The US urged China yesterday to wage a wider war against rampant patent and copyright piracy as it sought ways to reduce a growing trade imbalance that has become an election issue in the US.
Beijing needed to do much more to battle counterfeiting that had seriously harmed US firms and workers, US Secretary of Commerce Don Evans told reporters during a four-day visit to China.
PHOTO: EPA
"There needs to be much more efforts, much more resources put into the protection of intellectual property rights across the country," Evans told reporters during a visit to a factory in a Beijing suburb.
The Chinese authorities needed to do more at the provincial and city levels, he said, two months after Chinese Vice Premier Wu Yi (吳儀) pledged during meetings with Evans in Washington to intensify a crackdown on counterfeiting.
China's own State Council has estimated the market value of counterfeit goods in China at about US$19 billion to US$24 billion annually. The bogus trade affects a wide range of US products, including films, music, publishing, software, pharmaceuticals, information technology and automotive parts.
Washington also hoped to do more to reduce its trade deficit with the world's fourth-biggest trading nation, which hit a record US$124 billion last year and is expected to head higher.
"In the first four months of this year the trade deficit continued to grow, so we need to continue to work on ways to reduce those trade barriers," Evans said.
He also reiterated Washington's desire to see the yuan liberalized.
"We think it's very important to have a flexible, market-driven exchange rate. That coupled with free trade and free flow of capital," he said.
"There is a working group between the United States and China working on that and we will continue to work for it," he said.
Investors have speculated China may make the yuan more flexible as early as this year by pegging it to a basket of foreign currencies and letting it move more freely, a step many analysts expect would lead the currency to strengthen. Analysts say China will only do so in its own time, rather than bow to foreign pressure.
Evans also oversaw the signing of a series of deals between US and Chinese business yesterday, including an agreement by General Electric, the world's biggest maker of turbines, to sell two electric transfer systems to China Southern Power Grid Co.
Honeywell Inc, meanwhile, agreed to supply environmentally friendly refrigerants and other chemicals to home appliance maker Haier. No terms of the deals were given.
"These partnerships will grow American jobs and contribute to America's economic development," Evans said.
"These signings are an example of the strong commercial bonds being forged between the United States and China," he said
Also signed yesterday was a deal with United Solar Ovonic and Dawson International to provide and install a 300-kilowatt solar photovoltaic lighting system in the Beijing New Capital Museum.
Evans was scheduled to meet Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao (溫家寶) yesterday for talks that will also include US Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao who is in Beijing.
Today, Evans will meet separately with Vice Premier Wu Yi (吳儀), Vice Premier Zeng Peiyan (曾培炎) and Commerce Minister Bo Xilai (薄熙來) following a breakfast speech with US businesspeople.
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
Taiwan was ranked the fourth-safest country in the world with a score of 82.9, trailing only Andorra, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar in Numbeo’s Safety Index by Country report. Taiwan’s score improved by 0.1 points compared with last year’s mid-year report, which had Taiwan fourth with a score of 82.8. However, both scores were lower than in last year’s first review, when Taiwan scored 83.3, and are a long way from when Taiwan was named the second-safest country in the world in 2021, scoring 84.8. Taiwan ranked higher than Singapore in ninth with a score of 77.4 and Japan in 10th with
China's military today said it began joint army, navy and rocket force exercises around Taiwan to "serve as a stern warning and powerful deterrent against Taiwanese independence," calling President William Lai (賴清德) a "parasite." The exercises come after Lai called Beijing a "foreign hostile force" last month. More than 10 Chinese military ships approached close to Taiwan's 24 nautical mile (44.4km) contiguous zone this morning and Taiwan sent its own warships to respond, two senior Taiwanese officials said. Taiwan has not yet detected any live fire by the Chinese military so far, one of the officials said. The drills took place after US Secretary