Diplomatic resolution of U.S. - China proprietary debt

[Loren Booda]

The U.S. owes China around 2 trillion dollars. How might patent violations and industrial espionage by China (and the U.S.) figure in modifying this debt? In that regard it seems to me that China is undermining the U.S. economy by being the stealthiest of thieves. Can the debt be further resolved by fairness?

 

[WhoWee]

The U.S. owes China around 2 trillion dollars. How might patent violations and industrial espionage by China (and the U.S.) figure in modifying this debt? In that regard it seems to me that China is undermining the U.S. economy by being the stealthiest of thieves. Can the debt be further resolved by fairness?

Label this opinion - based on personal experience only.

The Chinese were willing to sell products at a loss to fill manufacturing capacity 10 years ago. They were also willing (in some cases) to make investments in new equipment and purchase old equipment and supplies relocated to China. In most cases they required a specific volume purchase - for inexpensive (junk) items normally increments of 1 million units - for large items a dollar amount. They like to deal in container quantities.

Now, if there were over-committments of volume or change orders - they viewed this as a breach of the agreement. In the early days, you could not call China and tell them to stop the production line - they would just keep making the items and pile them high. if you didn't take delivery - they dumped them anywhere they could at or above the price you agreed to pay.

Also - they have an appetite for reverse engineering - sometimes they find a way to lower production costs and sometimes they "invent" a new product.

Again IMO - now that they don't have to sell products at a loss - they are going to test all of the limits.

The key is to find out what they want and or need - and address them head-on. Continued IMO - Donald Trump does know a little bit about dealing with the Chinese - he shouldn't be discounted (wholesale) on this topic.

 

[mege]

What entity does own the 'Chineese' portion of the US debt? I thought it was a Sino-bank of some sort? (Which I support may be 100% government ran, but still)

 

[WhoWee]

What entity does own the 'Chineese' portion of the US debt? I thought it was a Sino-bank of some sort? (Which I support may be 100% government ran, but still)

That's a valid legal question. However, if you look closely at the "ownership" of the manufacturing base you might just identify a trend - high level Party affiliation - and in some cases the use of excess military manufacturing capacity.