"This would mean that China would prosecute and disavow IP theft."
There are (at least) three major areas where outsourcing to China provides economic benefit to foreign companies:
1 - Wages - Many Chinese are paid a wage that despite China having "minimum wage" laws are significantly below that of the foreign company's home minimum wages. If Chinese workers are paid a "living wage" in parity with that of the home country, the economics of outsourcing to China take a hit.
2 - Environment - China for the most part has let enforcement of environment law (the law does exist) take a back seat to capturing business. Covering the cost of protecting environment damage raises costs.
3 - Intellectual Property - Protecting IP increases cost and is for the most part a long term "foreign tax", not an initial capital investment.
Start doing the above three "right" and doing business in China becomes unprofitable for many.
The author of the article continues to express this as a one-sided problem: "We look forward to having China as a real partner in the world, not on its own private terms, but on terms well understood by global trading partners."
I support positive change in regards to doing business with China. I do not see how this can happen without more objective discussion, which would include how "global trading partners" contribute to the problems.
I'm with swombat and maxklein on this one. I'm going to start flagging HN submissions that only paint half the picture.
> 2 - Environment - China for the most part has let enforcement of environment law (the law does exist) take a back seat to capturing business. Covering the cost of protecting environment damage raises costs.
AFAIK, there are government officials and positions that care about this and try to do their job, but for example, when polluting factories are due for inspection they stop polluting long enough to pass inspection (even surprise inspections). Obviously there are other elements in the government that are subverting the process (or that just view the process as a PR campaign with the people, not really caring about the results).
I can see this being the case. One thing people miss while they are bashing the China gov about corruption and oppression is that a great deal of the "bad behavior" in China is caused by business leaders (small and large), not government. There exist fairly good laws protecting worker rights. Unfortunately, if an employer wants to be abusive, they will and its up to the employee to decide how or if they want to fight it.
There are (at least) three major areas where outsourcing to China provides economic benefit to foreign companies:
1 - Wages - Many Chinese are paid a wage that despite China having "minimum wage" laws are significantly below that of the foreign company's home minimum wages. If Chinese workers are paid a "living wage" in parity with that of the home country, the economics of outsourcing to China take a hit.
2 - Environment - China for the most part has let enforcement of environment law (the law does exist) take a back seat to capturing business. Covering the cost of protecting environment damage raises costs.
3 - Intellectual Property - Protecting IP increases cost and is for the most part a long term "foreign tax", not an initial capital investment.
Start doing the above three "right" and doing business in China becomes unprofitable for many.
The author of the article continues to express this as a one-sided problem: "We look forward to having China as a real partner in the world, not on its own private terms, but on terms well understood by global trading partners."
I support positive change in regards to doing business with China. I do not see how this can happen without more objective discussion, which would include how "global trading partners" contribute to the problems.
I'm with swombat and maxklein on this one. I'm going to start flagging HN submissions that only paint half the picture.