Pic source: entrepreneur.com
The doctrine of fruit of the poisonous tree is meant to remove illegally acquired evidence from negatively impacting a criminal defendant. Similarly, the same can be applied to China’s development story. Which it achieved illegal, unethical & unfair practices. A reality check is warranted here before accepting the growth is achieved fair & square.
Back in the 1950s, China was extremely poor. With WW2 just over & people
were going through a revolution. A newborn country has more ‘josh’ as we call
it. Just in that josh, the Communist Party of China started to make monumental
mistakes within the first two decades of their formation. They could have built
a beautiful & sustainable economy. With blessings of such beautiful
neighbors. What seemed empty canvas full of opportunity to paint a beautiful
motif, now seemed tarnished. Be it invasion of Tibet, war with India, Great
leap forward, parting ways with USSR & subsequently Mongolia to name a few.
China then turned moderate in the 1970s, with Deng Xiaoping, who understood that China can’t rise without
help of neighbors. He started to work on the issue. Made peace as much as he
can, however temporary it can be. And it did help China to ramp up the number
of factories & heavy industries. From zero to near monopoly in many fields.
China is almost making everything for the World. Even has monopolized supply of
bamboos for incense sticks.
Anyone would admire the focused vision of Chinese leadership that they invested
and made sure the ecosystem & Government machinery works towards the single
goal of global dominance. Full credits to that. No second thoughts at all. But
there are two key parameters they forgot: Ethics & honesty.
In many ways, India was in similar situation then. New country syndrome. Poor,
rising aspirations and all the above that China faced. In fact, more than what
China faced. As we had Democracy, diverse nation with no common interconnecting
language. Different food habits, terrain, culture & weather and so on. We
are more diverse within the Nation. Yet, India was fortunate enough to have
quickly found a soul. Something united us as a nation. It was organic. People
connected across the country with some soulful connect. That seems missing in
China. Some predicted a breakup of India in a few decades after partition. We
proved that wrong. With all the complaints we might have, at the end of the
day, our system still works. It might be very slow & seem inefficient. But
it works. Whereas in China, it is one-way communication on what the party
decides. Despite all our difficulties, we still play by established rules.
World is now slowly beginning to discuss on how China is into a different level
of stealing intellectual property from Western countries. So, how does this
work?
Popular perception & reality
Businesses that went to China since Deng Xiaoping, it was working
wonders. They had little problem dealing with bureaucracy and so on. One-point
to deal in Beijing and work gets done anywhere in China. Say, Shanghai or
Chengdu or Guangdong. Over time, word did spread. These businesspersons became
quasi-spokesperson for China. Reality strikes few years later. When they begin
to realize what was happening. Big industries started seeing competitors.
Chinese ones. Especially, those the big industries partnered with earlier.
Making exact same components and products, at a fraction of the cost. Some went
to Courts in China. Only to realize that the Chinese Courts and Judges are
extended arms of the CCP and not independent. They had to let go of legal
actions thereafter.
Legal but unethical
The story of China’s High-speed rail miracle is legal, but unethically.
Everyone knows for sure how quickly China developed such vast network of
High-Speed Rail (HSR) network. Not many know how this was done quickly through
shortcuts.
A decade ago, China was planning to create HSR network across the country. One
small problem: They didn’t have the technical expertise & know-how. So,
they called international experts. Siemens was given an order to make 300 Kmph
train sets for China Railway Rollingstock Corporation (CRRC). These were cutting
edge. Technology wise, up to date. Sweet order. None could avoid it. Just a
catch. There’d be tech transfer from Siemens to CRRC. Siemens did sign the
deal. Expecting not to lose a big market like China as they would need more
trains. But, CRRC tricked Siemens. Leave alone going ahead and capturing bids
from within China, CRRC started competing “head-to-head” with Siemens. This is
all done by a single signature on tech transfer. Not sure if it would stand in
Court of Law, in favor of China, elsewhere. On technology transfer, similar
experiences for Alstom, Bombardier, Kawasaki. Now this is perfectly legal.
In European theater, to stop being potent competitors for China Rail &
Rollingstock corporation (CRRC), it is reported that China even used diplomatic
clout on European Commission to stop the politically contentious merger of
Siemens – Alstom. This merger means biggest competitor for CRRC, which still
would be roughly half of what CRRC is currently. Proposed Siemens – Alstom
merger points how fractures are created by China. It triggered a political
issue between Germany & France & they are talking to calm the situation
to each other to find way out. Meanwhile, the Alstom – Bombardier deal worked
out well, with a German interference as Alstom made some quick business moves
to gain an early anti-trust approval from European Commission. It is entirely
different story on why Germany is supporting China so much despite reservations
from other European nations. Chinese use their car market to have that leverage
over Germany. This is nothing but, economic militarization through joint
ventures, unethical reverse-engineering, militarizing trade.
