【英语国际】美国商会：自主创新政策引发中美贸易纠纷

China's drive to support domestic technologies--which has already resulted in a high-profile complaints by foreign businesses over government-purchasing policies--is likely to continue to cause trade disputes and political tensions with the U.S., says a new report from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

'Indigenous innovation is a massive and complicated plan to turn the Chinese economy into a technology powerhouse by 2020 and a global leader by 2050,' says the report, to be released this week. 'What is worrisome for the business community is that these indigenous innovation industrial policies are headed toward triggering contentious trade disputes and inflamed political rhetoric on both sides.'

The report, which was commissioned by the U.S. Chamber and written by James McGregor, a longtime journalist and executive in China who is now senior counselor for APCO Worldwide, says China is becoming increasingly aggressive in using its vast market to push foreign companies to transfer leading-edge technologies. That tactic, it says, is 'forcing foreign technology companies to anguish over balancing today's profits with tomorrow's survival.'

The report, from one of the world's biggest business groups, adds to the increasingly vocal concerns of foreign companies and governments about the business environment in China, including top executives from firms such as Siemens AG, General Electric Co., and Microsoft Corp.

Executives and officials have raised particular complaints about indigenous innovation policies that they fear are designed to discriminate against foreign companies or to force them to transfer their intellectual property to China.

Beijing's handling of those concerns 'has become a litmus test for many companies, particularly in the IT sector, for how China is currently treating investment and how it might treat investment in these sectors going forward,' Myron Brilliant, the U.S. Chamber's senior vice president for international affairs, said in an interview.

Chinese officials have strongly defended the indigenous innovation policies, saying they don't discriminate against foreign companies and noting that investment continues to pour into the country.

'Currently, there is an allegation that China's investment environment is worsening. I think it is untrue,' Premier Wen Jiabao said this month in a meeting with German executives and officials.

China's leaders began emphasizing what they call 'indigenous innovation' in 2006, but it emerged as a major issue for foreign businesses after the publication in November of rules for creating a national list of products containing indigenous innovation. Foreign companies feared that would shut them out of tens of billions of dollars in government procurement contracts.

The Chamber report says that concerns over the 'indigenous innovation' policies aren't limited to government procurement. It cites recent revisions to patent legislation that it says make it easier for Chinese companies to use domestic patents to block foreign competitors, as well as a standard-setting process that it says is tilted toward domestic products.

Another example is China's push to develop a homegrown passenger jet through a state-owned company. Major U.S. firms including GE and Eaton Corp. have been selected to supply systems for the jet project but are doing so through Chinese partnerships.

Once their key technologies have been transferred to China, 'the foreign aerospace firms may find themselves sidelined and competing globally against the Chinese companies they are now creating,' the Chamber report says.

To address the multiple issues arising from China's innovation drive, the U.S. has started a broader dialogue with China on the issue. John Holdren, director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, met with China's Minister of Science and Technology Wan Gang and other officials last week in Washington to open those talks. U.S. officials also raised their concerns about the innovation policies at talks in Beijing in May.

The Chamber report says that, given China's rapidly aging population and the erosion of its low labor-cost advantage, 'the pursuit of a high-tech economy and genuine homegrown science and technology breakthroughs is understandable and laudable.' But it says that aspects of the policy are 'increasingly perceived as anti-foreign and regressive.' As a result, it says, the 2006 document that initiated the indigenous innovation policy is 'considered by many international technology companies to be a blueprint for technology theft on a scale the world has never seen before.'

美国商会（U.S. Chamber of Commerce）最新报告显示，中国支持国内技术的努力可能将继续引发中美间的贸易纠纷和政治紧张气氛。中国的作法已引起外国企业对政府采购政策的高声抱怨。

European Pressphoto Agency中国北京的工人正在给移动设备安装天线。将于本周发布的这份报告说，自主创新是一项庞大且复杂的计划，将使中国在2020年前成为科技强国，2050年前成为全球科技领跑者。让各企业担心的是，自主创新的产业政策将引发中美间争议不断的贸易纠纷和激烈的政治争吵。

这份报告为美国商会授权，由长期担任记者并在中国任企业高管的麦健陆（James McGregor）撰写，他目前是安可顾问（APCO Worldwide）的资深顾问。他说，中国更加积极地利用其庞大的市场迫使外国企业转让最先进的技术。其方法是，迫使外国科技企业承受平衡当前利润与未来生存的痛苦，从而作出抉择。

这份来自全球最大企业集团之一美国商会的报告加剧了外国企业和政府对中国商业环境的忧虑，此前西门子（Siemens AG）、 通用电气（General Electric Co.）和微软（Microsoft Corp.）等企业高管口头表达了这样的担忧。

企业高管和政府官员尤其报怨自主创新政策，他们担心这些政策旨在分别对待外国企业，或迫使他们将自己的知识产权转让给中国。

负责国际事务的美国商会高级副会长薄迈伦（Myron Brilliant）接受采访时说，北京方面对这些忧虑的处理对许多企业，尤其是IT业企业来说，已经成为他们检验中国目前及未来如何对待投资的试金石。

中国官方一直大力为自主创新政策辩护，说他们没有分别对待外国企业，并指称投资正源源不断地流入中国。

中国国务院总理温家宝本月在会见德国企业高管和政府官员时说，目前世界上有一种舆论，（认为）中国的投资环境变得不好了，我认为这是不符合事实的。

中国领导人2006年时开始强调他们所谓的“自主创新”，但直到中国政府2009年11月公布了《关于开展2009年国家自主创新产品认定工作的通知》后，“自主创新”才正为外国企业关心的一个主要问题。该通知旨在形成一份包含自主创新成分产品的国家级名单。外国公司担心，它们将被拒于数百亿美元政府采购合同之外。

美国商会的这份报告说，外国企业对“自主创新”政策的担心并不仅限于政府采购方面。报告说，政府最近对专利法的修改以及推出技术标准制定程序也令外国公司担忧。报告称，修改后的专利法可以让中国企业更方便地用国内专利来阻挡外国企业的竞争，而新推出的技术标准制定程序则偏向于国内产品。

另一个例子是中国通过一家国有企业开发国产喷气式客机的努力。虽然通用电气和伊顿公司(Eaton Corp.)等美国企业已被选中向这一喷气机项目提供配套设备，但它们需要通过中国合作伙伴开展这项业务。

美国商会的报告说，一旦这些外国宇航公司的关键技术被转让给中国，它们可能就会发现自己被撇在了一边，并将在全球市场上与这些它们正帮助创建的中国公司展开竞争。

为解决中国“自主创新”政策所引发的诸多问题，美国已在这一领域与中国展开了范围广泛的对话。白宫科技政策办公室(White House Office of Science and Technology Policy)主任霍德伦(John Holdren)上周在华盛顿与中国科技部部长万钢和中国其他官员举行了会晤，以启动相关谈判。美国官员今年5月还在北京举行的美中会谈中提出了美方对中国自主创新政策的担忧。

美国商会的报告说，鉴于中国人口的迅速老龄化以及中国劳动力的低成本优势逐渐消失，中国努力实现经济的高科技化和本土科技的真正突破是可以理解的，也是值得称赞的，但相关政策的一些方面越来越让人觉得有反外资和走回头路的倾向，其结果是，中国政府2006年那份首次提出自主创新政策的文件在许多跨国高科技企业看来，是一份以史无前例的规模盗取外国科学技术的计划。