At RealClearMarkets Andy Puzder and Jim Talent respond to John Tamny’s criticism of their support for actions against China intended to convince China to end its one-sided trade policies:
Beijing’s “techno-national toolbox†includes walling off their domestic markets from foreign competition, massive subsidies to its companies so that they can undercut their competitors and capture markets abroad, regulatory discrimination against foreign companies, manipulation of what passes for the Chinese legal system to deny protection to foreign intellectual property, forced technology transfers as a condition of selling or producing in China, China-specific technology standards to raise the costs of market entry for foreign competitors, and outright, systematic theft of valuable technology through espionage and cybertheft. (Estimates are that Beijing steals anywhere from $225-600 billion dollars from the United States every year.)
We emphasize that this is a partial list. The whole economic system set up by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) – what Beijing calls “socialism with Chinese characteristics†— is essentially designed to con, cajole or steal wealth from the rest of the world, in support of what Xi Jinping has called “the Chinese Dream.â€
I’ve been pointing all of this out for decades. It’s why I opposed granting China most favored nation trading status or admitting it to the WTO.
All I ask for is a level playing field. There should be one set of rules for all. If we played by China’s rules, Americans would know that Chinese property was free for the taking. Every container ship arriving from China would be looted as soon as it approached the dock. Chinese businesses would be required to put their proprietary technology in the public domain. Chinese companies would be required to take American partners to trade here. And so on.
I don’t think the Chinese would like it. I think they would consider it terribly unfair. It is.
Sounds like you support Trump’s policy, but not the man. And there’s no one else on the horizon. If we go back to business as usual, the Chinese will continue to buy our politicians, and write our trade policy.
Any intellectual property stolen from the Empire will likely to have been our own. The Han steal because it saves them R & D. Their educational system isn’t set u for it, free thinking is dangerous to a regime that values conformity and obedience above all else.