Chinese top statistician Li Deshui has appealed for special
attention to probable monopoly as multinational companies are keen
to purchase Chinese counterparts.
Li, director of National Bureau of Statistics, said that some
foreign corporations are restructuring their investment in China in
an effort to play a dominant role in a certain sector.
The official made the remarks on the sideline of the annual
session of the 10th National Committee of the Chinese People's
Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC),
China's top political advisory body. Li is a member of the CPPCC
National Committee.
Other CPPCC members echoes Li's view, saying that a certain
foreign corporation could stealthily establish a monopoly position
in the Chinese market in this way.
The Renminbi savings of Chinese residents reached 14.8 trillion
yuan (US$1.75 trillion) at the end of January this year. The
country's foreign exchange reserves rank second in the world, said
Xie Zhaohua, a CPPCC member.
Supportive policies should be given to homegrown enterprises to
help them upgrade technologies, speed up innovations, catch up with
multinational companies, and turn out better products, he said.
Official statistics show that Kodak has taken half of China's
market share in sensitive materials; Fujifilm, 25 percent;
Microsoft, 95 percent; and Cisco, two thirds in their respective
fields.
"We have plenty of capital at home, but why some local
governments prefer giving foreign investment preferential policies
in terms of taxation, land use and loan?" Xie asked.
"We welcome multinational companies to set up technological
research centers in China, but they are not allowed to pursue
technological monopoly," Xie said.
CPPCC National Committee member Tang Zhuhua also said great
efforts should be made to protect homegrown brands and fixed
assets.
(Xinhua News Agency March 8, 2006)