Recently, according to Section 301 Investigation of China, the US has accused China of "stealing" and "forcing" American enterprises to transfer their intellectual property rights. Experts assert that the US’ implementation of unilateralism and protectionism is out of line with WTO regulations, highlighting a hypocrisy within the US’ criticisms.

In defense of Chinese business practice, Ruan Zongze, the deputy director of China Institute of International Studies, points out China’s substantial contribution to the protection of intellectual property rights worldwide. Within China, almost 1.4 million applications for invention patents were made to the State Intellectual Property Office in 2017 – a figure that surpasses that of the US, Japan, South Korea and Europe combined. Chinese Ambassador to UK Liu Xiaoming has weighed in on the discussion. Based on a recent report issued by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), he anticipates China, currently the second largest source of international patent applications, to overtake the US as the largest source within the three years.

Li Gang, the deputy director of The Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation (CAITEC), considers the notion of China thieving intellectual property as sheer fabrication. He argues that mutual respect and agreement should be the basis for any commercial cooperation. "I hold firmly to my belief that forcing one side to accept the other's terms ruins any potential for reaching an accord," Li said to CCTV.

Chinese Patent Office research indicates that China has consistently protected intellectual property rights, in approval from other countries. China has conducted numerous operations in the past year aiming to protect overseas companies' intellectual property rights in China. The US owned 23,679 Chinese patents at the end of 2017, amongst which Qualcomm was the enterprise that owned the most. Mark Snyder, senior vice president of Qualcomm, cited China's determination to protect intellectual property as the reason to settle intellectual property rights disputes in China.

China’s efforts to defend intellectual property rights were further backed up by Li Wei, director of the Academy of America and Oceania in Chinese Ministry of Commerce. Considering that China's annual growth of over 17 percent of expenditure on intellectual property protection, Li notes, "It is ridiculous to accuse China of copying innovations from the US."