US complaints to the World Trade Organization over alleged
commercial piracy in China could hurt relations on trade issues,
the top envoy on trade with Washington warned yesterday.
"It will seriously undermine bilateral cooperation on
intellectual property rights (IPR) under the Joint Commission on
Commerce and Trade framework, and damage the existing cooperative
ties on market access for publications," Vice Premier Wu Yi said at
the China High-level Forum on IPR Protection 2007.
"It is the first time a WTO member has lodged two complaints
simultaneously against another member and it will have a very
negative impact."
She added that the Chinese government will proactively respond
to the US move in line with WTO rules and "see it through to the
end."
This has been Beijing's strongest response since Washington
launched two complaints in early April at the WTO claiming that
China was not doing enough to punish illegal copiers of films and
music, and that its restrictions on entertainment imports violated
trade rules.
In seven special crackdowns on IPR infringements last year
police filed 863 cases and arrested 988 suspects, while the courts
handled 6,441 IPR cases.
Moreover, patent, customs and industry and commerce departments
handled 17,243 infringement cases involving nearly 1 billion yuan
(US$129.5 million).
"The US has totally ignored the massive strides China has made,"
Wu said.
She said the US move had betrayed the consensus reached by China
and the US to resolve trade issues through dialogue.
Wu, who heads the country's economic dialogue with Washington,
said Beijing's attitude toward IPR protection has always been
resolute, and its achievements obvious.
Since the 1970s, China has enacted a succession of protection
laws such as the Trademark Law, Patent Law, and Copyright Law.
The country has also joined a string of international IPR
protection conventions. Last year, the country formally joined the
World Intellectual Property Organization Copyright Treaty and the
WIPO Performances and Phonograms Treaty.
"We have spent merely 30 years on what some developed countries
have achieved in more than a hundred years," Wu said.
(China Daily April 25, 2007)
