作为一个名义上奉行共产主义的国家，中国展示出对资本主义的出色了解。正是凭借这种悟性，中国即将超越日本，成为全球第二大经济体。这种悟性并不局限于市场运行方式。中国对科技公司的政策表明，它知道如何让市场向着有利于自己――但不利于他人――的方向倾斜。
10年来，北京方面对信息安全产品（如加密软件、智能卡和安全路由器）的生产商提出越来越苛刻的要求。强制认证和国内技术标准的要求，实际上强迫供应商与政府部门分享自己的技术。有意获利于中国市场快速增长的外国企业除了服从外，没有什么选择。
中国领导人明白这一点。人们有充足理由认为，他们的政策是一种有意识的战略，旨在利用中国的经济实力来左右技术标准，造成企业若不遵循中国标准就将付出过高代价的局面。
这一战略最明显的潜在成果是商业上的。外国公司抱怨，它们必须针对不同市场提供不同的产品系列，这种局面有利于本土竞争对手。中国的规则甚至包括彻底禁止海外供应商提供某些安全产品。此外人们还抱有一种合理的担忧，即中国政府可能将自己认证的技术转移给中国企业。
更为阴暗的影响在政治方面。举例而言，中国政府对加密技术掌握得越好，其审查部门就越能轻易破解加密保护。
曾几何时，国家安全意味着一国对哪些技术可以出口加以管控，如今，国家安全日趋要求一国警惕自己进口什么技术。如果全球统一采用中国要求的技术标准，那么世界各地的计算机就面临这样的风险：能否免遭网络攻击，只能取决于中国的意愿。近期谷歌(Google)的系统遭到侵入，据称北京方面参与了此事，这让人很难对中国的意愿抱有信心。
当然，其它大国也会凭借自己的实力蛮横一番。但其中最重要的几个国家受到自由度更高的国内市场和分权制度的制约。它们不应让北京方面放手制定主导性的技术标准。作为第一步，技术产品如果具有受他国政府控制的不可接受的风险，美国和欧盟可制订限制进口的方案。中国对于出口的依赖，也许能够推动它改变自己的立场。毕竟，北京方面仍具有足够的马克思主义观念，明白意识是由物质因素决定的。
译者/和风
For a nominally communist country, China displays a remarkable understanding of capitalism. Its savvy, which has brought it to the cusp of overtaking Japan as the world's second-largest economy, is not limited to how markets work. China's policy towards technology companies shows it knows how to tilt markets to its advantage � to the disadvantage of others.
For a decade Beijing has been making steadily stricter demands on producers of information security products such as encryption software, smart cards and secure routers. Compulsory certification and domestic technology standard requirements in effect force suppliers to share their technology with the government. Foreign companies wanting access to the breathtaking growth of China's market have little choice but to comply.
Chinese leaders know this. There is all reason to see their policies as a conscious strategy to use China's economic girth to shift technology standards by making it too costly for the industry not to adapt.
The potential fruits of this strategy are most obviously commercial. Foreign companies complain they will have to operate "bifurcated product lines" for different markets which benefit local rivals. The rules even include outright prohibitions on non-Chinese suppliers for some security products. Then there is the reasonable fear Beijing may pass the technology it certifies on to Chinese companies.
The more insidious implication is political. The better Beijing's mastery of encryption technology, for example, the more easily its censors can circumvent them.
Whereas national security once required controls on what technology could be exported, today it increasingly requires a critical look at what is imported. If the world converges to the standards China requires, computers everywhere risk being at the mercy of its willingness to refrain from cyberattacks. A recent infiltration of Google's systems, allegedly with Beijing's involvement, puts that willingness very much in doubt.
Other big countries throw their weight around too, of course. But the most important of them are constrained by freer domestic markets and the separation of powers. They should not let Beijing get away with its attempt to set standards in its controlling image. As a first step, the US and the EU could plan import restrictions on technology posing an unacceptable risk of control by other states. China's export dependence may induce it to change its view. Beijing remains Marxist enough to know that ideas are determined by material factors.
http://www.ftchinese.com/story/001031399
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