The Chinese delegation to the ISO/IEC JTC/SC06/WG1 conference, a
working group under the ISO, said in a written statement on
Wednesday that it would withdraw from the ongoing meeting in
Frankfurt because of unfair treatment.
A wireless network connection standard is under discussion at
the conference. China's submission is its Wireless Authentication
and Privacy Infrastructure (WAPI), which is designed to increase
the security of the wireless local area network (WLAN) and is
competing with the IEEE802.11i to be designated as the
international standard.
The statement did not specify what was unfair about the
treatment given the Chinese delegation.
However, at an earlier press briefing delegation members said
that "international monopoly forces" blocked the WAPI and tried to
get the US-dominated IEEE802.11i adopted as the international
standard.
Earlier reports indicated that the ISO refused China's proposal
to discuss the WAPI and IEEE802.11i proposal together, and
delegates to the conference were told to vote on the 802.11i
proposal, mainly supported by a number of US organizations and
companies.
China tried to implement the WAPI as a national standard on June
1, 2004, to protect WLAN information security, drawing strong
complaints from the United States and other countries. The Chinese
government decided to postpone the date indefinitely and urged the
Chinese working group and international standardization bodies to
cooperate.
Zhang Ying, general manager of domestic research house Analysys,
said the difficulties the Chinese delegation met reflected strong
opposition from some US interests, such as semiconductor giant
Intel and WLAN equipment maker Broadcom. Zhang said that there are
no clear-cut advantages or disadvantages to either of the proposals
in terms of their technologies.
Intel CEO Craig Barrett said last year during a trip to China
that his company welcomed an open international standard and
suggested that his company would follow the 802.11i proposal if it
were adopted. Intel is one of the strongest supporters of WLAN,
used in its Centrino processors, and is believed to be the biggest
opponent of the WAPI proposal.
Zhang Ying pointed out that another reason for the WAPI's
failure was the lack of communication with other competing
proposals. Analysys predicted in a report in January that a revised
WAPI standard might have a chance to merge with IEEE802.11i to
become part of the international standard.
However, Zhang believes the door to the international standard
remains open and the only difference might be that the process will
drag on longer. He said that US companies might want to use the
extended time to make their proposals become the de facto
standard in the market.
"The biggest weakness of the WAPI is the lack of industrial
support," said Zhang. He believes mass production of WAPI-based
products and network construction will start this year.
The size of the Chinese market and industrial support will be
two biggest bargaining chips for the homegrown WAPI proposal.
(China Daily February 25, 2005)