Speaking at a roundtable on IPR protection yesterday, he listed a number of achievements.

In one case, co-operation between Chinese and US law enforcement agencies led to the seizure of fake Tamiflu, a drug used to fight bird flu.

He also noted that Chinese courts have ruled in favour of protecting the trademarks and patents of among others Pfizer, General Motors, Starbucks and Kodak.

China has revoked more than 360 business licences for audiovisual products since July because they were involved in piracy.

The Chinese Government now insists that legal operating system software be pre-loaded on all computers produced in China or imported from overseas, which has led to a noticeable drop in software piracy.

The US trade chief praised China for increasing punishment of counterfeiters, but, he said: "The reality of course is we are still behind the criminals and pirates."

A mutually beneficial trade relationship depends on a number of factors, and IPR protection is critical, Gutierrez said.

He said China should lower criminal thresholds for prosecuting those involved in commercial piracy and counterfeiting, and allow greater market access for audiovisual products.

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