Category: Foreign News

Agency report

The 6.6-percent economic growth China maintained last year was not an easy-won achievement especially given the fact that the country’s economy has been developing rapidly for 40 years since reform and opening up, said Yang Decai, director of the Department of Economics at Nanjing University.

Yang, who is also a member of the 13th Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) National Committee, explained that most economies can only maintain rapid growth for one or two decades at most, and to prolong rapid development is very difficult.

Last year, China’s GDP for the first time exceeded 90 trillion yuan, or $13.6 trillion as calculated by the annual average exchange rate, ranking the second largest in the world. The country economic growth, which stood at 6.6 percent, was also the highest among the top five economies of the world.

Besides, China was the largest contributor to the world’s economic growth, accounting for around 30 percent of the global growth.

What contributed to last year’s growth were a healthier and more sustainable development mode, as well as the further optimization of economic structure, Yang pointed out.

The CPPCC member also hailed China’s economic stability and resilience as the country has maintained economic growth at a range between 6.4 percent and 7.0 percent for 16 consecutive quarters.

Though Chinese economy faced downward pressure because of complicated global economic environment last year, there were still many enterprises making remarkable achievements.

Xinyu Iron & Steel, a company based in Xinyu, eastern China’s Jiangxi province is one of these companies.

Thanks to the cut of taxes and administrative fees, the general cost of the company has been largely reduced, and the company has created new records in both sales revenue and profit, according to Xia Wenyong, chairman of the board of the steelwork and a deputy to the 13th National People’s Congress (NPC).

He told People’s Daily that the company enjoyed total VAT exemption and refund of 401 million yuan, and another 170 million yuan of taxes was also exempted under the policy to encourage technical innovation.

He suggested that the government roll out more favorable policies to better business environment and conduct tax reduction on a larger scale to alleviate the burden on enterprises.

The steelwork is not the only enterprise that benefited from the favorable policies. Hubei Xingfa Chemicals Group also made its best performance ever in sales revenue, tax paid, and export value.

“We ended our extensive development that relied on high consumption of resources, energy and ecology, and established a complete industrial system covering R&D and marketing,” said Li Guozhang, chairman of the board of the company.

The chemical company lowered its emission and improved efficiency, which resulted in stronger capability of high-tech material research and brought powerful new impetus for growth, said Li, also a deputy to the 13th NPC.

“Only by technical innovation can enterprises enhance core competitiveness, and that is applicable to companies in all industries,” he said, calling for new policies that further encourage innovation.

Hubei Xingfa Chemicals Group was an example of China’s expanding impetus over last year. In 2018, the value added of China’s strategic emerging industries grew by 8.9 percent from a year before. It came from the increasing investment on innovation.

The country’s R&D expenses were also up by 11.6 percent last year, accounting for 2.18 percent of its GDP, 0.03 percentage point higher from that in 2017. As a result, massive innovation has offered strong support for China’s high-quality development.

China’s economic restructuring achieved outstanding performance in the eyes of the NPC deputies and CPPCC members. In 2018, China’s final consumption contributed 76.2 percent to China’s economic growth, 43.8 percentage points higher than the gross capital formation.

The fostering of a strong domestic market is a highlight and power house for China’s future economic growth.

Speaking of the industrial upgrading driven by residential consumption, Xia believes the process would present enterprises with both challenges and opportunities.

“Enterprises must follow the pace of consumption upgrading, create new supplies, and get used to and meet consumers’ demands, so as to enlarge their businesses,” he noted.

Yang said that the growth of residents’ income is a premise for the growth of consumption. To drive up consumption, the country must increase the income of the people, and enhance the sense of security of consumers by improving public services and promoting social security reforms, Yang noted.

***Amid economic transition

By Li Xinping, Zhu Yueying

Skilled workers in China are taking pride in their professions as the world’s second-largest economy sees a huge demand for high-quality workforce to help facilitate its transition.

