Baucus Presses China on IP Infringement at Nomination Hearing
The Chinese government needs to fully embrace a global rules-based economic and trade environment, while stamping out state violations of intellectual property rights protections, said Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., during the Jan. 28 Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on his nomination for ambassador to Beijing. Baucus commended the recent Chinese decision to negotiate a bilateral treaty with the U.S. that, according to Baucus, will level the playing field for U.S. companies by scaling back Chinese preferences for its domestic industry, which violate the principle of national treatment.
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
If your job depends on informed compliance, you need International Trade Today. Delivered every business day and available any time online, only International Trade Today helps you stay current on the increasingly complex international trade regulatory environment.
“It’s also critical for the United States and China to work together to develop a shared understanding of acceptable norms and behavior in cyber space, including a cessation of government-sponsored cyber-enabled theft of intellectual property. Such behavior hurts China as well as the United States, because American businesses are concerned about the cost of doing business in China,” said Baucus, noting U.S.-China trade accounts for $500 billion in goods and services annually. “If confirmed, I will work with Chinese counterparts to ensure meaningful actions are taken to curb this behavior so that it does not undermine the economic relationship that benefits both of our nations.”
The likely Chinese rise to the world’s largest economy in the near future presents significant profit opportunities for U.S. exporters, said Senate Foreign Relations Chairman Robert Menendez, D-N.J. Six of the world’s 10 largest container ports are in China, said Menendez, adding that U.S. exports to the country have increased by nearly $40 billion over the past four years.
“The key challenge you will face as ambassador should you be confirmed, and I’m sure you will be confirmed, is how to recognize the strategic and economic realities unfolding with the rise of China,” said Menendez. “If confirmed you’ll be a central player in conveying a clear message to the entire region that America is an Asia-Pacific player and will be part of the region for the long haul.” U.S. companies are exporting to China record-level automobiles, power generation, machinery, aircraft and other industrial commodities, said Menendez.
As Finance Committee chairman and ranking member, Baucus helped usher in 11 free-trade agreements, he said. “As the Finance Committee chairman, you’ve worked on so many trade issues, have been an advocate for free trade and I know you’re going to continue to do that in this position, yet we need to shape it in such a way that the Western values that we care so much about are front and center,” said Foreign Relations ranking member Bob Corker, R-Tenn.