China urged to follow the Wi-Fi herd
Published: 26 Feb 2004 11:10 GMT
An industry body in the United States is pleading with Chinese authorities to ditch its proprietary Wi-Fi specification, saying the plan could impede the country's technological progress and breach previously agreed trade concessions.
"A unique Chinese national standard will slow the development of China's information technology industries because it will hamper the ability of Chinese firms to access the innovations emerging from thousands of companies around the world and because it will make it more difficult for Chinese producers to export to world markets," said George Scalise, president of US-based Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA).
"China should adopt international standards for its own industry to compete globally, and it should participate in international standards bodies," he stressed.
The disputed specification, called Wired Authentication and Privacy Infrastructure (WAPI), was implemented by the Standardization Administration of China in a bid to address national security concerns. All local and international networking equipment makers were initially expected to incorporate the new requirement in their Wi-Fi gear for China by December last year but extensive lobbying by the US government has resulted in a six-month extension, SIA said in a statement.
China's move to adopt its own wireless encryption standard has naturally raised the ire of foreign firms, particularly chipmakers, which are concerned the new requirement would be a major stumbling block for them to break into the country's booming technology market.
The incorporation of WAPI is also expected to raise production costs as companies will have to customise their gear just for the mainland market. WAPI is incompatible with internationally recognised specifications such as Wi-Fi Protected Access and the upcoming 802.11i, developed and enforced by industry groups like Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers and the Wi-Fi Alliance.
To complicate matters, SIA said technical information for implementing WAPI is not readily available and international firms may have to enter into technology-sharing agreements with 24 designated Chinese firms to gain access to the specification. This raises the disquieting concerns of intellectual property theft as foreign companies could be made to share their closely guarded designs with their mainland counterparts.
"If enacted, the local co-production requirements would set a dangerous precedent by imposing technology transfer and local content requirements that China committed to eliminate with WTO (World Trade Organization) accession," Scalise said. "In addition, the WAPI requirements create a market access barrier and raise serious national treatment concerns."
China has long been known for advocating domestically developed technical protocols over international standards. Besides WAPI, the Chinese government is also pushing proprietary technologies for DVDs and third-generation cellular networks.
CNET News.com's Richard Shim contributed to this report.
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