“All roads lead to Rome, and getting a college diploma is not the only way to success,” said Hu Ping, who won the gold medal in fashion technology at the 44th WorldSkills Competition in 2017.

“By acquiring a skill and hard work, one can also realize the dream of life,” added Hu, also a student studying costume designing and manufacturing at Beijing Industry and Trade Technicians College. She told People’s Daily that it was the interest that drove her to choose the school.

However, the decision was not easy for her to make, as her relatives and friends all opposed her, she said, adding that one of her uncles even said it was almost impossible for her to find a job.

“Fortunately, the WorldSkills Competition proved my competence and changed the views of my family and friends,” noted Hu.

At present, many skilled young people like Hu are receiving training at 205 camps across China, competing for the quota to attend the 45th  WorldSkills Competition in Kazan in southwest Russia. They will go through rounds of tests and evaluations in the next few months and only one candidate will be finally qualified for each event.

Nowadays, what students learn at technician and vocational schools is quite different and new. The courses have been transformed to modern techniques such as industrial design, 3D print and application, applied biology, and graphic communication, from the traditional technical operations of bench-work, milling, planning and grinding.

Technological advances and industrial upgrading are replacing outdated professions with new ones such as smart equipment installation, maintenance and adjusting.

China had a total of 165 million skilled workers by the end of 2018, of which 47.91 million were highly skilled. The numbers registered rises of 23 percent and 39.3 percent respectively from 2012.

However, such workers are still far from sufficient as skilled labor force only account for around 20 percent of the country’s employment, and the highly skilled less than 6 percent.

In recent years, the demand for skilled workers has always been 1.5 times of the job-seeking group, and even twice when it comes to the highly skilled.

Apart from the eastern coastal areas, the insufficiency of skilled workers is gradually moving toward central and western China, transforming from seasonal scarcity to constant short supply.

Experts refuted the views that skilled workers will diminish as enterprises are making constant progress in automated production, saying that the management and operation of such automation equipment would call for higher expertise from the workers.

“I want to make greater contributions in production,” said Hu. As a candidate preparing for this year’s WorldSkills contest, she bears a hope to stand the test from the market.

(Cyberscoop)

A new vulnerability in a popular WordPress plugin could allow outsiders who exploit the flaw to take control of a website, according to new research.

Luka Šikić, who works as a security developer at WebARX, published a report Monday revealing the bug in the Simple Social Buttons plugin, which more than 40,000 websites use to distribute their content on Facebook, Twitter and others. The problem would allow hackers to modify a WordPress site’s settings in a way plugin developers did not intend.

WPBrigade, the firm that developed Simple Social Buttons, patched the flaw in the 2.0.22 software update, which was released Friday. Šikić said he informed WPBrigade about the vulnerability on Feb. 7, and that the company fixed the issue within a day.

“If your website uses the WordPress plugin ‘Simple Social Buttons,’ you should update it to the latest version as soon as possible,” WebARX said in a blog post detailing the findings.

WebARX’s research comes just weeks after an unrelated incident in which a former employee hacked the website of WPML, another popular WordPress plugin that allows WordPress operators to run their websites in different language. In that case, WPML said the former employee used inside information and a hidden vulnerability to send spam to WPML clients.

In another case last year, hackers exploited a bug in the plugin WP GDPR Compliance to create their own administrator accounts on WordPress websites.

The sheer popularity of the WordPress content management system makes websites hosted there an alluring hacking target. Of the roughly 182 million websites active online, according to the internet research company Netcraft, some 60 million of those are WordPress, W3Techs data says. By infiltrating one component of the WordPress environment, attackers could leverage that vulnerability into many others.

30-year-old Gerald Cotten, the founder of QuadrigaCX, Canada’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, died last year in India from complications with Crohn’s disease. Before his death, he had the only password to unlock the funds and didn’t get to transfer that knowledge to anyone.

QuadrigaCX, Canada’s leading cryptocurrency exchange company, has said it cannot repay $190m to clients because its founder died with their passwords.

