China will enhance the protection of intellectual property rights (IPR) and create a fairer, more transparent and more predictable business environment for foreign-funded enterprises, an official said on Tuesday.

  A series of positive measures taken by the Chinese government in recent years has created a favorable development environment for foreign-invested enterprises in China, Gan Lin, director of the Office of the National Leading Group on Fight Against IPR Infringement and Counterfeiting and vice minister of the State Administration for Market Regulation, said at a press conference reviewing the development of China's IPR protection and business environment in 2021.

  In 2021, foreign applicants obtained 110,000 invention patent authorizations and 194,000 trademark registrations in China, marking a year-on-year increase of 23 percent and 5.2 percent, respectively, according to Gan.

  Among them, the number of invention patents and trademark registrations of U.S. applicants increased by 32.1 percent and 17.3 percent, respectively.

  In 2017, China issued an action plan for IPR protection of foreign-invested enterprises across the country.

  The Foreign Investment Law, which came into effect in 2020, made unified regulations on the promotion, protection and management of foreign investment, providing a strong legal guarantee for strengthening the IP protection of foreign-invested enterprises.

  Gan is positive about China as a popular destination for foreign investment in the long term, where foreign enterprises will surely have more and better sense of gain.

  "We fully understand the expectations of foreign-funded enterprises. Our goals are the same. There is no best intellectual property protection, only better," she said.

  Source: CGTN