The Future of China’s Trade Pact and Intellectual Property Rights

Abstract

The past decades have witnessed a sea change in the international intellectual property rights (IPRs) regime. Among other developments, the rise of China as a new global power and its role in shaping IPRs by virtue of both domestic reforms and the participation in bilateral and multilateral trade agreements is particularly noteworthy. The aim of this chapter is to offer a historical and contemporary account of China’s evolving IPR schemes against the background of international trade in order to shed light on how Asian economies will reconfigure the IPR rules in future negotiations. By focusing on three broader sets of analytical issues, this chapter sketches out the changing face of the Chinese IPR regime in the pre-WTO era, revisits China’s evolving IPR regime in the post-WTO era, and carefully examines the design of IPR provisions in its free trade agreements (FTAs) and mega-regional negotiations. Our analysis of these Chinese IPR approaches at three levels—bilateral, regional, and multilateral—indicates that China has gradually improved its IPR regime by taking into account external relationships, global norms, and its long-term development. Despite this progress, there remain criticisms of China’s IPR systems. The above progress and criticisms, together with recent developments in the context of the One Belt One Road (OBOR) initiative can inform policymakers about the future direction of the IPR rules in the Asian trade negotiations and beyond.