Challenges in pursuit of CCFTA

China has been consistently accused of theft of IP and forced technology transfers from the markets they trade in, and this has been a point put forward commonly by the people against CCFTA.

China has been accused of stealing IP from US companies, which allegedly cost $225 to $600 billion in damages per year (USTR, 2018a, p. 9).

China has also been criticised for it's policies that force the transfer of technology by foreign firms in order for them to enter into JV with key industries in the Chinese market (Wernau, 2019, para. 2).

A severe accusation against China is that Chinese hackers steal IP from companies around the world. Chinese hackers have also been indicted several times by the US court regarding this issue (Dilanian, 2018)

Goldestein (2018), raised his concerns about the accuracy of the claims of loss made by USTR (2018a) report pointing out at the wide gap in the estimated values. It was further pointed out by Griswold & Boudreaux (2019) that these estimates were most likely exaggerated. However, a smaller cost does not endorse IP theft.

Griswold & Boudreaux (2019) further observed that China's payment towards use of IP from US industries has quadrupled over the past decade which is an indicator of Chinese industries moving away from IP theft (p. 4).

Griswold & Boudreaux (2019) stated that it is a common practice for developing economies to demand performance requirements in terms of technology transfer. The companies invest in sectors that demand technology transfer because they see this as cost of doing business in the sector and the benfits outweigh the costs. This trend is also on the decline as China is pushing forward towards opening more of its industries which were previously locked behind performance requirments (pp. 5-7).

The issue of hacking into foreign businesses to steal IP is a criminal issue and merely being averse to trade with China does not necessarily guarantee an exemption from this kind of theft. Furthermore, USTR (2018a) report stated that a decrease in US companies reporting Chinese intrusion points towards a reduction in such activities from China.

Canada is part of the CPTPP and one of its main purpose is to enhance IP enforcement and protection in its member nations ("What does the CPTPP mean for intellectual property?", n.d.). The presence of such a regulatory facility will discourage any unfair IP acquisition by China which has been noted by Griswold and Boudreaux (2019) to submit to rules and regulatory authorities (p. 9).

As seen above, there has been a reduction in IP infringements by China and they have started move away from forced technology transfers. These things coupled with the protection offered by CPTPP should prevent Chinese theft of Canadian technology if a FTA is negotiated.

Kindly provide counter argument for debate