Bonum Certa Men Certa

Cablegate: Microsoft Lobbies China to Attack Microsoft 'Addicts', Use “Minimum of Two-or-three Enforcement Showcases”

Cablegate



Summary: A look at how Microsoft is gently pressuring China to suit Microsoft rather than China

MICROSOFT along with its bully, the BSA, have been busy trying to make Chinese law a little more China-hostile, in order to increase Microsoft profits after it seeded the market. "They’ll get sort of addicted," Bill Gates famously explained about Chinese people, "and then we’ll somehow figure out how to collect sometime in the next decade."



Disgusting. Greed, addiction, exploitation. Cornerstones of Microsoft?

The Cablegate cable from 5 years ago shows us how Microsoft gently blackmails the Chinese, promising jobs only if they change Chinese practices to suit Microsoft:








VZCZCXRO1395 OO RUEHCN RUEHGH RUEHVC DE RUEHGZ #0810/01 2700601 ZNR UUUUU ZZH O 270601Z SEP 06 FM AMCONSUL GUANGZHOU TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 4043 INFO RUEHOO/CHINA POSTS COLLECTIVE RUCPDOC/USDOC WASHDC RUEHRC/USDA FAS WASHDC 0912 RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC RUEKJCS/DIA WASHDC RHHMUNA/HQ USPACOM HONOLULU HI UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 GUANGZHOU 030810

SIPDIS

STATE FOR EAP/CM AND DRL USDA FOR FAS/ITP AND FAS/FAA USDOC FOR 4420/ITA/MAC/MCQUEEN USPACOM FOR FPA

SENSITIVE SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: ECON, EINV, KIPR, CH SUBJECT: Microsoft Growing Rapidly in South China

(U) This document is sensitive but unclassified. Please protect accordingly.

1. (SBU) Summary: Microsoft representatives told the Consul General September 21 that with the company's rapid growth in Shenzhen and elsewhere, they expect sales in South China to surpass those in Hong Kong. Company representatives complained about weak copyright enforcement and asked the Consulate to continue to highlight the need for improved IPR protection with local government leaders. End summary.

South China: a fast-growing key market for software --------------------------------------------- ------

2. (U) The two representatives - Ni Jianbo, General Manager of the Branch Office, and Zhong Weidong, Southern Regional Manager of Microsoft's branch company in Guangzhou - were bullish on the company's overall development and future plans, but more tentative about prospects for protecting Microsoft's intellectual property rights (IPR) in southern China. South China accounts for about 30% of the Microsoft's overall revenues countrywide, of which half comes from Shenzhen. Some of Microsoft's businesses, such as its enterprise partnership group, have grown by 200 times since the establishment of the Shenzhen branch office in 2005. Ni and Zhong believe Microsoft's sales in South China will exceed that of Hong Kong next year, while sales volumes in East China have already surpassed those of Hong Kong and are expected to exceed those of Taiwan next year. The Greater China market (mainland China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan) is so important to Microsoft that it is one of the company's seven key subsidiaries in the world that reports directly Microsoft's headquarters in Seattle.

3. (U) Microsoft's clients in Shenzhen include China's giant telecommunication groups of Huawei Technologies and ZTE (Zhong Xin) as well as local governments. Microsoft established its branch office in Shenzhen to provide a quicker response to local clients, to save operation costs and to better compete with other software companies, such as Oracle, which came much earlier than Microsoft to Shenzhen. Currently Microsoft has three sites in Shenzhen, dealing with sales, technical support, research and development and training.

4. (U) According to Ni and Zhong, Microsoft is building close relationships with the local government in Shenzhen. To demonstrate its long-term commitment to Shenzhen, Microsoft plans to upgrade the branch office into a branch company, which would then pay tax locally instead of to the main office in Beijing, to make more investments, and to merge its three scattered office sites into one in Shenzhen. Following a nationwide "cooperation" model with local governments, Microsoft is partnering with a local company designated by Shenzhen Government to set up a cooperation program called "MSTC" (Microsoft Training Center) which helps local governments by providing technical support, training, and solutions to e-government projects; this also ensures the use of legal software. In the Guangzhou consular district, Microsoft has opened one MSTC in Xiamen, Fujian Province, is planning to open one in Hainan next month, and has plans to open a center in Guangxi.

