Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao on Tuesday told European business leaders that China was firmly committed to the protection of intellectual property rights (IPR).

In a speech entitled "Enhance Cooperation to Make Win-win Progress" at the 2006 China-Europe business summit, Wen said IPR protection was necessary, not only for China to fulfill its international obligations, but also to promote its development and enhance its capacity for independent innovation.

He said China had adopted the Copyright Law, the Patent Law, the Trademark Law and other IPR-related laws. China is a party to major international conventions on IPR protection and has signed bilateral agreements and established dialogue mechanisms on IPR protection with European Union (EU) member states and many other countries.

The Chinese government had set up a task force on IPR protection, opened 50 centers for handling IPR violation complaints across the country and strengthened government IPR protection agencies, he added.

"We have stepped up law enforcement, lowered the threshold for imposing criminal penalties on IPR violations and intensified efforts to crack down on IPR-related offenses," the Chinese premier said.

China hoped to strengthen its cooperation with the EU by giving full play to the role of the China-EU Dialogue Mechanism on IPR, he said.

He also said that China was critical of the practice of maintaining technology monopoly by abusing IPR agreements and rules.

"The Knowledge of mankind should be used to better serve mankind," Wen said.