China Flouting International Law While Asking for Special Treatment, Says Former Ambassador

‘Some policymakers and business leaders are ... acting as if China were a poor developing country whose companies need special treatment,’ he wrote.

The headquarters of the World Trade Organization in Geneva, Switzerland, on Dec. 11, 2019. Robert Hradil/Getty Images

Chinese industries and Chinese regime officials are asking for preferential treatment while refusing to pay standard technology fees, former U.S. Ambassador to China Gary Locke said in a Newsweek op-ed published on May 27.

Locke detailed how Chinese industries have for years gotten around paying the royalty rates for standard-essential patents (SEPs). These are licenses for technology that allow devices, such as computers, phones, and cars, to operate on a standard technology, like connecting to the same Wi-Fi and 5G networks, he said.