The top official in charge of intellectual property rights has called for more objective and honest evaluation of China's efforts in protecting IPR from other countries.
"China will take more rigorous measures to protect IPR... but developed countries such as the United States should also give fair evaluation to China's IPR protection achievements instead of using IPR as an excuse to launch trade protection," said Shen Changyu, commissioner of the State Intellectual Property Office.
He made the remarks in a written interview with China Daily about China's current IPR protection and future work plans.
The US initiated a Section 301 investigation into so-called Chinese intellectual property theft in August, a move that has raised deep concerns that it might sabotage China-US trade ties.
Shen said that in the past five years, China has launched a series of policies on IPR protection, updated laws and regulations and severely punished violations.
"IPR protection has gradually become a common awareness of the whole society," he said.
The office received 21,600 Patent Cooperation Treaty applications in the first half of this year, a year-on-year increase of 16 percent. Among them, 1,600 applications were from abroad, an increase of 26 percent, Shen said.
Data from the World Intellectual Property Organization show that 43,168 Patent Cooperation Treaty applications were filed from China in 2016, the third-highest worldwide－a sign of the importance China attaches to patent protection in overseas markets.
"China is not a country of copycats as in stereotypes, but is emerging as a global IPR leader," Shen said.
Before 1984, China did not have any patent law. But in 2015, China's patent office received a record 1 million applications, the most reported in any country in a single year.
"China has spent 30 years to build an IPR system, which took Western developed countries more than a century in terms of improving laws and regulations," he said.
