China expressed on Tuesday great regret and strong
dissatisfaction at the decision of the United States to file WTO
cases against China over intellectual property rights and access to
the Chinese publication market.
"The decision runs contrary to the consensus between the leaders
of the two nations about strengthening bilateral economic and trade
ties and properly solving trade disputes", said Wang Xinpei,
spokesman with the Ministry of Commerce.
"It will seriously undermine the cooperative relations the two
nations have established in the field and will adversely affect
bilateral economic and trade ties", he added.
"The Chinese government has always been firm in protecting
intellectual property rights and has attained well-known
achievements", said Wang, adding that the two nations have been "in
good communication and consultation with each other over access to
the Chinese publication market".
China's top intellectual property official also lashed out at
the United States' action.
"It's not a sensible move for the US government to file such
complaint," said Tian Lipu, commissioner of the Intellectual
Property Office, at a national meeting of intellectual property
officials in Nanchang, capital of east China's Jiangxi
Province.
By doing so, the United States has ignored the Chinese
government's immense efforts and great achievements in
strengthening IPR protection and tightening enforcement of its
copyright laws, Tian said.
The Chinese government has not yet received a request for
consultations from the United States, but will deliberate upon and
actively respond to a formal request, said Wang.
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Under WTO rules, if the parties to a trade dispute fail to iron
out their differences within a 60-day consultation period, the
complaining party may refer the matter to a WTO dispute settlement
panel.
(Xinhua News Agency April 10, 2007)