Weak IPR enforcement remains a big challenge --------------------------------------------

5. (SBU) Ni and Zhong commented that while local governments have been making progress in IPR protection, copyright protection for software was a low priority for local officials, particularly in Guangzhou. Zhong said local Copyright Bureau officials focused mainly on developing the local cultural industry, including publishing and audio and video products. Local government agencies have made little effort to enforce the rights of stakeholders in the software industry (both domestic and foreign), despite Microsoft's lobbying efforts during the past several years. According to Zhong, the main reason behind the relative absence of copyright enforcement was that software industry contributes a very small portion of local GDP, the majority of which relies on manufacturing. They also thought that officials might be concerned about the impact of rigorous enforcement on the local business environment since many manufacturers use pirated software. Local officials often do not attend copyright protection seminars or events that industry chambers such as the Business Software Association (BSA) or Chinese Software Association (CSA) organize. Both Zhong and Ni said that the lack of interest in protecting software copyright puts Guangdong at a disadvantage when competing with Shanghai; in addition, lack of

GUANGZHOU 00030810 002 OF 002

protection will not help upgrade Guangdong upgrade knowledge-based industries.

6. (SBU) Zhong, who had previously worked in Microsoft's branches in Southwest China for three years, pointed out that officials in those areas were more cooperative than Guangdong. Microsoft was successful in getting enforcement action in Southwest China by adopting a "top-down" strategy to build relations with local provincial and municipal leaders and thus encourage them to order local enforcement agencies to take more action. A similar strategy in South China had not been as successful, though Ni acknowledged this effort was new. In Guangxi, Microsoft got a commitment from the local Copyright Bureau to take two enforcement cases, starting in October. Zhong commented that most enforcement agencies just want a few "showcase" actions they can point to and then do nothing further. Microsoft's goal is to have local agencies do a minimum of two-or-three enforcement showcases to achieve successes and hope this will encourage them to do more. At the same time, the company also realizes that it is impossible for local government to do too many cases, given their limited resources.

7. (SBU) Zhong asked the Consul General to urge local government leaders in Guangdong to be more cooperative in copyright cooperation, since they found "Top-down" strategy is very helpful in other areas where they also first encounter officials unwilling to cooperate.

Comment -------

8. (SBU) Microsoft's experience in South China highlights regional differences in China's IPR enforcement. Enforcement is often subject to local protectionism. Local officials often believe that enforcement conflicts with the need to develop the economy in order for them to get promoted. Until they can be persuaded that enforcement actually helps development the economy, we will continue to have problems such as those described above.

GOLDBERG







We sure hope that Goldberg understands why Microsoft's behaviour is wrong. It knowingly turns a blind eye to counterfeiting when it suits it, later calling everyone a "pirate" and demanding payments or jail time. Microsoft makes entire nations look bad, collectively criminalising its own clients.

Recent Techrights' Posts

Someone Should Remind Microsoft Lunduke That Microsoft Hires Many Sexual Criminals and Pedophiles as Well
Microsoft Lunduke on an "expedition" to find one or more perverts, then generalise to everyone in the "community"
Cash Machines (ATMs) Make Mistakes and They're Proprietary Software
Correcting mistakes is a colossal challenge
Yes, Microsoft is the Problem
"I am no MS shill."
Another Failed Use Case for Chatbots (LLM): Legal Advice and Analysis
They're just some self-discrediting toy that costs way too much to operate
Nonfree Software in My Bank, by Richard Stallman
Updated 8 hours ago
 
