U.S. president Donald Trump has accused China of causing a trade deficit and engaging in several unfair practices related to the acquisition of American intellectual property and technology. The latter part was corroborated by the USTR Report of 22 March 2018, see here. It was alleged that China forced foreign companies to transfer IP in order to achieve its “Made in China 2025” (中国制造2025) project to dominate the following industries domestically and compete internationally:
- Advanced Information technology
- Robotics
- Aerospace equipment
- High-tech ships
- Railway equipment
- Energy saving
- New materials
- Medical devices
- Agricultural machinery
- Power equipment
Now, the State Intellectual Property Office (SIPO) puts China’s IP trade position into perspective. In the first half 0f 2018 China was a net importer of IP and pays 19.268 billion US dollar in royalties to foreign companies (up 52.5 percent year-on-year) for research and development. It received 2.737 billion US dollars in IP royalties (up 62.1 percent year-on-year) especially for the export of computer software license fees. Statistics of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange.
On 1 June 2018, the EU requested consultations with China concerning certain measures imposed by China pertaining to the transfer of foreign technology into China, see here. On 23 March 2018, the US requested consultations with China concerning certain measures pertaining to the protection of intellectual property rights (China accpted the requests of the EU and Japan to join the consultations), see here.