Was IP Part Of Obama's Chat With China?
President Barack Obama spoke with China's President Hu Jintao on Friday morning about their intention to build a more positive and constructive relationship between the countries, the White House press office said in an e-mail. According to the summary, Obama and Hu discussed the international financial crisis and agreed that increased close cooperation between the U.S. and China is vital. Obama stressed the need to correct global trade imbalances -- an issue important to the high-tech sector -- as well as to stimulate global growth and get credit markets flowing.
The two presidents agreed to work together on several global issues, specifically mentioning North Korea, Iran, Afghanistan/Pakistan, counterterrorism, proliferation, and climate change. Obama expressed appreciation for China's role as chair of the so-called Six-Party Talks and they affirmed the importance of denuclearization of the Korean peninsula. What is unclear is whether intellectual property protection factored into the conversation. The U.S. business community -- particularly those in the entertainment, software and manufacturing industries -- have urged the new administration take hard line against piracy and counterfeiting.
China has long been cited by the U.S. government as one of the world's worst IP offenders and regularly tops the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative's watch list of nations that have weak IP protection regimes. In recent years, Hu has made speeches pledging to work harder to crack down on bootleggers but many policy watchers have been skeptical of whether change is actually happening on the ground.
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