China’s orders EV makers to hand over technology to local partners or quit
23 Sep 2010
China is known to steal or copy the latest technology, but demanding overseas electric car makers either hand over their properietory technology as a price for doing business in the country.
Critics say this is akin to blackmailing them to part with their intellectual property rights.
China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology is reportedly coming out with a draft proposal of making the country a leader in electric-vehicle production within 10 years.
As China hones sophisticated method of grabbing new technology, the draft proposal makes it mandatory for overseas electric car makers wanting to access China's market, the world's largest, in exchange for a minority stake in joint ventures with Chinese companies as well as share their electric-vehicle technology with them.
John Dingell, a Michigan state senior member of the US Congress reacted angrily by writing a stinging letter to the Chinese ambassador to the US, "I am outraged that the Chinese government is considering plans to force foreign automakers to give up proprietary electric vehicle technology to their Chinese competitors in order to be allowed access to China's market.
This violates the sanctity of the intellectual property laws we hold so dear in the US and amounts, in my estimation, to a violation of China's obligations as a member of the World Trade Organization."
