US accusations against China's IPR practices groundless: experts

Chinese and foreign observers are suggesting the Trump administration's threat of additional sanctions due to China's IPR practices are an open excuse for trade protectionism, suggesting the move is a clear violation of WTO rules.

U.S. President Donald Trump announced this past week that he's asked the US Trade Representative Office to find ways to hit China with 100 billion U.S. dollars worth of additional tariffs.

This would come on top of the 50 billion dollars worth of Chinese products his administration announced it was planning to sanction just days earlier.

The new list of tariffs authorized by the USTR office follows an investigation launched in August of last year under the Section 301 of the U.S. Trade Act to probe China's intellectual property and technology transfer practices.

The investigation alleges China has "forced" U.S. companies to transfer their technologies in order to access the Chinese market.

Li Gang with China's Ministry of Commerce says the accusations are groundless.

"Contracts in the business field are reached consensually. Cooperation doesn't happen if one side forces the other to accept unfair contract terms. So in my opinion, these claims by the United States against China are unreasonable."

Wei Jianguo, vice chair of the China Center for International Economic Exchanges, notes Chinese companies have spent billions of dollars purchasing intellectual property rights.

"Chinese companies paid around 28.6 billion U.S. dollars, nearly 30 billion U.S. dollars, for intellectual property rights in 2017. We paid for every single intellectual property patent we bought, completely according to market economy rules. We respect intellectual property rights and we did not borrow them for free or steal them."

Meanwhile, a new report shows China is now the second largest source of international patent applications.

Inside China itself, the State Intellectual Property Office has received nearly 1.4 million patent applications, outnumbering the United States, Japan, South Korea and Europe combined.

Zhang Zhicheng, an official with the State Intellectual Property Office, says these figures show China is quickly becoming a leading innovator.

"China's achievements has been made, not through stealing or plundering, but based on the down-to-earth efforts of the Chinese people. The enhancement of China's manufacturing capabilities and international competitiveness is due to this country's huge investment and the competitive advantages of the manufacturing sector, including a sound industrial system and a large number of skilled workers and innovative companies."

Senior fellow with Peterson Institute for International Economics, Nicholas Lardy, also says China has made great progress in IPR protection.

"I tend to think ultimately the situation is getting somehow better. I just give you an example, China has established specialized courts to deal with intellectual property issues. And intellectual property is a bit more complicated than whether or not you get a speeding ticket, or you are getting a divorce or something like that. So they have trained judges in the details of intellectual property."

Official data shows Chinese authorities also granted over 23-thousand patents to U.S. companies last year, ranking second among foreign applicants.

US chip maker Qualcomm issued the largest number of patent applications this past year in China.