Published in News

China presses ahead with glorious five year tech plan

by on20 August 2015


US tech companies nervy

The Chinese government is set to hack off the US government by working on a set of banking cyber security regulations.

It had suspended the move earlier this year because it will annoy US tech companies considerably.

Last week in Beijing, officials from the China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC) told representatives from several Western technology companies, including Microsoft, IBM and Cisco Systems, they would seek opinions over the next month on a new version of the bank procurement rules.

The previous regulations which were put on ice, contained provisions that required Chinese banks to buy more domestic IT equipment or Western tech vendors to disclose secret source code if they sell to lenders.

Foreign tech companies were briefly optimistic that the rules would be dropped indefinitely, their resumption now underlines China's determination to follow through on what is considered a top national security priority for Beijing.

Xi, who visited California in 2013, will make his first state visit next month to the White House, where cyber security disputes, including the theft of US government personnel data by suspected Chinese hackers, are expected to be on the agenda.

However the Chinese can equally complain that the US was just as bad and it had also blocked Chinese companies competing in the US on security fears.

Many fear that even if Beijing formally rolled back some of the more onerous terms, banks would still unofficially be discouraged from purchasing foreign equipment.

CBRC officials appeared sensitive to the criticism, saying at last week's meeting they had consulted China's Ministry of Commerce and WTO experts to ensure that its proposals would meet China's free-trade obligations, according to the person who attended the meeting.

Last modified on 20 August 2015
Rate this item
(1 Vote)

Read more about: