U.S. and Chinese diplomatic relations increasing now---China realizes stabilizing relations is key to Xi agenda Brunnstrom and Martina 6/12 – David Brunnstrom reporter at Reuters when it comes Internation law, long running writer. Michael Martina foreign policy correspondent at Reuters. Senior US diplomat believes China determined to l with stabilize relations. https://www.reuters.com/world/senior-us-diplomat-believes-china-determined-stabilize-relations-2024-06-12//HarrisC

Campbell told Washington's Stimson Center think tank China needed to reassure investors and others that it has a plan for its economy and would not be looking to create frictions that could escalate in unpredictable and dangerous ways.

"It's very hard for China to take certain steps without harming its own economy," Campbell said. "And I think we now understand that economic performance is central right now to what is important to President Xi."

Campbell was addressing questions about stepped up pressure China has put on U.S. allies and partners in the Indo-Pacific region, which has included run-ins with the Philippines over rival maritime claims in the South China Sea and increased military activity around Taiwan.

The U.S. and China have taken steps to reengage at high levels diplomatically after relations sank to their lowest point in decades, but serious frictions remain, including China's support for Russia in its war in Ukraine, and worries that Beijing might act against Taiwan as Moscow did against Kiev.

"The hope will be that we'll be able to settle on certain things that are necessary for the sustainment of the global economy, that are unexceptional with respect to national security," Campbell said of the efforts in dialogue with China.

"Ultimately, that requires both strengthening, extending and also careful coexistence, and that's really the nature of the diplomatic challenge that we have in front of us. It is one of the most difficult challenges in the history of American foreign policy."

The protection of IP will be seen as getting a ‘strategic advantage’---undermines relations with China Harjani and Sworn 22 – Manoj Harjani is a Research Fellow with the Future Issues & Technology research cluster at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. Hannah Elyse Sworn is a Senior Analyst at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. US–China economic competition rests on intellectual property. https://eastasiaforum.org/2022/06/29/us-china-economic-competition-rests-on-intellectual-property//HarrisC

Intellectual property (IP) has long been a sore point in relations between Washington and Beijing. US officials have repeatedly targeted China for widespread counterfeiting since its economic ‘opening up’ in the late 1970s. But after enduring a punishing series of legal reforms to join the World Trade Organization in 2001, the Chinese government is still under fire for weak enforcement, forced technology transfers and state-sponsored IP theft. Now China’s growing ability to produce IP indigenously is driving the evolution of US–China economic relations.

In 2021, China was the world’s top patent filer for the third year in a row. Chinese firms have filed approximately 75 per cent of global artificial intelligence patents in the past decade and 40 per cent of all 6G patents, while the United States accounted for only 35 per cent of the latter. The country’s ability to produce IP across a number of critical and emerging technologies has been framed as evidence that China is surpassing the United States in knowledge production.

While the significant growth in China’s patent filings point to genuine improvement in its ability to innovate, focussing on the number of filings is misleading. China’s production of more IP does not automatically translate into a strategic advantage in economic competition with the United States. Rather, it is high-quality IP that has assumed a critical role amidst globalisation and the emergence of global value chains, providing exclusive rights to license processes, brands and technologies essential for manufacturing.

Value chains are hierarchical. At the apex, owners of high-quality IP dictate the terms of — and reap a greater proportion of profits from — economic activity taking place lower down in the value chain where the IP is paid for and used in assembly. ‘Moving up’ the value chain enables firms to capture a higher share of value added, giving countries a strategic advantage in dictating the terms of international trade.

IP has become integral to economic power. The United States’ near-monopoly over high-quality IP ownership has allowed its firms to capture a disproportionate share of value added globally. US efforts to produce, regulate and protect IP can be framed as seeking to protect its power to shape the global economy.

China’s leadership has doggedly pursued its own innovation pathway to maintain economic growth and avoid the middle-income trap by moving up the value chain. But regardless of Beijing’s intentions, this threatens US economic power conferred to it through greater IP ownership.

Although China’s leadership is well aware of the importance of IP quality over quantity, success in capturing value added has evaded China’s grasp. China’s IP receipts of US$8.6 billion in 2020 do not come close to the United States’ enormous US$113.8 billion. This is likely due to China’s IP tending more toward adaptive innovation — over half its domestic filings are utility patents. These have lower eligibility requirements, protection periods and retention rates, indicating lower IP quality.