Senior officials of ministries and agencies directly dealing with intellectual property rights (IPR) were at a press conference yesterday to address questions on China's IPR protection but Minister of Commerce Bo Xilai ended up doing most of the answering.

Is China really getting tough with IPR offenders? Will China's campaign to protect IPRs help narrow the trade surplus with the United States? Will the crackdown on IPR infringements affect China's economy?

Minister of Commerce Bo Xilai explains China's efforts to protect intellectual property rights (IPR) during a news conference in Beijing yesterday. Bo rejected claims that IPR problems are a major factor affecting the China-US trade balance. Sitting beside him is Jiang Zengwei, director of State Office of Intellectual Property Protection. [newsphoto]

A smiling Bo answered: China will go all out to bolster IPR protection, even though it affects jobs.

"As far as I know, at least 300,000 law-enforcers and other people are involved in IPR protection in China," he said, adding that between 2000 and 2005, 13,000 people were arrested for IPR violations.

In Beijing, for example, the local authorities have banned the sale of 48 famous brands at the Silk Street shopping mall a landmark known for inexpensive branded goods to help stamp out counterfeit products.

Other cities like Shanghai and Guangzhou are also taking tough measures to protect well-known brands, including closing down markets with poor records, he said.

"The Chinese Government has been resolute in implementing all these measures even though it has not been easy because they affect a host of jobs."

Bo said IPR protection has become a national policy of China.

"We understand how important IPR protection is to China's future development," Bo said, adding the country's top leadership is committed to building China into an "innovation nation" in 15 years, and IPR protection is closely interwoven with the effort.

"IPR protection is something initiated by the Chinese Government itself for the country's development, rather than because of outside pressure," Bo said.

"Even if our foreign friends do not say anything about China's IPR protection, we'll still go all out."

Bo refuted the claim by some in the United States that China's IPR problems affect US exports. "I think they have largely exaggerated the trade problems caused by IPRs."

It is, in fact, US curbs on high-tech exports that contribute to the trade imbalance, he said.

Over the past two years, US high technology exports to China grew only half as fast as the European Union's, which in turn were slower Japan's, he said.

Bo said 58 per cent of China's US$760-billion exports last year were manufactured by overseas-invested enterprises.

China's overall trade surplus of about US$100 billion would be downsized to only US$20-30 billion if that is factored in, he said.

"The main factors affecting the US-China trade balance don't actually include IPRs. Rather, they are structural and based on the competitiveness of our companies," he said.

(China Daily 04/12/2006 page1)