IP is the key issue in US-China relations
Matt Ho 21, has covered the dynamics of China’s changes for the Post since 2010. Before joining the Post, he was deputy Beijing bureau chief for Hong Kong Commercial Radio and a Hong Kong government international trade specialist, 5-5-2021, "Why IP protection in China is important to both Beijing and Washington", South China Morning Post, https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3132363/why-chinas-intellectual-property-protection-matters-beijing-and?campaign=3132363&module=perpetual_scroll_0&pgtype=article
In US President Joe Biden’s first big speech to Congress last month, he cast US-China relations as a battle for the century, with intellectual property as one of the key issues.
Speaking about his discussions with Chinese President Xi Jinping, Biden said: “America will stand up to unfair trade practices that undercut American workers and American industries, like subsidies from [the] state to state-owned operations and enterprises and the theft of American technology and intellectual property [IP].”
China, meanwhile, has signalled that IP protection is a priority in its 14th five-year plan for 2021 to 2025, as part of its strategy to move towards self-reliance in critical technology. Government economic planners last month published a guidebook detailing how they intended to strengthen the protection of IP and raise high-value patent ownership over the next five years, and Beijing is this year set to reveal its strategic plan to make China a global IP power by 2035.