST] A former Chinese corruption official was executed on Thursday for accepting more than 4.7 million USD in bribes. Zeng Jinchun, a chief inspector for the ruling Communist Party of China (CPC) [official website] in the central province of Hunan, accepted bribes in return for mining contracts and job promotions over a decade, ending in 2006. In addition to his conviction on charges of bribery, Zeng was also found guilty of not being able to account for some of his assets. Zeng was sentenced to death [Xinhua report] by the Intermediate People's Court of Changsha City in 2008 and he was executed by firing squad after an appeals court rejected his appeal and the Supreme People's Court (SPC) [official website] approved the execution. Zeng's execution came one day after Beijing officials pledged to crack down on corruption [JURIST report] in the country.
This execution is a continuation of the Chinese government's on-going battle against what is perceived to be pervasive corruption [JURIST news archive] in official channels. In September, a member of the National People's Congress [official website] announced that the government never considered removing the death penalty [JURIST report] as a punishment for corruption during the consideration of an amendment to the criminal code. In July, the Chinese government executed a top judicial official [JURIST report] after a corruption probe in the southwestern city of Chongquing revealed he had taken nearly 2 million USD in bribes and had been protecting a number of organized crime gangs. In March, the Hebei Province People's High Court upheld a life sentence for former vice president of the SPC, Huang Songyou, who had been convicted [JURIST reports] of bribery and embezzlement. Earlier that month, the SPC president called for increased efforts to fight corruption [JURIST report] in the country's court system. In January, the SPC announced new anti-corruption rules [JURIST report] in an effort to increase public confidence in the rule of law.
AFP 17/05/2010
Ex-plus grosse fortune de Chine, le fondateur de la chaîne de
distribution de matériel électrique Gome a été condamné mardi à 14 ans
de prison pour corruption, marquant un abrupt coup d'arrêt à
l'ascension de ce self-made-man qui incarnait la réussite à la chinoise.
Huang Guangyu, quadragénaire, parti de rien, a été condamné pour
"pots-de-vin, délit d'initié et pratiques d'affaires illégales", a
annoncé l'agence Chine Nouvelle.
[...]
Les ramifications de l'affaire semblent notamment avoir touché un
certain nombre de personnalités du monde politique. La presse a ainsi
évoqué l'implication de l'ancien maire de Shenzhen, Xu Zongheng, limogé
en juin, et d'un ministre adjoint de la Sécurité publique.
Mais "est-ce qu'une entreprise privée peut grandir et briser le plafond
de verre sans collusion avec des officiels? Cela peut être très dur",
commente Yan Tan.
Le Parisien 25/08/2010
Quelque 450 personnes ont été arrêtées mercredi à Taïwan et en Chine au cours de la plus grande opération commune antifraude jamais lancée par les deux parties, a annoncé la police taïwanaise.
Plus de 2.700 policiers chinois et près de 550 taïwanais ont pris part à des raids coordonnés contre des réseaux de fraudeurs sur les deux rives du détroit de Taïwan, selon le bureau d'enquêtes criminelles de Taipei.
La police de Taïwan a arrêté 121 suspects et confisqué plus de 10 millions de dollars de Taïwan (312.500 dollars américains) et 329 autres suspects ont été appréhendés par les autorités chinoises, selon le bureau.[...]
Les suspects sont accusés de diverses fraudes, notamment des ventes aux enchères par téléphone ou sur internet: les victimes avaient payé pour des biens qu'ils n'ont jamais reçus.
Les suspects se sont aussi présentés comme des procureurs, des juges ou des policiers pour tenter apparemment d'obtenir que les victimes révèlent des informations sur leurs comptes bancaires.
Nouvel Obs.com, 10/2/2010
Localisé dans le centre du pays, le "Black Hawk Safety Net" était un site d'entraînement pour les hackers qui revendait notamment des outils de piratage clés en main.
[...] Trois responsables du "Black Hawk Safety Net" ont été interpelés par la police chinoise dans la province du Hubei, une somme de 250 000 dollars confisquée ainsi que neuf serveurs et cinq ordinateurs. Créé en 2005, ce centre d'entraînement travaillait au grand jour ; il donnait des cours en ligne et vendait des logiciels de piratage prêts à l'emploi. Il comptait 12 000 abonnés qui payaient une cotisation et 170 000 membres gratuits.
Commentaire : on reste confondu devant la naïveté des lecteurs de telles nouvelles. Au vu des chiffres, il ne s'agissait pas de petites complicités locales, mais d'une coopération entre autorités locales et enseignants en piratage.
28.01.2010 Courrier International, d'après Liaowang Xinwen Zhoukan
D'ici six mois, plusieurs milliers de bureaux de représentation des villes et provinces seront fermés dans la capitale chinoise, révèle le magazine Liaowang Xinwen Zhoukan. En juillet 2005, l'hebdomadaire officiel avait publié un reportage montrant que ces bureaux favorisaient la corruption. Cet article avait eu un fort retentissement et avait attiré l'attention du pouvoir central.
