China Boasts of Raids on Pirate Plants
China trumpeted the success of raids on plants making pirate compact discs as it began last-ditch talks with the United States on Wednesday to avert a trade war over intellectual-property rights.
The official People’s Daily newspaper said police in 23 provinces seized more than 357,000 pirated recordings in the first 10 days of a crackdown launched Jan. 13 to coincide with a sales peak in the days leading up to the Chinese New Year holidays.
It said more than 75,000 bootleg compact discs were among the booty.
The Dragon Arts Sound Co. plant in the southern province of Guangdong’s Zhuhai Special Economic Zone near Macau was already being prosecuted for wholesaling pirated CDs and had been stripped of its business license, the newspaper said.
Raiding factories making pirate CDs is a major demand of the United States in its battle to curb intellectual-property piracy in China.
The talks that started Wednesday were the ninth since June and the final session before the U.S. deadline of Feb. 26 for agreement to avert a trade war.
China maintains it has made significant improvements in protection of intellectual property rights and says U.S. demands are excessive.
Foreign Trade Minister Wu Yi said she hoped for success, but the U.S. delegation was considerably more cautious.
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