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The European-Chinese Trade Imbalance
by Danielle Belopotosky
The European Commission has called on the public to participate in the development of the region's trade strategy with China.
On Monday, the commission launched a Web page for the public to submit comments on policies to address the growing challenges and opportunities presented by China's economic rise.
With two-way trade between China and the European Union reaching more than $255 billion in 2005, the region has become China's top trading partner, pulling ahead of the United States and Japan. But similar to the United States, the region maintains a trade imbalance with the fast-expanding Chinese market. The EU trade deficit reached $127 billion last year.
EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson last week called China the "biggest single challenge of globalization in the trade field." Speaking at a seminar in Wolfsberg, Switzerland, Mandelson said the commission later this year would make recommendations on China trade policy to the Council of the European Union and the European Parliament.
"Europe must get China right, as a threat, as an opportunity and prospective partner," he said. The report will focus on challenges such as intellectual property rights, investment opportunities and market access.
The report will provide guidance as trade negotiators prepare a framework agreement, which is sought by both China and the European Union. The EU trade objective is to "work for the smooth and sustainable integration of China into the global economy, and to achieve more balanced trade conditions based on open markets and fair competition," according to the commission.
In November, meanwhile, roughly 850 Chinese and EU businesses are slated to hold an estimated 5,000 business talks during a trade and investment fair. The fair will occur in Chengdu, the capital of China's Sichuan province, according to Chinese media reports.
Global Talks Top Europe's Trade Agenda
Speaking from Switzerland last week, Mandelson also urged trade negotiators to find a quick resolution to the World Trade Organization talks that began in Doha, Qatar, in 2001. He said the so-called Doha Round remains his "paramount priority."
In what he described as a "moment of truth," Mandelson said negotiators need to find a "balanced grand bargain ... or face the consequences of putting off agreement for some time."
Trade negotiators missed an April deadline for an agreement over agriculture and non-agricultural market access. And last week, the American Business Coalition for Doha sent a letter to WTO trade ministers expressing disappointment with the pace of negotiations.
The coalition is "profoundly disappointed at WTO members' failure to meet yet another critical deadline," according to the letter. The signatories wrote that a successful round of talks could result in a $300 billion injection into the global economy over the next decade while extending "benefits of globalization" to the developing world.
They further urged negotiators to reject a "Doha light" deal that would produce just "modest" trade liberalization and changes. If trade officials fail, the coalition said the opportunity for the world's poorest countries to receive duty- and quota-free access to world markets is at stake.
The coalition is comprised of more than 200 industry associations and U.S. companies, including AT&T, Hewlett-Packard and Microsoft.
Belarusian Presidential Election Under Scrutiny
Despite worries about the filtering of politically oriented Internet sites during the March presidential election in Belarus, a recent report found little evidence to support those fears.
The OpenNet Initiative, which issued its first report on the topic last week, found that on average, independent and opposition Web sites were accessible throughout the group's monitoring period.
Still, the initiative's testing revealed that more indirect methods were used to disrupt access to such sites. One test of 37 independent media and opposition sites found that they were inaccessible from the state-owned Beltelecom network on Election Day, while those same sites could be accessed from the Belinfonet network.
Another test found that the site of Aleksandr Milinkevich, the main opposition candidate to President Aleksandr Lukashenka, was "dead" on Election Day.
The initiative -- a partnership among four university research centers, including the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University and the Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto -- cautioned that such Internet access irregularities may be the "way of the future in democratically challenged countries."
Initiative investigator Rafal Rohozinski of the Advanced Network Research Group at the University of Cambridge, another partner, said in a statement that the Internet is "gaining ground as a major political 'battle space' during elections in much of the developing world."
Canadian Privacy Bill Reacts To PATRIOT Act
A lawmaker in Nova Scotia, Canada, last week introduced provincial legislation to protect personal information from being disclosed under the 2001 U.S. anti-terrorism law known as the USA PATRIOT Act.
Justice Minister Murray Scott of Nova Scotia said his proposal would provide protection against the access to and the disclosure and storage of personal information in the control of a public agency. The bill also outlines penalties for the inappropriate disclosure of personal information outside Canada.
"We know that American security legislation has led to concerns about the ability to access personal information on Nova Scotians held outside Canada," Scott said in a statement. His proposal outlines the responsibilities of local governments, public agencies and technology service providers, he said.
Under the proposal, the justice minister would be notified if a foreign country requests information on any Nova Scotian. It also would direct Internet service providers to collect and store personal information only as necessary to help a public agency or local government.
The measure would expand "whistleblower" protection to employees of external service providers by ensuring their protection if they report any offenses under the law.
Penalties for government and Internet company employees who maliciously disclose information would be up to $1,816. Companies would face fines of more than $454,000. "We are putting in place serious and significant penalties to protect the privacy of Nova Scotians," Scott said.
Japan May Post Public TV Programs Online
A Japanese advisory panel last week agreed on a proposal to put the entire archive of Japan's public television programs on the Internet, according to the Daily Yomiuri Online.
Under the draft proposal, more than 550,000 programs would be made available online. The panel, which reports to the Japanese Minister for Internal Affairs and Communications, is expected to release its final report later this month. Of those programs owned by NHK, or the Japan Broadcasting Corporation, some 5,700 currently are available online.
In order to achieve that goal, the ministry would have to lift its $9 million annual revenue restriction on the network. The panel further said Japan's broadcast law should be revised to permit NHK to charge a fee to consumers for viewing the programs online.
In its final report, the panel will recommend changes in Japan's copyright laws to simplify the process of obtaining licenses to release TV programs online.
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