China has been steadily climbing the international index of intellectual property (IP), said Einar Tangen, a current affairs commentator.

"It's getting better and better, you had remembered when China entered the WTO, it entered with no IP. There are lots of copies like phones etc. The fact is the world is changing dramatically, and China is changing with it. Now China ranks 17th at the world's innovation index," said Tangen.

In 2013, China amended the Trademark Law, raising the penalty cap for IP violations from 500,000 to three million yuan. In 2017, China amended the Anti-Unfair Competition Law, which protects business secrets.

Meanwhile, US businesses have benefited hugely from better IP protection in China, which paid close to eight billion US dollars in licensing fees to the US in 2016. China imported 28,000 copyrights from the US from 2012 to 2016. The US applied for over 58,000 trademark transfers in China in the same period. China imported 31 American films at the cost of 650 million US dollars in 2017.

Commerce Minister Zhong Shan said that a successful company couldn't develop through IP infringement. He also said that China would enhance IP protection and create a better business environment.

China is now improving its communications mechanism with small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), private and foreign firms and put all the market entities on an equal footing. 

And China is firm on cracking down on counterfeit goods and IP infringements. The chair of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) Commission on Intellectual Property Ingrid Bael also said that China has been playing a bigger role in IP protection.