BEIJING, April 10 (Xinhua) -- China expressed on Tuesday great regret and strong dissatisfaction at the decision of the United States to file WTO cases against China over intellectual property rights and access to the Chinese publication market.
"The decision runs contrary to the consensus between the leaders of the two nations about strengthening bilateral trade ties and properly solving trade disputes", said Wang Xinpei, spokesman with the Ministry of Commerce.
"It will seriously undermine the cooperative relations the two nations have established in the field and will adversely affect bilateral trade", he added.
"The Chinese government has always been firm in protecting intellectual property rights and has attained well-known achievements", said Wang, adding that the two nations have been "in good communication and consultation with each other over access to the Chinese publication market".
The Chinese government has not yet received a request for consultations from the United States, but will deliberate upon and actively respond to a formal request, said Wang.
Under WTO rules, if the parties to a trade dispute fail to iron out their differences within a 60-day consultation period, the complaining party may refer the matter to a WTO dispute settlement panel.
U.S. Trade Representative Susan C. Schwab announced on Monday that the U.S. government would file two WTO cases against China over copyright piracy and restrictions on the sale of American books, music, videos and movies.
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