The United States and European Union are taking action through the World Trade Organization to push China into lifting restrictions on foreign news distribution within the country. Currently, outside news organizations (such as newswire distributions) must distribute content through a Chinese-government regulated agency such as Xinhua. The New York Times stated that the proposed change in policy would open doors for business information & news companies including the Dow Jones, Bloomberg, Reuters and others. The news organizations argue that China's restrictive policies currently limit their abilities to sell news information to banks, businesses, and other customers throughout China.
But, as trade restrictions between U.S./Europe and China relax in the the 21st century, are severe actions such as filing claims with the W.T.O. hurting or helping international relationships? In the NY Times article, a Unites States trade official, Susan Schwab said "China's restrictive treatment of outside suppliers of financial information services places U.S. and other foreign suppliers at a serious competitive disadvantage." But, isn't that the point of such regulations?
A spokesman for China's foreign ministry says the regulatory action will help standardize news releases and help protect intellectual-property rights for foreign news services in the country (Asia Times Online).
With high speed internet and satellite communications able to beam information around the globe in milliseconds, it's no wonder that countries like China are taking steps to protect domestic communications agencies from being dominated in the open market by Western communications superpowers. Schwab's comments reveal that this is not merely a communications or a free speech issue for either the West or China. This is a business issue at its heart. To begin a serious discussion of opening further communication services between China and the U.S./Europe, we need to take a step back to examine this issue in the much larger context of mismatched economic policies among these nations.
Full article: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/04/business/worldbusiness/04trade.html?ref=todayspaper (requires NY Times login)
Additional resources:
Asia Times Online
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/China/HI14Ad01.html
International Herald Tribune
http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/03/03/business/3wtofw.php
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
A new protectionist approach toward information and commerce. But whom does this protection work for?
Post a Comment