Illegal and unethical
Year 2006. Duke University, San Diego, United States of America. The (in)famous
story of Mr Liu Ruopeng who was investigated by FBI for stealing intellectual
property from Dr David Smith’s US Department of Defense funded laboratory. Dr
Smith was into research about metamaterials that creates an invisible cloak –
which could make radar signals doesn’t pick objects that are covered by the
cloak. Liu was doing his doctorate under Dr Smith was researching. Liu
ultimately got his PhD. But, after his expulsion from the research group. FBI
could do nothing beyond expulsion. Liu today is no ordinary man. He is dubbed
to be next Elon Musk. After he went back to China, he was rewarded. He started
his own company. Liu is a billionaire already. Probably would earn much more.
His innovations might sound cool. Even today, entrance of his office has a
cloak monument. Highlight of this episode of stealing is that, this research
& lab of Dr Smith was being funded by US Department of Defense. Imagine the
amount of money, capability & resources needed to infiltrate such sensitive
research projects.
Another incident. US Department of Justice released a statement on their
website on July 30, 2020. About an Ohio woman Li Chen, pleaded guilty today via
video conference in U.S. District Court today to conspiring to steal scientific
trade secrets and conspiring to commit wire fraud concerning the research,
identification and treatment of a range of pediatric medical conditions. Per
NationalPulse.com, Li Chen and Yu Zhou (her husband) were trying to steal
secrets relating to Exosomes – which plays a key role in identification &
treatment of various medical conditions including Liver Cancer. Mr Zhou &
Mrs Chen admitted to selling “isolation kits” through their company for
“personal gain” in China. Highlight of this whole episode is, they got funds
from Chinese Government - State Administration of Foreign Expert Affairs and
National Natural Science Foundation of China.
As Assistant Attorney General for National Security John C Demers put it, “Once
again we see the People’s Republic of China (PRC) facilitating the theft of our
nation’s ingenuity and hard work as part of their quest to rob, replicate and
replace any product they don’t have the ability to develop themselves.” On the
pattern he added, “Far from being an isolated incident, we see the PRC
implicated in around 60 percent of all trade secret theft cases. This continued
economic belligerence runs contrary to the values and norms that facilitate the
success of our industries and countering it remains among our highest
priorities.” Sixty percent of all trade theft cases. Let that sink in. That’s
how deep China has intruded US companies, institutions & research projects.
In 2014, China passed a law which requires every Chinese citizen to cooperate
in acts of Chinese intelligence agencies. In other words, there can’t be a more
direct order for its citizens to co-opt in surveillance acts by Ministry of
State Security of PRC. To give the adequate human resource required, China uses
those large number of tourists and students that it sends every year to many
countries. Especially to US, UK & Australia. To give an indication of the
scale of it, China has about 3.7L students in US, 1.2L in UK, 1.6L in
Australia. All these students have an obligation to abide by the above
legislation, if need be. Similarly, for tourists, act as “courier” to transfer
back to China. Few weeks ago, some of these students were caught on camera
participating in protests that happened in US.
To influence those high & mighty in power corridors, China invested heavily
in key people. Take the case of Mr Andy Purdy, Huawei’s Chief Security officer.
He was a member of the White House team that drafted the U.S. National Strategy
to Secure Cyberspace (2003). Another example is how China’s propaganda is
delivered at doorsteps of politicians. As Republican Jim Banks said in a recent
interview to Epoch Times, “It's unbelievable to me. The China Daily, which is a
state-run propaganda arm of the Chinese Communist Party, magically appears on
the doorstep of every lawmaker on Capitol Hill." Imagine the impact it
makes in the psyche of decision makers.
That’s not all. If you think, US was worst infected country by Chinese
communists, think again. Because, Australia story would beat that. China
conquered Australian land mass through silent invasion, without firing a single
bullet. The largest among China’s poison tree farm in Indo-Pacific region is,
Australia. The silent invasion has happened. Australia is battling it in
various ways.
This piece was first published on The Daily Guardian on 6th August 2020. Web version can be accessed here. Epaper of print version can be accessed on Page 7 of the link here.
