US scholar hails China's commitment to stronger IPR protection, more imports

In his speech at the opening ceremony of the Boao Forum for Asia (BFA) Annual Conference 2018 on Tuesday, Chinese President Xi Jinping announced a slew of new measures for expanding reform and opening up.

Carl F. Fey, professor of international business at Finland's Aalto University and Chinese University of Hong Kong, told China Daily at the forum on Wednesday he thinks Xi's speech is inspiring and really gives hope for a bright future for China and the world.

Fey, who is from the United States and has worked with some foreign companies to help them do businesses in China, said he was excited to hear that China is getting more serious about intellectual property rights (IPR) protection.

"This is the top concern mentioned by foreign companies I work with who are entering China. While China has made some progress in this area in recent years, continued progress in this area will be very welcomed," Fey said.

He said if China can convince people that there really is good IPR protection here, it actually will make more foreign companies willing to share their technologies.

The measure of strengthening IPR protection is beneficial both to the world and to China itself, according to Fey.

In addition, Fey said he also was impressed by President Xi's announcement on taking the initiative to expand imports.

"In contrast to recent US strategy articulated by President Trump, it is also positive that Xi indicates that, ‘China does not seek a trade surplus; we have a genuine desire to increase imports…'," he said.

"I believe recent actions by president Trump to impose tariffs have not been helpful to the liberal trade regime that have become a global standard and which the US, until recently, has ironically been the strongest proponent of," he added.

China's recent action will help continue to propel it to be an important global power that increasingly will play a leading role in international dialogue, Fey said.

In his opinion, in an increasingly interconnected world, a trade dispute between the US and China will not only affect the two countries but also the whole world.