Abstract
China has become increasingly concerned about its overdependence on foreign technology at the expense of the development of a national innovation system of its own, the flow of benefits to different participants in the international division of labor, and the relative gains accruing to the standard-setters in international production networks. In this sense, China has turned its attention to standards as one of its strategies for meeting the increasing challenges resulting from its participation in the World Trade Organization (WTO).2 In other words, China’s policy on developing its own technical standards should be seen as a strategic response to an international trading system in which standards are critically important for determining the gains from globalization. Information and communications technology (ICT) standards are widely seen as important but are not adequately understood by international trade policymakers. Although the increasing economic influence of China has attracted much attention, Chinese ICT standards are still not well understood, particularly their wider trade law and policy context. China's interest in standards is driven by a complex set of issues associated with technology policies, and its ICT standards strategy illustrates the complexity of determining whether China's standard-setting measures cross the line toward protectionism. China's attention to standards and its paradigmatic approach, as one of its strategies for meeting the challenges resulting from its accession to the WTO, not only affects business decisions but also raise questions about the use of a policy tool to enhance the competitiveness of Chinese industry in ways that may be inconsistent with the spirit, if not the letter, of WTO law. China's rise as a global manufacturing center, combined with its growing technological capabilities, increasingly enables China to force its indigenous standards onto the international economic order. This is because international manufacturers must comply with these standards in order to access China's large and potentially lucrative domestic market. Such a new approach, however, is dynamic and evolving in accordance with the changing role of China in the international trade environment.