US 'failed' on copyright help

A SENIOR official in Guangdong yesterday accused the United States of failing to help China stem copyright piracy as promised.

It was unfair for US trade official Mike Kantor to criticise China for not making enough effort to protect intellectual property rights, said Xu Dezhi, chairman of the Guangdong Provincial Foreign Economic Relations and Trade Commission.

'Last year when the United States signed the memorandum with China on intellectual property rights protection, it promised to give technological and even financial co-operation to help crack down on copyright infringements,' Mr Xu said. 'But basically it has not fulfilled its promises.' He noted that Guangdong, like other parts of China, was cracking down on copyright infringement resolutely.

But the piracy problems involved overseas organisations, and China needed advanced technological assistance and facilities to carry out the work, he said.

Mr Xu added that most of the moulds for manufacturing illegal compact discs that had been confiscated came from outside the mainland, particularly Hong Kong.

He said that China had closed down factories pirating foreign products, arrested people involved and banned laser film cinemas to stem copyright infringement.

'We have been doing what we should do,' Mr Xu said. 'It is absolutely unfair for Mr Kantor to make such criticisms.' Mr Kantor has warned that the US might impose trade sanctions on China if it failed to make satisfactory improvements in protecting intellectual property rights.

Mr Xu said Guangdong had seized more than two million pirated compact discs, cassette tapes and other products in the past few years, and more than 3,000 people had been arrested.

He also said Guangdong would relax the quota for domestic sales of products manufactured by foreign investors.

The move is aimed to attract foreign investment to Guangdong to alleviate foreign trade difficulties.

Mr Xu said foreign manufacturers in Guangdong with advanced technologies would be allowed to sell more of their products on the mainland in the next five years.

He added that there might even be no quota set on the amount of products permitted to be sold.

In reviewing the province's foreign trade situation last year, he said national macro-economic controls and tight financial policies had made it difficult for Guangdong to achieve trade targets.

Authorities planned to adjust production structures and market strategies, and improve the investment environment and economic efficiency this year, he said.