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China rejects US claims of forced 'technology transfer'

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China rejects US claims of forced 'technology transfer'

China, in remarks submitted before the World Trade Organization, rejected U.S. accusations that its licensing and administrative rules force U.S. companies to share their technology in return for doing business in China, Reuters reported May 29.

"There is no forced technology transfer in China," said China's Ambassador Zhang Xiangchen, adding that the U.S.'s claims against China were a "presumption of guilt". He said nothing in their regulatory measures requires technology transfer from foreign companies.

The U.S. Trade Representative's Office officially filed a WTO complaint against China on March 23, a day after U.S. Donald Trump ordered the imposition of tariffs worth $60 billion on Chinese imports.

Xiangchen said the USTR failed to submit evidence and some of its claims were "pure speculation". He added that technology transfer benefited the U.S. most of all, while Chinese innovation was a result of "the diligence and entrepreneurship of the Chinese people, investment in education and research, and efforts to improve the protection of intellectual property."

U.S. Ambassador Dennis Shea said that China's "systematic and state-directed" pursuit of other WTO members' cutting-edge technology will erode the competitiveness of foreign investors in China.

"This is not the rule of law. In fact, it is China's laws themselves that enable this coercion," Shea told the WTO's dispute settlement body, according to a copy of his remarks obtained by Reuters.

Under WTO rules, if disputes are not settled amicably after 60 days, the complainant can ask for a panel of experts to adjudicate, escalating the dispute into a legal case. The U.S.could have used the dispute meeting on May 28 to take that step. China could do so at next month's meeting.

But since the dispute erupted, U.S.-China trade policy has been the subject of high-level bilateral talks.