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Joan Vredik Broadley
Worked at EOG Resources (company)Updated 2y
How exactly does China steal US technology?
When my son and I visited China in the year 2000 part of our tour was to the then-under construction Three Gorges Dam. The project was of particular interest to we Canadians because China had bought two massive electrical generators to install in the dam. As part of the deal, China required that they have the technology rights to produce copies of those generators (technology transfer agreements) and they successfully did so to produce the many other generators required.

I believe that many purchases by China of out-of-country technology has the technology transfer agreement written into the contract. This does not meet the definition of “stealing” but seems to be a very shrewd business practice that benefits China for the long term future.

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Chen Yu
· December 22, 2019
I don’t know much about generators. But businesses want to transfer technologies. It could make their design defacto standards and when customers have special need, they don’t have to adjust themselves and can still sell parts for modified designs. Also patents expire after about two decades. So patent holders have the tendency to sell, when there is still value. This will backfire only when you cannot keep innovating, and others can copy old models and the old models work just as good. And this is what happens when lawyers & finance personals are taking control, instead of engineers.

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Crystal Chiara
· February 7, 2020
Thank you for explaining. I never understood why foreign suppliers would want to transfer technology if there was nothing in it for them. Trade is not charity so they do gain and benefit from that transfer too albeit with a longer term prospective. I think there is a huge misnomer in the West mainly through Trump and other propaganda that the Chinese are just ‘stealing’ ideas and technology which I am sure does happen to an extent not just in China but rest of the world too.

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Andrew Goh
· February 9, 2020
The current World Intellectual Property System, covering patents, designs and copyrights etc, is developed, established and structured to help the world progress technologically and thus economically.

Yes, we should reward inventors and innovators, but also not to allow them to “hoard” their inventions. What good does it benefit the world if intellectual property is not shared? Some “copycat behavior” may be permitted as long as licensing or technology transfer fees are paid to the original inventor. The quantum of the fees should be decided and finalized in a legally-binding contract, after negotiation, by the parties involved.

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Marlin Claxton
· December 3
The companies do not care where they make their money, only about marketshare. Why should an American chip maker sell to a rival the same technology funded by the American taxpayer with our government agreeing? China “steals or coerces technology transfers, and makes a product without the costs of research and development, and over the long run undercuts the product’s developers price.

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Gerald Fishel
· March 16, 2020
Lol is that the line they’re peddling in China? That when China refuses to allow a company to do business in China unless they transfer their technology, it’s because companies want to do it? And what, they’re just acting when they complain about it?

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David Arnold
· March 18, 2020
I suppose those companies can say no if they refuse to transfer the technology. This is normal business negotiation isn’t it? Also they wanted to do business in China and make money there first didn’t they? I think it is totally fair for the Chinese to ask for whatever they wanted.

As far as I know Japanese companies only agreed to transfer older models which were good enough for the Chinese.

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Jonathan Chong
· July 12, 2020
These people are like crying rape after mutually agreed 1 night stand. Not worthy of anyone's pity.

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Desmond Wong
· November 27
This is the business world, not dream world. You want access to a huge market, you give and take. You want to marry me my dear, i want a bungalow. Isnit not the same. China is a shrewd country where business is concerned

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Skywalker
· June 8, 2020
I didn’t know those companies had a gun pointed to their heads when they negotiated the contracts with their Chinese customers.

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David Martin
· December 28, 2020
It seems many companies and countries under-estimated Chinese engineering. When they signed the technology transfer agreements, they probably thought it would take decades for the Chinese to make any headway, so it was safe. The fact is it takes a lot of knowledge and brainpower to make copies of a technically complicated piece of engineering. The Three Gorges Dam was completed in 2006, no one understood the talent and resolve China had back then..

It’s not all bad. I, for one, think there should be free exchange of ideas with good compensation of course. Humanity could progress far faster with less restrictions. China seems to be ahead in some very important fields, quantum communications for instance (great for secure financial transfers, imagine the commerce that could benefit from that), and crystal growth for ultraviolet lasers, we could be beneficiaries too.

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Gerry Roberts
· December 11
Don’t forget the number of young Chinese nationals who come to the US and Canadian universities to get a high level education and bring that knowledge back to China.

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Charles Ang
· December 22, 2019
It's a sign of weakness when the West has cried foul at the Chinese, seeing it as a stealing of their IP. In fact, they're more than happy to hand over the know-how to their counterparts for a piece of business pie. This is what in the business world called: win-win deals, fair and square.

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Joan Vredik Broadley
· December 25, 2019
Yes, there’s the rub. Win-win deals - Trump does not believe in those at all.

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KevinFlynn
· Wed
So Trump re-negotiates trade deals with the Chinese which had us paying far higher import tariffs on their materials then they paid on ours and you're whining about it (in 2021 nonetheless). It amazes me how people like you just say things out of emotion with no knowledge of the facts. Read a book lady.

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Hans Vandertouw
· Thu
For more than 40 years American Companies, will the full support of the U.S.. Congress, have been moving basically all consumer product manufacturing and then some, to China and other low cost countries, out of pure greed!

That technology would be copied or stolen by the Chinese was a no brainer!

China is flush with money and had a fast growing economy for many decades, while the U.S. has the largest debt ever and economy growth has been marginal!

NOT China’s fault but rather America’s self-inflicted wounds, caused by corrupt U.S. Corporations and an almost to the core corrupt U.S. Congress!!

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Felix Su
· December 23, 2019
They don’t. They buy it. They either write it into the contracts for transfer of technology or they employ experts that in their field to build the tech.

China spent $28 BILLION dollars last year on licensing fees to the West. It is higher than any other country. That’s $28,000,000,000 dollars just on licensing fees. If they’re stealing, they’re doing a terrible job.

Did they do so in the past? Yes. Are there unscrupulous Chinese merchants doing this? yes. There are also unscrupulous Western merchants doing this. Any IP holder can go to US or European courts and have the court order an injunction to stop imports.

They can even go to Chinese courts and stop it in the Chinese market. M&M Mars just won a case against a Chinese copycat who claim he was selling W&W candies. The Chinese court ordered an injunction to stop all sale of W&W in China.

Just as I can sell Superman T-shirts without a license from Warner Bros and it is up to WB to stop me. It is up to the IP holder to stop the merchant.

Amazon does NOT and will NOT police for you. China also will not do so. It is the sad fact of life. You, as the IP holder have to use the law top stop other from infringing on your IP.

As fast as tech. Most of it is not stolen.

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Luke Wang
· December 23, 2019
Unfortunately, this is now called “FORCED” technology transfer, which to many in the West, including Canadians are basically the same as stealing. Just read any comment sections on Canadian news site when this topic comes up.

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Felix Su
· December 23, 2019
Forced my ass. Kawasaki didn’t like the terms and went home. They didn’t sign. Didn’t sell high speed trains. Did NOT transfer anything. No one is forcing any company to sign. It’s only forced if someone puts a gun to your head, literally.