Trade policies force transfer of tech expertise to China

China's goal to become a technology giant is being helped by government policies that may force businesses to transfer their technical know-how for access to China's market, a new report finds.

These foreign technology products may be "re-innovated" by Chinese companies who will then take these products to market and emerge as new competitors. This is just one of the concerns described in a new report from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce which looks at China's policies and warns that trade disputes may come of it. China's government has set ambitious goals to create entire homegrown industries, especially in the tech area, with the help of a policy called "indigenous innovation," which U.S. officials have said will force companies to transfer the fruits of their technical expertise in exchange for access to China's market.

"[China's] indigenous innovation political and economic campaign amounts to an all-hands-on-deck call to action for the Chinese nation to roll up its sleeves and complete the mission of catching up and even surpassing the West in science and technology," wrote James McGregor, a senior counselor for the consultancy Apco Worldwide and author of "One Billion Customers: Lessons from the Front Lines of Doing Business in China" (Free Press 2005), in the report commissioned by the chief U.S. industry body.