BEIJING, Nov. 16 -- Chinese Minister of Commerce Bo Xilai and U.S. Secretary of Commerce Carlos Gutierrez attended the 5th Sino-U.S. Round-table Conference on IPR Protection on Nov. 14.

Bo stated China's position on IPR protection and Sino-U.S. trade to over 100 Americans in business community present in the conference.

Bo said that China and the U.S. are important trade and economic partners of each other. Even through there are disputes sometimes between the two parties, trade cooperation among Chinese and U.S. enterprises would certainly be further enhanced and the bilateral trade and economic relations would be closer, said the Chinese minister.

Certain trade friction between China and the U.S. is not the conflict concerning essential interests but the misunderstanding of each other. Bo called on U.S. political and business communities to know more about the fact about the development of China, which would be favorable for the steady development of Sino-U.S. trade and economic relations.

About IPR, Bo said that China is building up an innovation-oriented country and IPR protection is the national strategy of China. The Chinese party had made remarkable progress in fighting strictly against infringements. In 2005, the number of relative cases placed on record and handled by public security departments throughout the country was up by 52 percent on a year-on-year basis, of which 1,470 cases were solved, up by 56 percent, involving a total value of 1.28 billion yuan, up by 366 percent.

The Ministry of Commerce established 50 reporting, complaint and service centers for IPR protection in the nation. The centers had accepted more than 15,600 cases by the end of Sept. 30. In the future, China will take more measures to enhance IPR protection.

Meanwhile, Bo also pointed out that IPR protection is a global issue. According to statistics from the American Film Institute, worldwide movie pirate caused 6.1 billion dollars in losses to the U.S., of which 240 million dollars came from China. Chinese party welcomed the positive suggestions put forward by the U.S. on IPR protection but the exaggeration should be avoided, in the hope that both China and the U.S. could further carry out effective cooperation in such an area.

When talking about Sino-U.S. trade, Bo said that China currently has a goods trade surplus with the U.S., but the export from U.S. to China has increased rapidly.

According to U.S. statistics, U.S. exports to China in 2001 amounted to 19 billion dollars and to 41.9 billion dollars in 2005 with an average annual growth rate of 21 percent.

During the same period, however, U.S. exports to Canada went up by 3.4 percent and to EU by 2.1 percent only. China became the first biggest export market for key U.S. agricultural products such as cotton and soybeans.

In Sino-U.S. trade, U.S. importers and retailing dealers obtained far more interests than those of Chinese exporters and producers. Briefly, China has posted the trade surplus but the U.S. has obtained interests.

Bo stressed that the interests between China and the U.S. in trade and economic cooperation were basically balanced considering comprehensively factors of service trade and U.S. investment in China. Because of this bilateral trade and economic cooperation could maintain sustainable development.

China exports to the U.S. mainly take the form of goods trade, but the U.S. is more competitive in service trade. Taking movie as an example, China imported 26 American movies in 2005, but only exported 8 domestic movies with a value of less than 1 million dollars.

Besides, U.S. enterprises shared the Chinese market in the form of capital export. In 2005, sales revenue of U.S. enterprises in the Chinese market topped 60 billion dollars and they exported products worth over 46 billion dollars to the neighboring countries through China as the production base.

Goods trade and market share in various forms should be taken into account to calculate interests obtained by both China and the U.S.

Bo noted that U.S. restriction on the export of high and new technologies to China caused the losses of important trade opportunities to American enterprises.

In 2001, U.S. technology products accounted for 18 percent of total imports of such products into China, but the share ratio fell to 8 percent in 2005. During the same period, China's import from EU of technology products soared by 70 percent and from Japan by 150 percent.

Bo stressed that China now is far more open than any other time in the history, would constantly adhere to the basic national policy of opening up to improve the investment environment and actively attract foreign investment.

Meanwhile, with the improvement of the economic development level, China will further perfect the policy for industrial development to utilize foreign investment. If U.S. enterprises give full play to their advantages and seize opportunities, they will certainly obtain a bigger share in the Chinese market, and the Sino-U.S. trade and economic cooperation will have an encouraging future.

U.S. Ambassador to China Clark T. Randt and Vice Minister of Commerce of China Ma Xiuhong also attended the conference.