ChineseCommunistParty
Latest
China calls Apple's response to warranty complaints 'empty and self-praising'
Apple's products are overwhelmingly popular in the land where most of the devices are created -- China. But recent moves by the ruling Chinese Communist Party could spell trouble for Apple and other Western firms that currently command the smartphone market. The latest such move came yesterday when the government-controlled People's Daily newspaper ran a front-page article accusing the company of turning down journalists' requests for interviews and providing an "empty and self-praising" reply to a critical report broadcast by state-run China Central Television. According to an article in today's Wall Street Journal, this latest in a series of attacks suggests that the Chinese government is promoting the growth of home-grown smartphone companies like Lenovo, Huawei and ZTE, a move that could spell trouble for Apple. The company was recently accused by China Central Television of providing customer-service policies for Chinese customers that were different from those in other countries. Apple responded to the accusation on its website on Saturday, noting that "Apple's Chinese warranty is more or less the same as in the US and all over the world." The People's Daily article quoted a student who was upset with Apple's "double standards," saying that the company repairs broken phones in China but gives customers in other countries new replacement phones instead. Apple is not the only smartphone powerhouse being singled out by the Chinese government. Earlier this month, a government research institute published a report saying that the country relied too much on the Android smartphone operating system and accused Google of using its dominance in the smartphone market to discriminate against Chinese competition. The Verge reports that the Chinese government has approached Canonical for a custom version of Ubuntu to act as a national OS. The country is also pursuing standards that, if adopted, would force smartphone manufacturers to help the government identify users and track their use of apps.
Huawei complains about US spying allegations, implies McCarthy-style victimization
"We must remember always that accusation is not proof." So begins a report sponsored and published by Huawei, heavily quoting a 1954 US Senate report that condemned McCarthy and his anti-Communist hysteria. The document is a prelude to Huawei's forthcoming public testimony to the U.S. House of Representatives' Intelligence Committee, and its message is clear: the Chinese manufacturer is tired of how it's being treated in America, where numerous telecoms contracts have been blocked over "national security concerns." Huawei wants to be seen as an "opportunity" rather than a "threat," claiming it has scope to expand its 140,000 workforce and would love to create more jobs in America -- if only the US government would remove its "roadblock." Many other arguments are put forward, but some of the most interesting paragraphs deal with the background of Huawei's founder, Ren Zhengfei. The document claims that Zhengfei has been "tragically misunderstood" and that his alleged roles in the People's Liberation Army and Chinese Communist Party (CCP) are "unsubstantiated." The report doesn't deny those memberships ever existed, but instead downplays their significance -- for example by insisting that the CCP is now focused on promoting "private entrepreneurs" and "democratization." We admittedly stopped reading at that point, but if you'd like to continue then the full 78-page PDF, written by Dan Steinbock of the India, China and America Institute, is linked below.
