dtnovels Chapter 371 Seminar
Chapter 371 Seminar
Just as Ling Yun's thoughts were wandering, a man in his fifties sitting in the row in front of him raised his hand and said, "I am Chen Guangming from China Zhenhua Electronics Group. We mainly manufacture electronic components, such as resistors, capacitors, and connectors. The people in front of me have all talked about large components, complete machines, chips, and communication equipment. Let me talk about components. Components may seem insignificant, but they are the foundation. Without components, no complete machine can be made. Currently, most domestic component manufacturers are small factories with low technical levels and unstable quality. High-end components still rely on imports."
"With China's entry into the WTO, foreign components are coming in at lower prices and with better quality. What will happen to these small domestic factories? They'll all be squeezed out. Once they're gone, OEMs will only be able to buy components from imports. What if those importers raise prices or cut off supplies? So I suggest that we also protect the component sector. Not just one or two companies, but the entire industry. Give them time to upgrade their technology and improve quality. It won't recover in three to five years."
After Chen Guangming finished speaking, the conference room was silent for a few seconds. Then the man sitting next to Ling Yun raised his hand. He was the one with the thermos in front of him. He said, "I'm Li Mingyuan from Sichuan Changhong Electronics Group. We mainly manufacture consumer electronics products such as televisions and monitors. What the previous speakers said makes sense. But I'd like to offer a different perspective. Entering the WTO will definitely have an impact on consumer electronics. But we can't just focus on protection. How long can protection last? Three years? Five years? Ten years later? We'll still have to face competition."
"Changhong has been making televisions for so many years, from black and white to color, from CRT to flat panel. We've seen it all. This isn't the first time foreign brands have entered the market. In the early 1990s, Panasonic, Sony, Toshiba—which one didn't come in? Were we afraid? No. Why? Because we have our own technology, our own brand, and our own distribution channels. In the television industry, we can handle everything ourselves, from picture tubes to circuit design, from casing molds to production lines."
"Our costs are lower than Japan's, and the quality isn't inferior. Joining the WTO isn't a bad thing for Changhong. The market is bigger, and our products can be sold overseas. My suggestion is to open up the consumer electronics sector. But the prerequisite is that the government must support technological research and development. We can't rely solely on enterprises. Japan's television industry was also developed with government support. The same was true for South Korea. Why can't we learn from them?"
After Li Mingyuan finished speaking, a young man sitting in the back row raised his hand. He was in his early thirties and looked like he worked in technology. "I'm Xu Wenhua from Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. We mainly deal with communication equipment. Mr. Wang just mentioned communication equipment, and I'd like to add a few points. Huawei has been competing with foreign brands for years. In the domestic market for products like switches, access networks, and optical transmission, we're no longer inferior to Cisco and Lucent. Why? Because we invest in R&D. Huawei invests more than 10% of its sales revenue in R&D every year."
"Entering the WTO is an opportunity for Huawei. It opens up overseas markets, allowing us to sell our products in Europe, Southeast Asia, and Africa. But there's a prerequisite: we must master the core technologies ourselves—chips, operating systems, and algorithms—we can't rely on others. Huawei is currently designing chips, but manufacturing still depends on others. If we enter the WTO and foreign chip manufacturers flood in, it will impact Huawei's chip design business. So I suggest that we protect chip manufacturing. At least we need to have our own production capacity. Otherwise, if we design something but no one can manufacture it, it's all for nothing."
After Xu Wenhua finished speaking, a woman sitting in the second row raised her hand. "I'm Lin Xiaoyan from China Electronics Equipment Corporation. We mainly deal in the trade and distribution of electronic components. I agree with what Mr. Chen said about components. But I'd like to add something, which is the issue of standards. With China's entry into the WTO, foreign products are coming in. Who sets the technical standards? If we don't have our own standards, we can only follow others' standards. The people who set the standards always hold the initiative. Our standards, TD-SCDMA, digital television standards, and third-generation mobile communication standards—these things were all developed with great effort by the country."
"With China's entry into the WTO, can these standards be preserved? If foreign manufacturers enter the market and use their standards to dominate it, our standards will become obsolete. Therefore, I suggest that we protect our technical standards. In any field, as long as we have our own standards, we must resolutely promote and protect them. We cannot abandon our standards just because of the WTO."
After Lin Xiaoyan finished speaking, the conference room fell silent. Deputy Director Li looked at the audience and said, "Who else wants to speak? Please speak up, don't hold back."
A man sitting in the third row raised his hand. He was in his fifties, chubby, and wearing a dark jacket. He said, "I'm Liu Daqing from China Hualu Group. We mainly produce digital audio and video products and storage devices. I particularly agree with what General Manager Lin said about standards. The DVD standard is controlled by foreigners. For every DVD player we produce, we have to pay more than ten dollars in patent fees, and all the profits go to foreigners. If we can't promote our own standards after joining the WTO, we'll be stuck paying patent fees to others forever. So I suggest that the standard issue be elevated to the level of national strategy. We need to not only protect it but also promote it. The domestic market is so big. If we use our own standards, foreigners will have to abide by our rules if they want to come in. That's true protection."
After Liu Daqing finished speaking, a man sitting in the fifth row raised his hand and said, "I'm Zhou Ming from Datang Telecom Technology Co., Ltd. We mainly do communication equipment and system integration. I agree with what everyone said before. But I want to talk about an issue that many people may not have paid much attention to: talent. When we entered the WTO, what was the first thing foreign companies did? They poached our talent. They offered three or five times the salary to lure away our best technical personnel. Without people, we can't develop any technology. How many years does it take us to train a qualified engineer? Five years? Ten years? They can just take him away with one offer. So protecting talent is more urgent than protecting technology. I suggest that we have special policies for core technical personnel. There should be preferential treatment in housing, children's education, and personal income tax. This will make them willing to stay and prevent foreign companies from poaching them. This is something that companies alone cannot do; the government needs to introduce policies."
After Zhou Ming finished speaking, Deputy Director Li nodded and said, "The issue of talent is indeed important. I've made a note of it."
He glanced around the audience and said, "Anything else? If not, I'll summarize a few points." He paused, then continued, "Today's meeting went very well. I understood everyone's opinions. The military industry needs protection, chips need protection, components need protection, standards need protection, and talent needs protection. Consumer electronics can be opened up, and communication equipment can be gradually opened up. The situation and demands are different in each field. I will write these opinions down in the meeting minutes and report them to the leadership. The final decision will be studied by the leadership. But there's one point I want to remind everyone: China's entry into the WTO is an inevitable trend that cannot be stopped. Protection can only provide temporary relief. In the long run, we still have to rely on our own competitiveness. Technology, products, management, talent—if any of these are lacking, we must make up for them. Relying solely on policies won't last for many years."
He stood up and glanced at his watch. "That's all for today. Meeting adjourned."