Policy Paper of the People's Republic of China

The Peoples Republic of China (PRC) believes that the upcoming years, 2000-2002, will prove vital for APEC: both as an Asian centered entity with potential to further unite the continent, and as an institution in which the PRC, and our neighbors, can continue to prosper.APEC'S history has been one of "gradual" development, which is an idea that the PRC firmly supports. It is our position that APEC'S history of 
development is not very dissimilar to our own economic development. In 1993, at the very first APEC meeting on Blake Island, the PRC represented itself clearly: we were then, and still are, committed to basic free trade principles (http://www.apecsec.org.sg/member/chiec_report.html.) During the 1998 meeting, in Kula Lumpier, APEC reaffirmed its confidence in free trade by deciding unanimously to get through the Asian Financial Crisis together, as an entity.

 The general economic policies of the PRC have been consistent to say the least. We are domestically focused, but do we not have to be? One quarter of the human beings taking air on this globe our Chinese, and with this in mind, for us not to be domestically "focused" would be irrational. Of course this domestic concentration will 
not hinder our commitment to APEC and its principles, we just might need to take a more gradual approach to ensure sustainable development for our population. It is the opinion of the PRC, regarding APEC'S "core issues," that they all must first be identified, and secondly, addressed in a unanimously decided upon manner. To think otherwise would undermine APEC'S mission, which includes cooperation and trust. If these virtues are left out of the structure of APEC, then the organization will not be effective in promoting future development and stability in Asia. . It is the opinion of the PRC that APEC should focus on three main issue areas: reform, development, and stability.

"Reformation": this is an idea that The PRC is particularly concerned with for many reasons. It is my view that our biggest concerns lie in the realm of restructuring our well-publicized state-owned enterprises. Entities, 
which at one time, were a huge source of stability for the Chinese population. Unfortunately, these enterprises (most of which are production facilities) are simply no longer profitable, and reforms are currently underway to address this concern. However, we will not sacrifice the livelihood of the men and women who have depended on these enterprises for family stability over the past couple of generations. If protecting the livelihood of these workers hinders our integration into the "global economy," then let it be so. Our people come first, and our reform practices reflect this. For example, we have rapidly made changes in our social security polices. And we have made sure to set up reemployment centers at all the state owned enterprises that have been closed. These 
centers have been effective and most of the jobs found for the laid off workers have been in the private sector 
(http://www.apecsec.org.sg/member/chie_report.html.)

We urge the world to keep in mind that one out of every four human beings on this planet is Chinese, thus, maintaining a stable environment is vital to us. Any alternatives could be disastrous, and The PRC will keep 
this in mind as it continues its operations within APEC. 

Intellectual property rights are one of our main concerns within APEC. All Ministers and Representatives from the PRC understand that the Intellectual Property Rights Expert Group was created to facilitate cooperation amongst members of APEC in combating the illegal pirating of copyright and trademark goods that is occurring in the Asian-Pacific Region. We further understand that much of the pirating that occurs in the region 
is taking place on the soil of the PRC and is facilitated by Chinese citizens. Since pirating is an extreme problem in our country we have cooperated with IPEG's goals in the past and plan to continue to cooperate 
with IPEG in the future in order to ensure a strategy that would enable us to come up with an inexpensive, efficient way to combat the individuals who are engaging in intellectual property right infringement.
At the IPEG's eighth meeting on February 25-26, 1999, the PRC was noted for its excellence in the developments that it had made in combating the problems associated with biotechnology and intellectual property rights. 

The recognition by the IPEG was formally documented in Agenda Item 4(B) of the IPEG VIII. The recognition highlighted six accomplishments that the PRC has made with respect to biotechnology and intellectual property rights.The PRC has not only taken steps to abide by the wishes and demands of the IPEG with respect to intellectual property rights, but it has also voluntarily put in place laws that will facilitate protection of those 
rights. The PRC's Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation (MOFTEC) issued a Circular on Further Enhancing Administration Over CD Reproduction on June 12, 1996. In addition, MOFTEC has put into place Implementing Rules of the Trademark Law of the PRC in an attempt to put a stop to the practices that lead to trademark infringement. MOFTEC has also has put into place laws against unfair competition, laws on product quality, and laws on patents, all of which were designed to facilitate the protection of intellectual property rights. The PRC has not only put laws on paper that protect intellectual property rights, but we have actually been enforcing these laws. In December of 1999, government officials stopped the pirating "of versions of kettles with counterfeit controls that had the potential to jeopardize consumer safety"(  http://web.lexis-nexis.com/universe) . 

