The Chinese government has criticised the US for lodging an official complaint at the World Trade Organisation over its alleged failure to crackdown on copyright piracy.
Beijing insists that on the contrary, China had made "immense efforts and great achievements" in protecting intellectual property rights (IPR) in recent years.
The US announced yesterday it was filing two trade cases against China over the "copyright piracy and restrictions on the sale of American movies, music and books there".
Speaking to the state news agency Xinhua however, China's senior copyright official said: "It's not a sensible move for the US government to file such complaint."
Referring to new laws allowing prosecutors to jail individuals caught making 500 or more counterfeit copies of protected media for three years, Tian Lipi, commissioner at Beijing's intellectual property office, explained that "such efforts are continuous and China has never slackened".
China's ministry of commerce took a more restrained view in its official statement though, saying that the country has "always been firm" in IPR protection.
"China and the United States have also maintained sound communication and consultation on the access to the Chinese publication market," the statement added.
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