I’m spending some time in China this spring – flying into Beijing and heading west along parts of Route 312. China’s changing position in global economics has been especially intriguing. From search engine censorship to this latest barely covered story from the Japanese press featured on Slashdot. “China plans to demand the source code from hardware manufacturers and ban the sales of products from companies that don’t comply.” Calling it “obligatory accreditation system for IT security products.”

With the current conflation of business and government in China (maybe not all that different here considering recent trends in ownership and control), this places powerful technology source in the hands of the government for increased surveillance of the people. From a purely business concern, this releases intellectual property directly to the Chinese government without the country’s need for investment. This could allow Chinese technology companies to reach immediate parity with international technology companies, undermining any attempts for companies outside China to achieve competitive advantage or, eventually, even competitiveness.