The apparently civil discussion surrounded a disagreement as to the repercussions of China's difficulties in enforcing intellectual property rights (IPR) protections. In short, Locke expressed his view that lack of IPR enforcement would stifle Chinese innovation. Li, on the other hand, merely expressed his disagreement and noted that China's policy focus instead needed to be on supporting entrepreneurs and removing barriers to their success. (Notice how Li cleverly took Locke's cue and changed the topic from IPR to innovation?)
So who is right about innovation? Where should China focus its policy in order to better support innovation? Should it beef up IPR enforcement, or should it focus on removing barriers to the private sector? Which would give it the biggest bang for its policy buck? (Not that this is necessarily an either/or proposition -- China is big and rich enough now to do both -- but humor me on this.)
Some of my readers may be surprised to learn that I think Li Daokui was right. While Locke was certainly carrying out his duty as Ambassador by saying that China needs to improve IPR protection, the truth is that IPR protection has very little to do with innovation in a developing country like China. In fact, history tells us that, since the dawn of the Industrial Revolution, every subsequent country to jump on the development bandwagon has copied those who came before.
...every country that became economically great began by copying: the Germans copied the British; the Americans copied the British and the Germans, and the Japanese copied everybody.*This is not to excuse the Chinese companies that blatantly copy foreign products and the government that often chooses to look the other way, but since Locke chose to introduce innovation into the discussion, the issue deserves a closer look.
My research on China's auto industry reveals that the most innovative among China's automakers are the private and independent automakers, not the massive state-owned enterprises (SOEs) with their foreign joint venture partners. While private players have yet to introduce any real breakthrough innovation, their progress in developing new energy vehicles and unique Chinese brands is ahead of the SOEs. The reason for this (and you'll have to take my word for it until my book comes out) is twofold.
First, leadership positions in SOEs are essentially political positions. The men who run these companies have their eyes on their next job, which will be a political appointment to run an association or a local government, or even to become a Vice Minister or Minister in the central government. In order to better assure themselves of a good position, they tend to be risk-averse in their decision making.
Second, because these guys have short-term investment horizons, "wasting" money on R&D is not high on their agendas. R&D spending only helps the next guy. It is much easier to rake in profits building and selling foreign branded cars. They simply lack the career incentives to take the kind of risks that result in significant innovation.
(Here is another story today about how "JV brands" have not resulted in the innovation that the central government had been hoping for. Why? Again, forcing foreign partners to hand over technology does not translate into innovation, especially when leadership incentives are not changed. I previously wrote about this "JV brands" or "sub brands" issue several months back.)
So while Li Daokui seemed to be changing the subject above, he was actually addressing Locke's point about innovation. And if China's auto industry is any kind of indication for China as a whole, the central government would do well to follow Li's advice and remove the barriers that continue to marginalize private business in China.
Of course, as an American, I would like to see the home team do well, so if China continues to insist on a preponderance of state control over all of its major industries, I believe that will ultimately be to the advantage of China's competitors. And they need every advantage they can get.
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* William Kingston, “An Agenda for Radical Intellectual Property Reform,” in International Public Goods and Transfer of Technology Under a Globalized Intellectual Property Regime, ed. Keith E. Maskus and Jerome H. Reichman (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2005), 658.
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