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China to Postpone Indefinitely Its Wireless LAN Standard 'WAPI'

April 30, 2004 (TOKYO) -- The US-China Joint Commission on Commerce and Trade (JCCT) reached an agreement on April 21, 2004 US time under which China said it will gradually alleviate or abolish its non-tariff trade barriers in line with the World Trade Organization (WTO) rules.



Specifically, China will suspend indefinitely the implementation of "WAPI," the WLAN authentication and privacy infrastructure it had worked out and planned to put into practical use by June 2004.

The agreement also includes a ban on Chinese government intervention in the selection of 3G telecommunications standards for mobile phones, and intensification of control over infringement of copyrights. In each item, China is conceding to the US assertions and agreeing to alleviate its highly protective trade policies.

The US-China agreement concerning WAPI-related matters may be boiled down to: (1) the indefinite postponement of the start of WAPI implementation by the Chinese government, (2) China is ready to accept comments from Chinese and foreign concerns on revision of WAPI standards, and (3) it will revise WAPI in line with international standards.

The United States and China also reached an agreement on 3G-related matters on three points: (1) the Chinese government will support technology neutrality with respect to the adoption of 3G standards, (2) telecommunications service providers in China will be allowed to make their own choices as to which standard to adopt, depending on their individual needs, and (3) Chinese regulators will not be involved in negotiating royalty payment terms with relevant intellectual property rights holders.

Intellectual Property Rights Protection to be Strengthened, Stricter Crackdown on Violators and Penalties

China also made clear its plan to work out specific measures to crack down on piracy and counterfeiting acts.

More concretely, it will: (1) intensify criminal investigations and increase penalties for IPR violations; (2) apply criminal sanctions to the import, export, storage and distribution of pirated and counterfeit products; (3) apply criminal sanctions to online piracy; (4) support international organizations for cracking down on IPR infringements; (5) increase customs enforcement actions against infringing products; (6) promptly ratify and implement the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Internet Treaties on intellectual property rights; and (7) extend an existing ban on the use of pirated software in central and local governments.

Originally, the Chinese government established a law to obligate all wireless LAN products distributed in China to abide by WAPI after June 1, 2004, and products not in conformity with WAPI would not be allowed to be sold within China. The US Trade Representative (USTR), the Wi-Fi Alliance and US Intel Corp were against this measure.

With regard to the 3G standards, the Chinese government was reported to have been ready to support its own standards, "TD-SCDMA," and had planned to demand communications carriers adopting W-CDMA and CDMA 2000 to provide their clients with TD-SCDMA services at the same time.

Attending this year's JCCT, among others, were China's Vice Premier Wu Yi and US Trade Representative Robert Zoellick. Vice Premier Wu Yi visited the US on April 19, 2004 and conferred with top US representatives.

Related stories:
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- Asia-Pacific WLAN Equipment Shipments Grow 75%, Says Gartner
- ST Targets China's High-Growth Segments
- Three Reasons China is Looking to 3G Services
- Chinese Mobile Phone Service Operators to Move Fast to Build 3G Networks, Says Panasonic Mobile Communications President

(Hiroto Kaneko, Staff Editor, Nikkei Electronics)


http://neasia.nikkeibp.com/wcs/leaf?CID=onair/asabt/news/305167