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US warns China over currency system
Washington: The US has warned China that it must swiftly overhaul its currency system or face the likelihood of being accused of manipulations to gain an unfair trade advantage, with the likelihood of economic sanctions following.

US President, George W Bush also warned China that it was not living up to the market-opening promises it made to join the World Trade Organisation (WTO) in late 2001. The administration has been prodding China over the last two years to stop linking its currency, the Yuan, to the US dollar. At a White House swearing-in ceremony for US Trade Representative Rob Portman - who was officially sworn in last month - Bush pointedly said it was in China's interest to abide by WTO rules.

Manufacturers and other critics, including lawmakers in Congress, have always contended that China's currency system puts US companies at a big competitive disadvantage and has contributed to the loss of US factory jobs.
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Software piracy: China amongst top five
Singapore: Software piracy in the Asia-Pacific region has seen manufacturers lose around $8 billion to pirates in 2004, with China, Vietnam and Indonesia among the top five nations flouting intellectual property laws, a global anti-piracy watchdog, the Business Software Alliance (BSA) has said in its global software piracy study.

Vietnam topped the global BSA list with 92 per cent of all software used coming from pirates. It was followed by the Ukraine (91 per cent), China (90 per cent), Zimbabwe (90 per cent) and Indonesia (87 per cent).

At the other end of the scale were the United States and New Zealand at 21 per cent and 23 per cent respectively.

Globally, the software industry in 2004 was worth $90 billion but only $59 billon was actually paid for commercially packaged software, BSA has said.
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