L'enquête menée par la Commission centrale de contrôle de la discipline du Comité central du Parti communiste à la suite de la publication de ce texte a abouti à cette décision. Seuls les bureaux de représentation des 22 provinces, des 5 régions autonomes, des 4 municipalités de rang provincial et des zones administratives et économiques spéciales seront maintenus. Selon les statistiques officielles, il y a actuellement 52 bureaux de représentation de rang provincial à Pékin, 520 de rang municipal et plus de 5 000 de rang préfectoral. En y ajoutant les officines de liaison technique des ministères et des zones de développement, des associations, des universités et des entreprises, on atteint plus de 10 000 bureaux de représentation.
Olivier Chicheportiche, publié le 24 août 2009 sur ZDNet.fr
Juridique - Les autorités du pays serrent la vis, les condamnations pour contrefaçon sont de plus en plus sévères, pour le plus grand bonheur de la Business Software Alliance.
Véritable sport national en Chine, la contrefaçon de logiciels semble aujourd'hui être prise au sérieux par les autorités du pays. Confronté à la pression des éditeurs de logiciels, des lobby les représentant et des organisations internationales, Pékin a décidé de serrer la vis. Un certain Hong Lei a ainsi été condamné à 3 ans et demi de prison et à 100 000 euros d'amende par le tribunal de Suzhou, dans l'est du pays, pour avoir mis en ligne une version pirate de Windows XP baptisé 'Tomato Garden'. Les juges lui reprochent surtout d'avoir engrangé d'importants revenus publicitaires générés sur le site (tomatolei.com) où cette version était disponible.
By CHRISTOPHER BODEEN (AP) 07/08/2009
BEIJING Leaders of China's elite state industries are renowned for their power, influence, and in several recent cases corruption. Increasingly, they are paying the price.
On Friday, the former head of the company that runs airports in Beijing and more than 30 other Chinese cities was put to death after the People's Supreme Court upheld his sentence in a $16 million bribery and embezzlement case. Li Peiying's execution came two days after word emerged that the head of China's nuclear power program was under investigation for alleged corruption. Just last month, the former chairman of China's second-biggest oil company, Sinopec, was also convicted of taking $29 million in bribes and given a suspended death sentence.
Cete annonce pourrait passer pour celle d'un changement de politique. En fait, tous ceux qui suivent ce qui se passe réellement en Chine, au delà des annonces, savent très bien que le problème des armes en circulation est très difficile à gérer. Parce que tout le monde en possède. Un gouvernement issu d'un soulèvement populaire n'est jamais très légitime quand il essaie de récupérer tous les fusils qu'il a si généreusement distribués quand il se battait pour prendre le pouvoir.
Il suffit d'y croire. Note du webmaster
The Associated Press Tuesday, March 24, 2009
BEIJING: China has launched a crackdown on gun crimes and illegal firearms, the Ministry of Public Security said Tuesday, days after a soldier was fatally shot and his assault rifle was stolen. As part of the campaign, authorities will seize illegal weapons and apprehend those illegally making firearms, the ministry said on its Web site.
Il suffit d'y croire. Note du webmaster
PUBLIÉ LE 21/04/2008 À 10:35 | © 2009 XINHUA / CHINE INFORMATIONS
Les autorités chinoises ont fait détruire dimanche 47,18 millions de publications illégales et pornographiques dans le cadre d'une campagne visant à renforcer la protection des droits de propriété intellectuelle (DPI).
La campagne, lancée par le Bureau d'Etat contre le piratage et la pornographie, s'est déroulée dans 31 provinces, régions autonomes et municipalités du pays, avec un nombre sans précédent de publications illégales détruites en un seul jour. La Chine attache une grande importance à la protection des DPI, faisant de cette dernière une stratégie nationale pour édifier un pays novateur, a indiqué Liu Binjie, directeur de l'Administration d'Etat des droits d'auteur. Ces 20 dernières années, la Chine a fait fermer 238 chaînes de production de disques piratés, réglé plus de 400 000 affaires concernant la violation des droits de propriété intellectuelle et confisqué 1,3 milliard de publications illégales, selon des statistiques officielles. Rien qu'en 2007, 2 967 personnes ont été arrêtées pour violation de DPI, alors que les départements de la sécurité publique ont enquêté sur 2 283 affaires de violation de DPI portant sur 1,49 milliard de yuans (environ 213 millions de dollars).
©AFP / 10 juillet 2007 06h32
PEKIN - L'ancien directeur de l'Administration d'Etat de l'alimentation et des médicaments en Chine, Zheng Xiaoyu, qui avait rang de ministre, a été exécuté mardi pour corruption, a annoncé l'agence Chine Nouvelle.
