China has sought so portray its crackdown on violators of U.S. & European intellectual property as its independent decision. China’s markets are famous for cheap knock offs of well-known European and U.S. brands for a tenth of their asking price.

On Thursday, China’s commerce ministry stated that its months-long crackdown on violations of intellectual property rights (IPR) was not a response to probes by other countries.

The United States has launched an investigation into China’s violations of U.S. IPR regulations.

As per China’s Commerce Ministry’s spokesman, Gao Feng, the protection of intellectual property rights is important to China.

In August, the Trump Administration had authorized an inquiry into China’s alleged theft of intellectual property, in a first direct trade measure taken by the U.S. administration against Beijing.

Earlier this month, China’s Commerce ministry said it had launched a campaign targeting theft of business secrets and knock offs of well-known brands, and had taken steps to protect copyrighted material.

Categories: Creativity, Economy & Finance, Entrepreneurship, Geopolitics, HR & Organization, Regulations & Legal, Strategy

Tags: Beijing, direct trade measure, European Commission, inquiry, intellectual property, investigation, probe, theft, Trump administration, U.S, U.S Chamber of Commerce, United States, Wilbur Ross