By Michael Martina
BEIJING, Aug 12 (Reuters) - American business groups are
lobbying U.S. President Barack Obama to press Chinese
counterpart Xi Jinping on technology protectionism concerns
during Xi's upcoming U.S. visit, according to a letter addressed
to Obama seen by Reuters.
In the letter dated Aug. 11, 19 U.S. business lobbies
including the American Chamber of Commerce in China and U.S.
Chamber of Commerce, and sector-focused groups including the
National Association of Manufacturers and Information Technology
Industry Council, prodded Obama to raise the issues faced by the
information and communications technology (ICT) sector.
"China has increasingly pursued policies that have adversely
affected the ability of U.S. ICT firms (and the companies that
rely on them) to do business in China," the groups wrote.
The lobbies specified China's "approach to defining its
national security interests", as a key concern, citing a range
of new and proposed laws that the U.S. groups said call into
question the world's second-largest economy's commitments to
open markets.
China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and State Council
Information Office did not immediately respond to written
requests for comment.
U.S. technology groups have been at loggerheads with China
since the country started acting on worries its national
security was threatened by the ubiquity of American technology.
Those fears stemmed from former National Security Agency
contractor Edward Snowden's 2013 leaks, showing that the U.S.
government had planted backdoors in products from America's
biggest technology companies, in order to spy on communications.
In their letter to Obama, the co-signees pressed him to
achieve a commitment that the two countries wouldn't use the
veil of national security to push through protectionist economic
policies that restrict competition.
Stronger critics of China say the country has done precisely
that, using vague wording to give policymakers great leeway in
how laws are implemented.
In recent months, Beijing has introduced various measures
stipulating what kind of products can be used, especially in
critical sectors like banking, where technology must be "secure
and controllable".
In July, China's legislature adopted a sweeping national
security law which included measures to tighten cyber security
for all key network infrastructure and information systems.
Chinese officials have said that Beijing welcomes all
countries' businesses to operate in the country, but that it
will not give up its national rights and sacrifice core
interests such as information security.
Foreign firms fear this could require that they make
products in China or use source code released to inspectors,
forcing them to expose intellectual property.
However, some Chinese technology companies have also been
hindered from doing business in the United States.
Huawei Technologies Co Ltd HWT.UL and ZTE Corp
0763.HK 000063.SZ are unable to fully operate in the country
after lawmakers said the two telecommunications firms threatened
national security.
Last year, China shut down a bilateral working group on
cyber security after the United States charged five Chinese
military officers with hacking American firms.
(Writing by Paul Carsten; Additional reporting by Megha
Rajagopalan and Beijing Newsroom; Editing by Jason Subler)