China hits back at ‘irresponsible’ US report labelling it top market for fake and pirated goods
- The US named six online and nine bricks-and-mortar Chinese platforms in its 2021 Review of Notorious Markets for Counterfeiting and Piracy
- China ranked 12th on 2021 Global Innovation Index, commerce ministry points out in calling for an objective approach from the US
This comes after Washington named six online and nine bricks-and-mortar Chinese platforms in its 2021 Review of Notorious Markets for Counterfeiting and Piracy – as violating US trademarks and copyright law.
“China does not recognise the conclusion of the report and we sternly oppose the irresponsible actions by the US,” the Ministry of Commerce in Beijing said on Friday.
Produced by the US Trade Representative’s office, the list included two first-time Chinese entrants – the AliExpress and WeChat e-commerce ecosystems, which joined long-time fixtures Baidu Wangpan, DHGate, Pinduoduo and Taobao.
The report said AliExpress and Taobao had some of the industry’s best anti-counterfeiting tools but were marketing more fake goods, and that removing dodgy sellers from the sites had reportedly become more difficult.
Global counterfeiting costs the US economy about US$29.2 billion annually, and China was the world’s largest producer of fake goods, according to the report.