China's achievements in the intellectual property rights (IPR) protection in recent years could be attributed to international cooperation to a large

extent, a Chinese commerce official said Wednesday.

Fu Ziying, assistant to Minister of Commerce,made the remarks at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) IPR Symposium which opened in Xiamen, a scenic city in east China's Fujian Province Wednesday.

China has experienced remarkable economic expansion since it began reform and opening up in the late 1970s, and doubled its foreign trade in the past three years after its entry into the World Trade Organization.

Fu said the achievements are closely related to the Chinese government's efforts for IPR protection.

China is energetically taking part in the IPR protection activities organized by the WTO, World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and APEC, he said.

Meanwhile, the country is also actively participating in the China-EU IPR dialogue mechanism, the Sino-US IPR working panel and the multilateral cooperation system among China, Japan and the Republic of Korea.

China's mainland has also developed various forms of exchanges and cooperation concerning the IPR protection with many regions and countries, including Hong Kong Special Administration Region (SAR), Macao SAR, Brazil and Mexico.

The IPR protection will help improve the investment environment in China's mainland and bring about an orderly market so as to achieve coordinated and sustainable development, he said.

China has made great progress in the IPR protection in the past years, he said.

China's police cracked 5,305 IPR violation cases from 2000 to 2004, involving 2.2 billion yuan (about 271 million US dollars) and 7,100 suspects, statistics show.

The Ministry of Public Security is conducting a one-year campaign to crack down on violations of brand-name property rights.

The symposium is sponsored by the Ministry of Commerce for members of the APEC to share their experience on IPR protection.

"It is necessary to strengthen international cooperation and communication on the IPR protection through platforms like APEC," Fu said.

Source: Xinhua