Founder Gerald Cotten, 30, died “due to complications with Crohn’s disease” in December, 2018, his wife, Jennifer Robertson, said.

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Mr Cotten held “sole responsibility for handling the funds and coins” and no other members of the team could access the stored funds, Jennifer said in a sworn affidavit as she filed for credit protection on 31 January, 2019.

Ms Robertson said about $190m in both cryptocurrency and normal money is in “cold storage” – where the company, or just Mr Cotten in this case, holds the key, not the client.

The founder held “sole responsibility for handling the funds and coins” and no other members of the team could access the stored funds, she added.

The company is no longer accepting investments on their platform after it was put on pause by directors last month.

US president Donald Trump has announced America’s withdrawal from its 30years old nuclear treaty with the Russian federation.

This is contained in a statement by President Trump Regarding the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty.

For far too long, Russia has violated the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty with impunity, covertly developing and fielding a prohibited missile system that poses a direct threat to our allies and troops abroad. Tomorrow, the United States will suspend its obligations under the INF Treaty and begin the process of withdrawing from the INF Treaty, which will be completed in 6 months unless Russia comes back into compliance by destroying all of its violating missiles, launchers, and associated equipment. Our NATO Allies fully support us, because they understand the threat posed by Russia’s violation and the risks to arms control posed by ignoring treaty violations.

The United States has fully adhered to the INF Treaty for more than 30 years, but we will not remain constrained by its terms while Russia misrepresents its actions. We cannot be the only country in the world unilaterally bound by this treaty, or any other. We will move forward with developing our own military response options and will work with NATO and our other allies and partners to deny Russia any military advantage from its unlawful conduct.

My Administration remains committed to effective arms control that advances United States, allied, and partner security, is verifiable and enforceable, and includes partners that fulfill their obligations. For arms control to effectively contribute to national security, all parties must faithfully implement their obligations. We stand ready to engage with Russia on arms control negotiations that meet these criteria, and, importantly, once that is done, develop, perhaps for the first time ever, an outstanding relationship on economic, trade, political, and military levels. This would be a fantastic thing for Russia and the United States, and would also be great for the world.

On a cold, grey Sunday morning, in a London street lined with shuttered builders’ yards and storage units, songs of prayer in the Nigerian language of Yoruba ring out from a former warehouse that is now a church.

The congregation, almost entirely dressed in white robes, steadily grows to around 70 people as musicians playing drums, a keyboard and a guitar pick up the pace of the hymns. Some women prostrate themselves on the floor in prayer.

In the sparse formerly industrial building, its interior brightened by touches of gold paint, a speaker reminds the group of a list of banned activities — no smoking, no drinking of alcohol, no practicing of black magic.

In a street outside, a pastor flicks holy water over the car of a woman who wants a blessing to ward off the risk of accidents.

The busy scene at the Celestial Church of Christ is repeated at a half a dozen other African Christian temples on the same drab street and in the adjacent roads – one corner of the thriving African church community in south London.

Around 250 black majority churches are believed to operate in the borough of Southwark, where 16 percent of the population identifies as having African ethnicity.

Southwark represents the biggest concentration of African Christians in the world outside the continent with an estimated 20,000 congregants attending churches each Sunday, according to researchers at the University of Roehampton.

Reflecting the different waves of migration to Britain in the 20th Century, Caribbean churches began to appear in the late 1940s and 1950s as workers and their families arrived from Jamaica and other former British colonies.

African churches opened their doors in London from the 1960s, followed by a second wave in the 1980s.

Migrants, many of them from Nigeria and Ghana, sought to build communities and maintain cultural connections with their home countries by founding their own churches, often founded in private homes, schools and office spaces.

As the communities grew, the churches moved into bigger spaces in bingo halls, cinemas and warehouses, gathering congregations of up to 500 people where services are streamed online by volunteers with video cameras.

