WASHINGTON — Senior Chinese officials pledged on Wednesday to better crack down on software piracy and other violations of intellectual property rights as part of a series of commercial agreements after two days of talks here.
The Chinese delegation, led by Wang Qishan, the vice premier for economic matters, also agreed to lift certain barriers to imports of heavy industrial machinery and to hold talks on easing a ban on imports of American beef that was imposed during a 2003 scare over mad cow disease.
The talks, which took place during an annual forum known as the United States-China Joint Commission on Commerce and Trade, did not address the thorniest issues in the economic relations between the two countries, like the giant trade imbalance and the value of
"The two sides have had candid exchanges of views on China-U.S. economic cooperation,” Mr. Wang said in a joint news conference with his American counterparts: Ron Kirk, the United States trade representative; Gary Locke, the commerce secretary; and Tom Vilsack, the agriculture secretary.
Mr. Kirk praised Mr. Wang for agreeing to personally oversee a public campaign to reduce rampant theft of intellectual property — copyrights, trademarks, patents and trade secrets — in
The Chinese government agreed Wednesday to allocate government money to buy legal software and to better track the management of software in state-owned enterprises. The effort will also include a crackdown on piracy of electronic journals, more effective rules for halting Internet piracy, and a crackdown on landlords who rent space to counterfeiters of products like footwear and apparel.
The involvement of Mr. Wang,
However, a major association of software makers offered a wary response to those pledges.
"We will know
The commercial value of pirated software for personal computers in
Chinese officials also tried to address American reservations about a policy, intended to promote "indigenous innovation,” that American exporters view as potentially discriminatory.
Senior Chinese officials had said earlier this autumn that the policy would not require that national government agencies buy only products with technology initially patented or trademarked in
After years of stop-and-start talks on tough restrictions that effectively amount to a ban on American beef imports, both sides essentially agreed to start a new round of discussions.
The goal is to permit, by next year, some imports of beef from cattle under 30 months old.
In the agreements signed on Wednesday, Chinese officials said they would take these steps:
¶Revise a catalog of heavy machinery and other industrial equipment so as not to discriminate against foreign suppliers or provide prohibited subsidies. The catalog is used to encourage the development of machines that are not currently produced by Chinese companies.
¶Cooperate with the
¶Remain neutral on wireless technologies like 3G, as well as future technologies, a step that is intended to ease access to
¶Lift one barrier to foreign developers seeking to build wind farms there. The Chinese government will allow overseas experience in wind farm development, and not just experience in
The talks did not cover the value of
"The reality is that if we are to close the trade deficit, Americans need to export more and the Chinese need to purchase more,” he said.