In addition, during that same month government officials in Guangzhou, "acting on allegations over patent 
infringements, ordered a local factory to stop making a specific kind of electronic connector and to destroy molding machines used to make it"( http://web.lexis-nexis.com/universe).

 These actions both suggest that we have done extremely well recently in protecting intellectual property 
rights.For the future, we plan to increase our commitment to the protection of intellectual property rights and envision all members of APEC doing the same, with the hope of protecting intellectual property rights throughout the entire Asian-Pacific Region. However, to achieve this vision, members of APEC will need to cooperate in order to eradicate the complicated roadblocks that work to prevent many countries from protecting intellectual property rights. First and foremost, the members of APEC need to realize that much of the pirating of goods that goes on is taking place because citizens simply cannot afford to purchase imported technology because the technology is so overpriced in reference to certain economies. APEC members 
need to understand that in order to stop the pirating of goods, we need to make the prices of our goods conform to what citizens of the importing economy can afford. In this way, the producers of goods will be able to derive benefits from their goods because they will be purchased by citizens who can afford them, rather than pirated by an entire population who simply cannot. In addition, we feel that it is necessary for APEC members to realize that the costs of putting into place the mechanisms to enforce intellectual property rights are extremely high, so high that many countries simply cannot afford them. In order to enable all members of APEC to put 
into place the necessary mechanisms for protecting intellectual property rights, it will be necessary for APEC members to either come up with a plan to help members who cannot afford the costs, to finance the cost through loan or donation, or eliminate the requirement of the costly mechanisms altogether. Finally, we feel that it will be necessary for APEC members to promote public awareness in their respective country's on the serious need for intellectual property rights protection. In conclusion, it is our belief that the aforementioned suggestions are followed, APEC members will begin to witness a decrease in the incidents of intellectual property rights 
violations throughout the entire Asian-Pacific Region.

We are not only concerned with intellectual property rights within APEC, but we are also concerned with developmental issues. The environment of China has been severely damaged. Urbanization, industrialization and intensive farming techniques have wreaked havoc causing us to look very hard at engaging in sustainable development. We want to develop more fully, but not at the cost of future Chinese generations. Sustainable development affects the economy of the PRC in many ways. It increases the cost of production (requiring better technology and additional facilities) which the small and medium factory owners do not like. This causes a rift between the government and producers who just add on pollution fines to their production costs. 
Sustainable development also insures stability for our economy, if practiced there will be arable farmland for future generations of the biggest populace on the planet, there will continue to be natural resources with which the PRC will be able to grow, and we will have a healthy population of workers. It also encourages us to diversify our economic practices doing more research and development.Much of the PRC's trade is conducted with APEC member economies. From 1992 to 1997 the exports to APEC countries increased by 16.8%.
The PRC has created many domestic laws to protect the environment. There is a general law protecting all aspects of the environment and there have been specific laws created to protect specific things such as water. Pollution of the environment has also been made a criminal offense by an amendment to the Criminal Law of the PRC. The PRC has also engaged in international forums aimed at protecting the environment such as the World Union of Conserving Nature, the Vienna Convention for Protection of the Ozone Layer, and the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone.The PRC is still a developing country, but continues to increase its industrial size with a financial policy aimed at encouraging economic growth. In 1999 we saw our GDP grow 7% and the previous year it was up by 7.8%. The standard of living has also increased for urban and rural Chinese with disposable income rising 5.8% for urban residents and 4.3% for rural residents. The RMB has also remained stable and unemployment has not dramatically increased since the conversion of many state-owned enterprises into the private sector.

China also has many forward looking plans for developing its economy such as developing tourism, increasing its investment in its internal infrastructure, and modifying its financial policies.The PRC will continue to support APEC's emphasis on the three areas of concentration regarding sustainable development (clean technology, 
sustainable cities, and sustainability of the marine environment). It will not however support any mandates put on member economies regarding these issues. APEC's sphere should remain economic and leave political issues to be resolved within ones own member economy and its work with sustainable development should be mainly concerned with research and information sharing.

It is the hope of the PRC that future negiotiations within APEC will facilitate futher coopration and intergration between the many Asian member economies. We would like to see APEC evolve into an organization that will 
provide the forum in which a dispute may be solved, whenever a dispute arises among members. We predict only betterment for all member economies who commit to a policy of consultation amongst member economies when disputes arise. It is our hope that in the coming months, other APEC members will take our domestic considerations into account when attempting to formulate policy in the areas of sustainable and economic develpoment, and intellectual property rights.