There is a striking contrast with the empty pews at many traditional Church of England churches where congregations have dwindled for years.

“We pray for this country,” said Abosede Ajibade, a 54-year-old Nigerian who moved to Britain in 2002 and works for an office maintenance company.

“People here brought Christianity to Africa but it doesn’t feel like they serve Jesus Christ any more.”

Anyone traveling around south London on a Sunday morning will see worshippers, often dressed in dazzlingly colored African clothes, making their way to churches, each with their different styles of worship.

Hymns are sung only in African languages in some temples, or only in English at others. Some pastors take worshippers for full immersion baptisms in the cold of the English Channel. Others believe that when congregants suddenly start speaking in unknown languages it marks the presence of the Holy Spirit.

But the researchers from the University of Roehampton found things that many churches have in common, including a drive for professional advancement, a commitment to spend three hours or more at Sunday service and typically very loud worship.

“That is how we express our joy and gratitude to God,” Andrew Adeleke, a senior pastor at the House of Praise, one of the biggest African churches in Southwark, in a former theater.

“The church is not supposed to be a graveyard,” Adeleke said. “It is supposed to be a temple of celebration and worship and the beauty is to be able to express our love to God, even when things are not perfect in our lives.”

For some, the noise from amplified services is a problem, leading to complaints to local authorities from residents.

But many churches face bigger challenges than unhappy neighbours: Some provide food for people struggling to make ends meet, or work with young people at risk of recruitment by gangs.

Andrew Rogers, who led the University of Roehampton researchers, said pastors had to juggle retaining the churches’ African identity while appealing to children of first generation immigrants, many of whom have never lived outside Britain.

They typically have a more liberal world view which can be hard to reconcile with conservative Pentecostal teachings.

Rogers recalled speaking to one pastor who lamented he was unable to talk about religious miracles to his children.

“If the church doesn’t adapt, then they are going to leave and look elsewhere,” Rogers said.

*Reuters

Millions of Chinese have begun the annual exodus for the Lunar New Year, the world’s largest annual human migration, leaving major cities to return to their hometowns for the holiday.

The most important holiday in the Chinese calendar places great emphasis on family reunions, and travellers must get home by Monday to usher in the Year of the Pig the following day.

At Beijing Railway Station early on Wednesday, thousands were milling around in the cold, wrapped up in thick coats and wheeling their luggage.

They included a group of children with brightly coloured bags emblazoned with cartoon characters, a stark contrast to the dark, wintry morning.

Readying for a 32-hour journey from Beijing to Huaihua in Hunan province, central China, passengers kept themselves entertained on mobile phones while sipping tea from flasks.

Many who bought standing-only tickets were perched on their luggage along the aisle, or on tiny foldable stools sold on the Beijing platform. Others dozed in their cramped seats.

In the sleeper cabins there was a buzz in the air, with families chatting and sharing food and children playing along the corridors.

Rail operators expect some 413 million trips during this year’s holiday season, up 8.3 percent from a year ago, the official Xinhua news agency reported. (NAN)

TIME’s Person of the Year recognizes the person or group of people who most influenced the news and the world – for better or worse – during the past year.
Murdered Saudi Arabian writer Jamal Khashoggi, the Capital Gazette newsroom and three other journalists were named as TIME magazine’s 2018 Person of the Year.

“Like all human gifts, courage comes to us at varying levels and at varying moments,” TIME’s editor-in-chief Edward Felsenthal wrote in an essay about the selection. “This year we are recognizing four journalists and one news organization who have paid a terrible price to seize the challenge of this moment: Jamal Khashoggi, Maria Ressa, Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo and the Capital Gazette of Annapolis, Md.”

“They are representative of a broader fight by countless others around the world — as of Dec. 10, at least 52 journalists have been murdered in 2018 — who risk all to tell the story of our time,” Felsenthal wrote.
Khashoggi, a well-known critic of Saudi Arabia and columnist for the Washington Post, was killed shortly after visiting the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in early October to obtain marriage documents. His death, allegedly orchestrated by the highest levels of the Saudi government, caused an international outcry.

Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is widely suspected of ordering the assassination, and a CIA assessment determined the heir to the Saudi throne was in frequent communication with a close adviser believed to have overseen the operation on the day Khashoggi was killed.

Ressa is the editor of Rappler, an independent news website in the Philippines that has been highly critical of President Rodrigo Duterte’s administration. Myanmar has accused Reuters reporters Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo of breaching the country’s official state secrets act while investigating atrocities with Rohingya refugees. Five members of the Capital Gazette in Annapolis were killed in June when a gunman blasted his way into their newsroom.

Of the four recipients, one is dead (Khashoggi), two are convicted (Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo), one is indicted (Ressa) and the other was attacked (Capital Gazette).

The award started in 1927 and the recipient is selected by TIME’s editors. This year marks the first year TIME has given the accolade to someone no longer alive.

CREDIT USA TODAY

Chinese President Xi Jinping’s latest successful diplomatic activities have again sent a signal to the world that however the international situation changes, China will always increase indispensible stability to the world that stands at critical moment by maintaining strategic composure, keeping a clear mind, and acting constructively and proactively.

China adds stability by showcasing a responsible stance to safeguard multilateralism and enhance global governance, which was expressed by Xi during his 9-day trip to Europe and Latin America.

From Nov. 27 to Dec. 5, Xi paid state visits to Spain, Argentina, Panama and Portugal, and attended the 13th Group of 20 (G20) summit in Buenos Aires.

Currently, the world needs to get rid of the deep-seated influence of the financial crisis, quicken the pace to replace old growth drivers with new ones, and conquer social pressure that came along with technological and industrial revolutions.

Against this backdrop, the G20 is placed with the hope to continue adopting a strategic vision and play a leading role in safeguarding multilateralism and improving global governance.

Xi called on G20 leaders to fulfill responsibility and steer the global economy in the right direction, in a speech delivered at the G20 summit.

He said that G20 leaders should stay committed to openness and cooperation and uphold the multilateral trading system, forge strong partnership and step up macro policy coordination.

The Chinese President also called on the G20 leaders to stay committed to innovation and create new momentum for growth, and stay committed to win-win cooperation to promote inclusive global development.

Kept abreast with the change of the international situation, Xi’s proposals offer a solution to the current challenges and are conducive to strong, sustainable, balanced and inclusive growth of global economy.

It also played a key role in propelling the G20 summit to reach consensus on major international agendas and release a declaration.

China injects stability by working actively to push for benign relations between major countries.

During the G20 summit, the meeting between President Xi and his US counterpart Donald Trump was the focus of global attention.

The two presidents agreed to jointly work toward a China-US relationship tuned by coordination, cooperation and stability, and promote bilateral cooperation and exchanges in various fields for more outcomes.

The important consensus not only conforms to the interests of China and the US, but also to expectations of the international community.

China-Russia relations, special and developing at a high level, are a role model for relations between major countries. During the G20 summit, President Xi and Russian President Vladimir Putin held a meeting like they did on multiple multilateral occasions.

The two heads of state, in their talks, made plans to celebrate the 70th anniversary of China-Russia diplomatic relations next year, in order to lead their comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination to a higher level.

China contributes more stability by showing willingness to deepen partnership through cooperation. In the latest years, China’s closer cooperation with Europe and Latin America has given a boost to development of both sides, and expanded their global influence.

Xi’s visits to the above four countries have not only injected strong impetus into bilateral cooperation, but also created new engines for China’s cooperation with the two regions.

Xi’s trip has indicated that as China further deepens reform and expands opening-up, it is unleashing more development opportunities to the world, and countries are having stronger confidence in fostering partnership, and achieving win-win cooperation with China.

