EU Parliament Wants China To Join ACTA, Even As It May Reject It?

from the politics-as-theater dept

We’ve written a few times that the end goal behind ACTA and TPP is to put in place frameworks by the US and Western Europe for certain things, and then pressure the key developing nations to join in based on the framework that has already been established. That is, let the US and Europe set the rules… and then pressure Brazil, Russia, India and China (BRIC) countries to “join” later, when they can no longer influence the rules. It’s not hard to see how the plan is really about looking for ways to stifle those up-and-coming economies. Of course, the end result will actually be the opposite. Since those countries won’t be saddled with overly restrictive laws (hopefully), there will be interesting opportunities for businesses.

And, of course, among the BRIC countries, none is seen as important as China. Thus, the real goal behind TPP and ACTA isn’t just to set up this framework around things like IP (TPP covers much more), but then to get China to sign on to support that framework. Of course, China, whose leaders are much more savvy than the west likes to give them credit for, have made it pretty clear that they have no interest in signing up for ACTA or TPP.

And yet… the EU Parliament is already trying to put pressure on China to sign on to ACTA. Yes, the same EU Parliament that has been moving closer and closer to rejecting ACTA itself has just passed a resolution to scold China for not signing up :

“regrets that China has not taken part in the negotiations on the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA)”

While the overall resolution covered a number of other trade issues concerning the EU and China — meaning that those who voted for it may have been focused on other issues, rather than just this one — there apparently was a vote specific to this line and it passed. MEP Christian Engstrom, who brought this to attention, notes that this should be a warning sign that, despite strong momentum against ACTA in the EU Parliament, it could still pass.

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Comments on “EU Parliament Wants China To Join ACTA, Even As It May Reject It?”

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22 Comments
gorehound (profile) says:

Re: then you have the usa doing ....

Yup ! My Government is a totally corrupted pile of poop.The only thing they will get out of ACTA& TPP & Any other Future Lame-Ass Treaty is more people Worldwide who will hate us Americans.I do not want the World to Hate me.I have no part in these schemes.I do not and never will support their scams.I will never allow the MAFIAA a way into my wallet for the rest of my life.
These Rich Fraks and the Scum Politicians are going to make it harder for us.People will hold up Protest Signs and Stuff that is Anti-American.I am not Paranoid or a wacko.I feel this inside.Am I Wrong ?
These Treaties are not Representing the people of the USA.We are the People and many of us are getting pissed.TPP did not go thru the Senate and on Techdirt I am sure you read the News and see that some flak is about to happen in the Senate over the Treaty.Even so, All those Rich Guys are taking money.They are playing Rich Man Games and it will bite them hard one day.

DUMBASS POLITICIANS says:

lol

ya and when your broke and have no job guess what …you get to come to canada and work at mac donalds for 15% then min wage UNLESS that university grad who don’t have a job is forced to take it first….
thanks to economic terrorism by lawyers, and there guards the musicians and actors guilds the worst piece a dirt unionists on earth that just had obama to dinner and bought him totally off, then you get mitt the racist piece a extremist religious nut fanatic …im like everyone should just really stop voting i mean it and DEMAND by PROTEST no more lobbying.

its the bribes that make it all work , do you think a politician would do any of this crap if he could not get a bribe/lobby cash? OR worse faced a criminal charge for it?

then you have them want in canada to buy useless f35 jets that after a 30 hour talk with a fighter pilot are really not what canada needs …and to do it make me and everyone under 55 now retire 2 years later so they can stuff there buddies pockets with more cash….
OH am i done no but omg its getting bad in canada folks its really heating up now…..

Duke (profile) says:

See, I wonder if the wording of this resolution is actually a good thing, or at least a neutral one. Rather than saying they think China should sign it (which we all know won’t happen for a long time), they only reference China not being present in the negotiations.

From a practical point of view, China not being present more or less guarantees that China won’t sign it, making it a fairly worthless treaty. Had China been present the treaty might have been more reasonable/acceptable (although that’s not certain) and more people might be willing to sign it.

Of course, if China’s absence means it is less likely to be ratified by the EU, I’m not going to complain about their absence…

william (profile) says:

Re: Re:

Yeah, China wants to implement harsher IP laws. You didn’t get that part wrong, but what everyone ignored is that it might not be the result you were thinking.

Company A suing Company B on IP in China.

Judge: So company A, you claim that company B violated your IP?
Company A: your honor, yes.

Judge flips through documents, found out company A is foreign company operating in China and company B is Chinese owned/State owned.

Judge: Company A has no ground in this case, summarily dismissed.
Company A: but! but!
Judge: DIMISSED.

Peter says:

This was the link i left on a comment in an another unrelated article about Christian Engstrom telling his opinion on what happened. Like he said: “Although this is not quite the same as voting yes to the ACTA agreement as such, it is a very alarming signal that there may in fact be a majority to say yes to ACTA in the European Parliament, despite all statements about ?ACTA being dead? that have been circulating in the press and elsewhere.” – His own words. Imagine the ‘anger’ that i felt and the thoughts that went (and still are) through my head/mind/heart.

Anonymous Coward says:

why the hell would China want anything to do with a law that would only inhibit itself whilst benefiting only the USA? even the EU isn’t going to benefit from it, so why they keep considering it, God only knows. and from what i understand, without ratification, USA wont have to stick to the rules etc but everyone else will. if the main instigator wants something that it wont be tied to itself, i would be extremely suspicious as to what is going on!

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