Zheng, 62 ans (Bien: 62 ans), condamné fin mai, a été exécuté après le rejet par la Cour suprême de son appel, a précisé l'agence.
Il avait été reconnu coupable d'avoir touché 6,4 millions de yuans (620.000 euros) de pots-de-vin d'entreprises pharmaceutiques.
A l'approche de son congrès à l'automne et des JO l'an prochain, le Parti communiste chinois place la lutte anti-corruption haut dans l'agenda politique.
www.chinaview.cn 2007-07-03 23:09:48
Cet article est très caractéristique de la manière dont le pouvoir chinois réagit chaque fois qu'il est pris "la main dans le sac", en flagrant délit de complicité de tricherie. On annonce une nouvelle loi ( il n'y avait donc rien auparavant), un comportement responsable (il n'y avait donc rien avant), des contrôles (il n'y avait donc rien avant), la fin des errements; En attendant, les profiteurs occidentaux, grande distribution en particulier, peuvent continuer à être des complices objectifs.
BEIJING, July 3 (Xinhua) -- China on Tuesday defended its recent export safety problems, saying it had taken a responsible attitude and made earnest efforts to ensure the quality and safety of Chinese exports.
"China attaches great importance to the quality and safety of Chinese exports," said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang at a regular news briefing.
Qin attributed the export problems to "misunderstanding", illegal producers and differences in the inspection systems and policies of China and other countries.
Qin also urged the media not to exaggerate the problems. "We understand the concerns of consumers abroad about the food and medicine safety. Meanwhile we hope the media can cover the issue in an objective and rational manner," he said.
DOW JONES NEWSWIRESMay 28, 2007 9:59 p.m.BEIJING (AP)
--China is preparing to put in place its first recall system targeting unsafe food products, state media said Tuesday, amid growing international alarm over the quality of Chinese exports.
By John Blau, IDG News Service 15 may 2007
Software piracy in China remains a major issue, costing billions of dollars in lost revenue, according to a survey paid for by large vendors, including Apple and Microsoft. That was one of several findings of a report published Tuesday by the Business Software Alliance (BSA) in collaboration with IDC. [...] China's piracy rate dipped four percentage points for the second consecutive year and a total of 10 percentage points in the last three years - from 92 percent in 2003 to 82 percent 2006. Revenue lost through piracy over the three-year period is estimated at $864 million.
DOW JONES NEWSWIRES April 15, 2007 12:57 a.m.
BEIJING (AP)--Chinese authorities destroyed 42 million pieces of pirated digital videodiscs, compact discs, computer software and illegal publications in the government's latest campaign to curtail rampant theft of intellectual property, state media reported. The Saturday campaign follows a pair of complaints filed Tuesday by the U.S. against Beijing in the World Trade Organization over product piracy and market access. Workers across the country set fire to 30 million pieces of smuggled and pirated audio and video materials, software and 11 million copies of pirated and illegally published books and magazines, the official Xinhua News Agency said Saturday.
[...] Over the past two years, China has ratcheted up efforts to stamp out intellectual property theft, partly in response to pressure from the U.S. and European Union and partly to protect new Chinese companies that are starting to produce their own competitive goods. Still, illegally produced CDs, DVDs and computer software are widely available on city streets, and Chinese leaders acknowledge that it will take years to eliminate the practice.
The central government has drafted many new laws and regulations
aimed at limiting the environmental downside of its booming economy and
industrial growth. However, enforcement of those rules remains weak,
making most of the government's efforts ineffective.
"If being compliant means you have a higher cost than if you break the
law, it becomes a counter-incentive for compliance," said Ma Jun,
director of the Beijing environmental group Institute of Public and
Environmental Affairs.
Stories abound of companies that have installed waste-water treatment plants yet choose to dump their dirty water and pay any potential fines because it is cheaper than running the treatment plant. "For heavy polluters, the cost of running their pollution control equipment can be high, and the cost of the fines is not so high. So, in some cases they can save millions of yuan if they don't run the equipment," Mr Ma said.
"There's a clash between social considerations and environmental considerations. The local governments don't want to do anything that could really affect production and leave people on the streets. The risk of upsetting the workforce over environmental issues is nonsensical to them," Mr Ridley said.
China will establish a national anti-graft institute this year as part of its battle against corruption and following the exposure of cases involving high-level officials and wealthy businesspeople. The mainland already has several major anti-corruption bodies under the government and the Communist Party. A top official told the Beijing Youth Daily on Wednesday that the new institute was intended to reinforce the fight against graft.[...]
