China expressed on Tuesday great regret and strong dissatisfaction at the decision of the United States to file WTO cases against China over the issues concerning intellectual property rights (IPR) and accession to China's publication market.

"The decision runs contrary to the consensus between the leaders of the two nations about strengthening bilateral trade ties and properly solving trade disputes," said Wang Xinpei, spokesman for the Ministry of Commerce.

"It will seriously undermine the cooperative relations the two nations have established in the field and will adversely affect bilateral trade," he added.

"The Chinese government has always been firm in protecting IPR and has attained well-known achievements," said Wang, adding that the two nations have been "in good communication and consultation with each other over access to the Chinese publication market."

The Chinese government has not yet received a request for consultations from the United States, but will deliberate upon and actively respond to a formal request, said Wang.

Under the rules of the World Trade Organization, if the parties to a trade dispute fail to iron out their differences within a 60-day consultation period, the complaining party may refer the matter to a WTO dispute settlement panel.

"The U.S. government, influenced by the interest groups, only wants to press China to further open its related markets," said Zhang Junsheng,professor with the WTO research institute at the University of International Business and Economics in Beijing.

During 2000 and 2004, China imported 4,332 films, 40 to 50 percent of which were made in the United States. Of the 88 foreign movies China enjoyed, 70 of were from the United States, statistics from the Ministry of Culture showed.

The imports of original books have been on the rise every year, said Li Hong with the China National Publications Import and Export Corporation, the largest one engaged in publication import and export fields in the country.

For example, Beijing Book Building, the capital's major bookstore selling original books, sales of imported books grew 17 percent annually.

U.S. Trade Representative Susan C. Schwab announced on Monday that the U.S. government would file two WTO cases against China over copyright piracy and restrictions on the sale of American books, music, videos and movies.

Source: Xinhua