Links 29/07/2025: Data Brokers Gone Wrong/Rogue and "Copyright Thicket"
Links for the day
Slopwatch: Linuxconfig.org, Linuxsecurity.com, Fagioli, The Register
Today's "Slopwatch" isn't the first article about LLM slop
We Cover Topics Other Sites Are Too Afraid to Cover (Even When They Know the Facts)
It's not that they doubt the truth, they just realise there may be consequences for talking about it
They Try to Tell Us the Free Software Foundation Inc is Dying, But Its Revenue Doubled Since the Dot-Com Bubble Burst
Being in "Activism" is never easy; but it does positive things for society
It's About the Cost of Workers, Not the Fictional Skills Shortage (That Does Not Exist, the Media Spreads False and Sometimes Self-Fulfilling Narratives)
This issue isn't limited to computing, some dub it "globalism"
Links 29/07/2025: More Pushbacks Against Slop and More Praises of Tom Lehrer
Links for the day
Gemini Links 29/07/2025: Purple Yarrow and Understanding Op Amps
Links for the day
This Monday WebProNews Absolutely Flooded the Web With Fake (LLM Slop) 'Articles' About "Linux", Google News Promoted Them as Legitimate
All of the following are fake articles attributed to pseudonyms or authors that don't exist; the images are also slop. Why does Google promote these?
Linuxiac is Not a Slopfarm, But at Least Some of Its Articles Are Machine-Generated Fakes
what we said about it was correct
Expect More Microsoft Layoffs
"Are more job cuts coming?"
Microsoft Behaving Like It's Running Out of Money to Pay Salaries
Does that seem like the behaviour expected from a company which claims it is "worth" trillions?
LWN Downtime Due to Linode, Not LLM Bots
"I’ve received an email letting me know that there is a potential for data loss."
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, July 28, 2025
IRC logs for Monday, July 28, 2025
Links 28/07/2025: Science, Health, and Conflicts
Links for the day
Gemini Links 28/07/2025: Healthy Self-Image With Autism and a "New Life"
Links for the day
Links 28/07/2025: COVID-19 Sped up Brain Aging, "Circumvention is More Popular Than Compliance"
Links for the day
Richard Stallman is Usually Right Because He Thinks "Outside the Box"
he is able to observe society (mores and norms) as somewhat of an outsider
LWN Has Been Down for a Long Time, Another Casualty of LLM Bots?
Time will tell. How much time though?
Slopfarms Versus 'Linux' (and Against People Who Write Real Articles About GNU/Linux)
LLM slop in slopfarms by Brian Fagioli and Redazione RHC
Gemini Links 28/07/2025: Bila Yarrudhanggalangdhuray and Running pkgsrc in a FreeBSD Jail
Links for the day
Microsoft Turns News Sites Into Spamfarms
Is the site The Register MS the next IDG?
The Register MS/The Register US
On Saturday I contacted them for a comment (before issuing criticism)
Hacking revelations at Vatican Jubilee of Digital Missionaries
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, July 27, 2025
IRC logs for Sunday, July 27, 2025
The Week to Come
Planning ahead
LLM Slop Has Only Been a Boon for Misinformation Online
The very same companies that were supposed to maintain quality (again, not limited to Google with PageRank) are now actively participating in generating and spreading slop
When They Tell You It's Free, Does That Mean No Charges (If So, Who's Paying and Why)?
there's "no free lunch"
We're Going to Focus Less on the Molotov Cocktail-Throwing Microsofters and More on Patents
We can get back to focusing on what we wanted to focus on all along
Just Trying to Keep Web Sites Honest (Journalistic Integrity)
the latest articles in LinuxIac are real
Links 27/07/2025: Political Affairs, Data Breaches, Attacks on Freedom of the Press
Links for the day
Gemini Links 27/07/2025: Hot in Japan and Terminal Escape Codes
Links for the day
Links 27/07/2025: More Microsoft Layoffs Coming, Science and Hardware News
Links for the day
Links 27/07/2025: FSF Hackathon and "Hulk Hogan Was a Very Bad Man"
Links for the day
Gemini Links 27/07/2025: DAW Mixer Chains and Simple Software
Links for the day
The Register MS is Inventing or Giving Air Time to New Conspiracy Theories so as to Distort the Narrative As High-Profile Agencies Fall Prey to Microsoft Holes
But the problem is holes, i.e. Microsoft making bad products; the problem is Microsoft
Most Editors at The Register Are American, Including the Editor in Chief, a Decade-Long Microsoft Stenographer (Writing Prose to Sell Microsoft)
It's not easy to tell where the site is based (we tried) because it's hiding behind ClownFlare and CrimeFlare hasn't been well lately
Pushers of systemd Rewrite History (Richard Stallman Said UNIX "Was Portable and Seemed Fairly Clean")
Unlike systemd
"New Techrights" Soon Turns 2 (A Few Days Before the FSF Turns 40)
We have a lot more to say about LLM bots
When Silence Says So Much
Garrett, a 'secure' boot pusher, will need to defend himself in the UK High Court
The Register in Trouble
There is not much that can be done at this point
Trajectory of The Register: From News Site/s Into "B2B"... and Into Microsoft Salespeople
Something isn't right at The Register
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, July 26, 2025
IRC logs for Saturday, July 26, 2025
Misinformation in Social Control Media
Social control media passes around all sorts of tropes
Slopwatch: Fake Linux 'Articles' and Slopfarms With "Linux" in Their Names/Domains
throwing bots at "Linux" to make some fake articles