In his article on OOXML and UOF, Andy Updegrove mentioned the following:
First, some background. China has embarked upon a very aggressive state-sponsored, and state funded, standards strategy. That strategy is staffed by a multitude of government and academic employees, with estimates of their total number running into the many thousands. At the heart of the matter is an understandable resentment by China to be relegated to the status of a low-cost, low margin job shop for Western, patent-owning companies that have their products built in China, and them mark them up significantly for sale all over the world. China is barred from selling similar products by the high patent licensing fees that it would need to pay to sell such products under it's own brand. The best example can be found in DVD players, where the licensing fees would be almost equal to the retail price of a low end unit.
