This aerial photo taken on Jan. 4, 2023 shows bullet trains at a garage of CRRC Qingdao Sifang Co., Ltd. in Qingdao, east China's Shandong Province. (Photo/Li Ziheng, Xinhua)

Nation to strengthen cooperation with World Intellectual Property Organization

President Xi Jinping reiterated on Wednesday China's commitment to protecting intellectual property rights and improving the business environment.

Xi made the remarks in a congratulatory message sent to an event in Beijing commemorating the 50th anniversary of cooperation between China and WIPO.

Xi said in the message that over the past five decades, China has firmly upheld the multilateral system of international intellectual property rights and constantly deepened cooperation with WIPO with fruitful results.

China always attaches great importance to IPR protection and strives to build itself into a strong country in terms of intellectual property, he said.

The nation has been working to strengthen legal support for intellectual property, improve related management systems, keep enhancing full-chain IPR protection and consistently optimize the innovation and business environment, he added.

The president expressed China's readiness to further intensify friendly cooperation with WIPO and work together to make the global intellectual property governance system fairer and more equitable to better enhance the well-being of humanity.

China began cooperation with the WIPO in 1973, and officially joined the international organization in 1980.

The country has remained the top user of WIPO's Patent Cooperation Treaty system for four consecutive years, according to the National Intellectual Property Administration. It ranked second in applications of the international design system after joining the Hague Agreement. The Chinese applicants also filed the third largest number of trademark applications using WIPO's Madrid System.

In addition, China and the WIPO jointly established 101 technology and innovation support centers. The Chinese currency, the renminbi, has become a pricing and settlement currency of international expenses related to the Patent Cooperation Treaty.

Daren Tang, director-general of WIPO, said that amid grave and complex world economic situation and unstable and unbalanced global economic recovery, Chinese enterprises have constantly invested in innovation, People's Daily reported.

Tang called China a long-term cooperative partner and a firm supporter of WIPO, saying that his organization will continue to develop close cooperation with China.

The National Copyright Administration of China and WIPO on Tuesday signed an updated memorandum of understanding on bilateral cooperation.

Within the WIPO framework, China will be fully engaged in global IPR governance, contributing its wisdom and better serving the well-being of humanity, Shen Changyu, head of the National Intellectual Property Administration, said at a news conference in Beijing on Monday.

To commemorate the 50th anniversary of the cooperation, the Chinese government and WIPO will jointly hold a series of activities this year in Beijing and Geneva.