While the West is all agog with Wal-Mart, Metro, Tesco and the U.S. Department of Defense implementing RFID, China appears to be moving in its own separate direction.

Many fear China is setting technology standards for the purpose of giving homegrown companies an edge in the global marketplace. They point to China's creation of a group to establish a Chinese standard for RFID in February.

Another fear is that China will require Western companies that want to do business there to reveal their technology. That would be reminiscent of a 1990's national policy requiring multinationals to transfer technology to local partners, instead of just licensing it. A number of western companies got burned. The U.S. has protested this policy.

Source: BusinessWeek