Chinese tech firms don't copy Western innovations, they learn from them, says venture capitalist

The success of Chinese internet giants like Baidu and Tencent is down to their innovative technologies, not copying Western companies, a leading venture capitalist said on Friday.

Speaking at the inaugural Rise technology conference in Hong Kong on Friday, Neil Shen, founder of Sequoia Capital China, said that there is often a "misperception" in foreign media that Chinese start-ups mimic companies like Google.

Baidu and Tencent have long been criticised for copying Western internet firms, as have newer firms such as Xiaomi, which often comes under fire for producing smartphones that look remarkably similar to Apple products. The US firm's chief design, Jony Ive, even went as far as to call the design of Xiaomi's Mi 4 smartphone "lazy" and a form of design theft.

Shen argued however that rather than stealing from established Western firms, Chinese companies "learn" from them, and incorporate innovations into their businesses.

"You have to learn from somewhere," he said. "But if you learn without innovating you will die."