China regrets the EU's move to file a WTO complaint over China's alleged technology transfer practices and will "properly handle the case" based on the WTO's dispute settlement procedures, the Ministry of Commerce said in an online statement on Sunday.
The Chinese government has always attached great importance to the protection of intellectual property rights (IPR) and has taken a number of effective measures to protect the legal interests of IPR holders in China and abroad. This achievement is "widely recognized," the statement said.
The country has also set up a work mechanism with the EU in IPR cooperation, through which the two sides have effectively communicated, and this mechanism has yielded positive results in many sectors, the statement said.
The EU launched a WTO case on Friday against Chinese legislation that the European side claimed undermines the European companies' IPR. "European companies coming to China are forced to grant ownership or usage rights of their technology" to Chinese entities, it claimed.
