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Bloomberg
The US accused China of continuing a state-backed campaign of intellectual property (IP) and technology theft as the World Trade Organization (WTO) said it would establish a dispute panel to rule on the complaint.
The new accusations came in a detailed 53-page report released by US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer’s office just 10 days before President Donald Trump is due to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of a November 30-December 1 Group of 20 summit in Buenos Aires.
The timing of the report’s release appeared to be a move by some of the more hawkish members of Trump’s administration, such as Lighthizer, to bolster their case ahead of the summit and as other cabinet members such as Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin push for a resumption of negotiations.
“China fundamentally has not altered its acts, policies, and practices related to technology transfer, intellectual property, and innovation, and indeed appears to have taken further unreasonable actions in recent months,†the report said.
Separately, the WTO agreed on Wednesday to launch a dispute investigation into the US allegations. The Geneva-based trade organisation will task a panel of three experts to determine whether China’s policies violate WTO terms. A decision could be rendered as soon as next year.
In the USTR report the US accused China of continuing a state-backed campaign of cyber-attacks on American companies that were both intensifying and growing in sophistication.
The report accused China of responding to the US government’s concerns over its ‘Made in China 2025’ policy to lead the world in sectors such as artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics by waging a propaganda campaign to play down its significance rather than making substantive changes.