Beijing urged to widen market for US film sales
Carlos Gutierrez, US commerce secretary, yesterday called on Beijing to grant US film studios and other content creators greater access to sell their wares in China in order to cut piracy and close the yawning Sino-US trade gap.
During an otherwise upbeat visit to Beijing, Mr Gutierrez warned that rampant violations of intellectual property in China were fuelling protectionist sentiment in the US.
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One way to reduce piracy and the politically sensitive Chinese trade surplus would be for Beijing to end its practice of limiting the number of major foreign film cinema releases to 20 each year.
"We would like to see the whole idea of a limit eliminated, [or] at least have that number increased," Mr Gutierrez said in an interview.
Greater access to US films in cinemas and on legitimate DVDs would help improve China's record on intellectual property, he said.
"This will also help stamp out piracy, because if you [don't let people] buy the movie legitimately, you create demand for the illegitimate product," he said.
Mr Gutierrez underlined Washington's publicly positive tone on trends in Sino-US economic ties by saying he had been heartened by assurances from a Chinese official that addressing the limits on film releases would be "a gradual process".
"There is a maturity in their recognition that this is all in a process of change," he said.
In an earlier speech, Mr Gutierrez warned that intellectual property (IP) violations were being seized upon by US protectionist voices.
"[A] victim of the widespread IP theft in China is American support for expanding our trade relationship," he said.
China's expanding bilateral trade surplus is adding to Sino-US strains, with US trade statistics saying it hit $23bn (�18bn, ￡12bn) in September and is on course easily to beat the 2005 record of $202bn this year.
But the commerce secretary played down suggestions that Washington was planning a complaint to the World Trade Organisation over Chinese intellectual property abuses, saying such a move was just one possible tool if dialogue failed.
美国呼吁中国放开电影发行市场
美国商务部长卡洛斯?古铁雷斯(Carlos Gutierrez)昨日呼吁中国政府，进一步放宽对美国电影公司等内容供应商在华销售产品的限制，以打击盗版，并缩小日益扩大的中美贸易顺差。
在此次较为乐观的中国之行过程中，古铁雷斯警告称，中国的知识产权侵权行为猖獗，正加剧美国的保护主义情绪。
要减少盗版行为并缩小具有政治敏感性的中国（对美）贸易顺差，中国政府可以采取的一种做法是，取消其每年只引进20部外国大片的限制性做法。
古铁雷斯在接受采访时表示：“我们希望看到完全取消限制，（或者）至少增加进口数量。”
他表示，进一步放宽对美国电影和合法DVD的引进限制，有助于改善中国在知识产权方面的记录。
他表示：“这还有助于打击盗版，因为如果你（不让人们）合法购买电影，就是在为非法产品创造需求。”
古铁雷斯强调，美国政府对中美经贸关系的发展趋势公开持乐观态度。他表示，中国一位官员曾谈过，将“逐步”取消（外国）电影发行限制，这一保证令他振奋。
在早些时候发表的讲话中，古铁雷斯曾警告称，美国的保护主义者正利用（中国）侵犯知识产权的问题大做文章。
中国不断扩大的双边贸易顺差正使中美关系更加紧张。美国贸易统计数据显示，9月份的中美贸易顺差达230亿美元，而且还在继续扩大，今年有望轻松打破2005年创下的2020亿美元的纪录。
不过，古铁雷斯淡化了美国政府就中国侵犯知识产权问题向世界贸易组织(WTO)申诉的可能性。他表示，这只是在对话失败的情况下而可能采取的一种手段。
