I've just come across an interesting article about China's use of the standards process to reinforce its leadership in consumer electronics manufacturing. Some quotes:

"Over the past several years, China has been making a systematic effort to develop its own standards in a host of ... areas ranging from mobile phones to next-generation digital video discs (DVDs) to digital television to nanotechnology".

"Evidently, China's government considers the development of indigenous technical standards a strategic priority."

"At the moment, most of the first movers are US, European or Japanese firms. But China would dearly like the first movers of the future to be Chinese. And the easiest way to make sure that happens is to promote indigenous technical standards, which - because China's market is so huge and growing so rapidly - the global electronics industry cannot afford to ignore, even if they perceive that losing control of standards will undermine their long-term interests."

Read the full article here.