China IP: Looking back at the negotiations, do you think there are any points not well considered?
Wu: Yes. The Copenhagen Climate Conference held in December gives us a good example of the principle of “common but differentiated responsibilities”. For example, the responsibility of climate protection is shared by countries in the world, but is differentiated between developed countries and developing countries. So are IP negotiations. IP protection is a common task for all countries, but in different countries the protection can be at different levels. China started IP legislation in 1979. Developed countries spent several hundred years in developing IP legislation, but we only consumed less than two decades. With regards to IP law enforcement, the Chinese government has also made great efforts and taken many effective measures. Therefore, I think the principle of “common but differentiated responsibilities” should have been applied to the IP negotiations.
China IP: You have described many people in your book. Who leaves you with the deepest impression?
Wu: Everyone left me with a deep and distinctive impression. I gave the most pages to Wu Yi because she stood for our country’s standpoint and image. I also liked Tong Zhiguang very much. He had such a strong personality. I’m sure his big tobacco pipe must have left deep a impression on readers. I also used many words describing Duan Ruichun, who had been in the IP negotiations with the United States in the area of science and technology before the promulgation of the Special 301 Provisions. Duan was very handsome, courteous, and represented China’s image. He knew how to liven up the negotiations and to compass his purpose in a smart way. Another vivid description is Zhang Yuejiao. She attended most negotiations and did the most concrete work. She was both a MOFTEC expert and a jurist, and had insightful views of intellectual property.
China IP: There are many women negotiators in your book. Did you pay special attention to them?
Wu: This was indeed a coincidence and I did pay special attention to them. When I was writing the book, I found that the negotiations were really a little bit “feminine”. We have Wu Yi, and they have Carla A. Hills and Charlene Barshefsky. Although Lee Sands was male, he had a very important women assistant: Deborah Lehr. Another woman was the American chief representative, who was mainly talking with Long Yongtu in Geneva about China’s GATT resumption. Maybe readers will wonder why there are so many women negotiators. I think women were more affecting and impressive. They could move others with their tears. Lehr even took out her family album and introduced her kids and nanny to Chinese representatives; partially a show, and partially an outpouring of her true feelings.
China IP: Every negotiation portrayed by you is very interesting, but did you feel bored during the negotiations?
Wu: Not at all (Smile). Of course, different people had different feelings. Some negotiators had been in this area of work for many years and certainly they were easily bored. I wrote in my book that Dong Baolin was even reluctant to enter the negotiations room and American negotiators were so eager to go home at Christmas that they were singing in the hall of the MOFTEC. You can see they were all fed up with the negotiations. But I cherished that experience very much. Everything was fresh to me and I could not endure missing any detail of the negotiations. Then I observed it and analyzed it with a journalist’s eye, without any pressure on me. What I recorded is accurate and objective. It is a true mirror of history. Another point is that if the negotiations were really boring, I would use vivid descriptions to attract more readers. After all, who will read a boring book that records boring things?
China IP: In your view, which part of the negotiations stands out as a highlight?
Wu: I think the most wonderful negotiations were between Wu Yi and Hills, and between Tong Zhiguang and Hills. In my eyes, Hills was an “iron lady”. She was considered an impassable barrier in international negotiations and had “defeated” many opponents. Chinese negotiators also considered her a “hard bone”; a big trial. Another highlight was the Chinese side’s big fight back led by Wu Yi during her second attendance.
China IP: What is the nature of IP negotiations, in your view?
Wu: National interest, definitely. National interest is not a virtual thing, but substantive, and can be accurate to decimal points. When a negotiator sat before the negotiation table, he was stripped of all personal interests and became a representative of his country. He must clearly know how to play the cards!
China IP: Do you feel that the Sino-U.S. IP negotiations have promoted IP development in China?
Wu: Surely! Intellectual property in China is in essence an innate need of the country’s domestic development and opening up. However, if it were not for international negotiations, intellectual property in China could never have achieved such fast development. In other words, it is the international negotiations that urge us to develop intellectual property. The promulgation of China’s Copyright Law and Patent Law is, to a certain degree, driven by the Sino-U.S. IP negotiations.
China IP: As a witness of China’s IP development over the past 12 years, what changes do you think have taken place?
Wu: Great changes have taken place. Several major laws have been amended and law enforcement has been strengthened. Moreover, I think people have raised copyright awareness. 20 year ago, it was the time of “collective unconsciousness of copyright” and piracy was everywhere. But now it’s the era of the awakening of people’s IP protection consciousness, which, in my opinion, is very important. Without the awakening of people’s IP protection consciousness, IP protection would be empty talk no matter how comprehensive or rigorous the legislation is.
But there are still many problems, such as the irreconcilable conflict between scientific and technological development and IP protection.
One last thing that I want to say is that this book has also been pirated. Imagine one day when China and the U.S. come back to negotiations again and an American representative is holding a pirated copy of Rivalry Between the Powers in his hand, what an ironic moment that would be!
By Zhou Yi, China IP
(Translated by Hu Xiaoying)