"Graft and corruption cases emerge endlessly," [...] He said the bureau's scope, structure and staffing were still being decided and there was no starting date for the agency. But he insisted that the institute would be a high-profile special government organisation. It would strengthen anti-graft education for officials, bolster the legal system's ability to tackle corruption, help better monitor the use and abuse of power, and strengthen international co-operation on the anti-graft front, the report said. Mr Chen said more corruption prevention bureaus at lower administrative levels would follow.
China is to set up a new anti-graft agency to ferret out corruption
amid a string of cases involving high-level officials and wealthy
business people.
Gan Yisheng, secretary-general of the Communist party�s central
commission for discipline inspection, announced the new agency on
Tuesday, a day after state media reported the detention of He Minxu,
former vice-governor of Anhui province, on charges of receiving at
least $1.03m (�793,000, £528,000) in bribes and selling official
positions.
President Hu Jintao has singled out senior cadres as the Communist Party's top priority in its anti-corruption campaign, vowing to punish dishonest officials more severely. [...]
Analysts say Mr Hu's anti-corruption campaign also has the benefit of being fused with his political agenda to consolidate power in the run-up to the 17th party congress this autumn, when a major leadership reshuffle is expected. [...]
Hong Kong-based political scientist Linda Li said it would be in the Communist Party's best interests to decouple the fight against corruption and power politics. "People will say it's not a real fight against corruption, it's all politics; and they will become more cynical about communist rule."
China's ruling Communist Party, reeling from a corruption epidemic
that has seen senior party chiefs jailed around the country, warned
Monday that the fight against graft was a long way from being solved.
[...]
Xinhua News Agency said the Politburo of the Communist Party of
China Central Committee had warned all CPC members that "the phenomenon
of corruption is still quite serious."
It said the Politburo meeting, presided over by Hu Jintao, general
secretary of the CPC Central Committee and also China's president,
"pledged to continue the major task of fighting corruption and
achieving clean governance."
The government has been running a campaign to stop rampant graft
— the cause of widespread public anger that has undermined the
party's authority — and thousands of officials have been
punished, and some executed, in the last several years.
[...]
As part of the crackdown, state media announced recently that new
Communist Party corruption watchdogs had been appointed in Beijing,
Shanghai and Tianjin.
The personnel shifts have in part been seen as efforts by Hu to
weed out rivals and shore up support within the party before a major
congress to ratify appointments and policies late next year.
The party hierarchies of Beijing and Shanghai have been dominated by
supporters of Hu's predecessor, President Jiang Zemin.
BEIJING (AP)--A Chinese Communist
Party official on Wednesday promised a "clean" 2008 Olympics, state
media reported, a day after the party expelled the city's sacked vice
mayor who oversaw Olympic construction projects and said he would face
bribery charges.
[...]
The promotion of Xu comes amid a
general anti-corruption drive in Beijing and other major Chinese
cities. State media announced recently that new Communist Party
corruption watchdogs had been appointed in Beijing, Shanghai and
Tianjin.
The personnel shifts have in part
been seen as efforts by Chinese President Hu Jintao to weed out rivals
and shore up support within the party before a major congress to ratify
appointments and policies late next year.
The central government will punish
any official found to be involved in corruption no matter how senior, a
Beijing spokeswoman said yesterday, a day after the Communist Party
said it had expelled a former vice-mayor of the capital for taking
bribes.
[...]
The party secretary is also chairman of the Beijing Organising
Committee for the 2008 Olympic Games.
China has launched a huge
anti-corruption drive over the past few years with nearly 50,000
officials prosecuted and punished up to the end of last year.
[...]
Firms in U.S., EU Want Officials to Press Beijing For
Stiffer Enforcement
BEIJING -- China is beginning to make some progress on
containing the epidemic of piracy and counterfeiting that foreign
businesses have long complained robs them of sales in a crucial
market. But some of its trading partners, seeking faster action, are
calling for a harsher approach.
Foreign-company executives, surveys and government
officials all note improvements. The biggest change has been at the
top: Senior leaders including Premier Wen Jiabao now declare that
improving the protection of intellectual property is a "strategic
policy" for the nation. That is because they want Chinese
companies to climb out of low-end manufacturing and develop their own
technologies and brands -- which will need protecting.
Enforcing such a shift on the ground isn't happening as
quickly, however, and the scale of the problem is still enormous.
Hollywood studios and makers of luxury goods continue to fret about
the widespread availability of illegal knockoffs of their wares on
Chinese streets.
The mixed results have caused a split in the trade
community on how to proceed, with some U.S. and European officials
increasingly arguing a more combative approach is needed to ensure
further action.
[...]
Chinese Minister of Commerce Bo Xilai said this month
that a WTO case by the U.S. would have a "very negative impact"
on its relationship with China. China will make further improvements,
he said, but the process will take time. Chinese officials have told
visiting negotiators that a WTO dispute would weaken those within
their government who are pushing for more action to protect on
intellectual property.