War on Intellectual Property between US and China: Law and Development Perspectives

Abstract

Forced technology transfer (FTT) has been widely considered a central sticking point in the trade war between the US and China over the last few years, with China being accused by the US (and the EU) of pursuing and enacting a number of policies allowing FTT, IP disclosures, and innovation theft. In response, China announced a revision of their domestic laws that regulate foreign investment and promised to withdraw its FTT policies. In this regard, this article is the first effort to employ the literature in the field of law and development to explain why China has been highly reluctant to give up its FTT policies and clarify factors such as asymmetric information between the US and China that aggravate their conflict.