Thanks to Xi’s visit, Spain, Argentina, Panama and Portugal are more willing to join the Belt and Road cooperation, and their pragmatic cooperation with China is embracing a promising prospect.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez pointed out that Spain is laying more importance on Asia, especially China, which is opening itself wider to the world.

(Zhong Sheng, a homonym in Chinese for “voice of China”, is a pen name often used by People’s Daily to express its views on foreign policy.)

为处在关键当口的国际形势增添稳定性（钟声）
人民日报

11月27日至12月5日，中国国家主席习近平对西班牙、阿根廷、巴拿马、葡萄牙进行国事访问并出席在阿根廷举行的二十国集团领导人第十三次峰会。通过这一成功的重大外交行动，世界再次看到，无论国际风云如何变幻，中国始终保持战略定力与清醒，以建设性姿态和积极主动的作为，为处在关键当口的国际形势增添不可或缺的稳定性。

来自中国的稳定性，体现在维护多边主义、加强全球治理的负责任立场。

当前，破除金融危机的深层次影响，推动经济增长新旧动能转换，克服伴随科技与产业革命而来的社会压力，种种现实挑战都呼唤二十国集团继续展示战略视野，在维护多边主义、完善全球治理方面发挥引领作用。

着眼于推动二十国集团各方以负责任态度把握世界经济大方向，习近平主席在峰会作引导性讲话时提出四个坚持：坚持开放合作，维护多边贸易体制；坚持伙伴精神，加强宏观政策协调；坚持创新引领，挖掘经济增长动力；坚持普惠共赢，促进全球包容发展。这些倡议紧扣形势变化，解答时代命题，有利于推动世界经济强劲、可持续、平衡、包容增长，为推动本次二十国集团领导人峰会就重大国际问题达成共识并通过领导人宣言发挥了重要作用。

来自中国的稳定性，体现在促进大国关系良性互动的积极担当。

二十国集团领导人峰会期间，习近平主席同美国总统特朗普的会晤全球瞩目。中美双方在会晤中同意共同推进以协调、合作、稳定为基调的中美关系，推动两国各领域交流合作取得更多成果。这一重要共识不仅符合中美双方利益，也符合国际社会的期待。具有高水平和特殊性的中俄关系，堪称当今世界大国相处的典范。此次二十国集团领导人峰会，习近平主席同俄罗斯总统普京延续在重要多边场合会晤的传统，共同为明年庆祝两国建交70周年作出规划，引领中俄全面战略协作伙伴关系迈向更高水平。

来自中国的稳定性，体现在深化伙伴关系的合作取向。过去几年来，中欧、中拉整体合作不断提升，为双方发展带来助力，国际影响力日益扩大。此次，习近平主席对西班牙、阿根廷、巴拿马、葡萄牙四国进行访问，不仅为中国同四国的双边合作注入了强劲动力，也为中欧、中拉整体合作继续攀升带来了新的推动。

从此次访问可以看出，随着中国进一步深化改革扩大开放，向世界释放的发展机遇不断增多，各国同中国加强伙伴关系、实现合作共赢的动力与信心持续加强。通过习近平主席的此次访问，西班牙、阿根廷、巴拿马、葡萄牙四国融入“一带一路”合作的意向进一步加强，同中国开展务实合作的空间正变得更加广阔。西班牙首相桑切斯的观点很有代表性——在这个充满变化的时代，西班牙越来越关注亚洲，尤其是重视日益走向世界的中国。

By Fang Yingxin from People’s Daily

China recorded the highest application volume for intellectual property (IP) rights, including patents, trademarks, and designs of industrial products, according to an annual report released by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) on Dec.3.

Last year, global demand for IP tools hit new record. Innovators filed 3.17 million patent applications, representing an eighth straight yearly increase, according to WIPO’s annual World Intellectual Property Indicators (WIPI) report.

The number of trademark applications hit 12.39 million, while the number of industrial design applications reached 1.24 million.

China’s IP office received the highest number of patent applications in 2017, a record total of 1.38 million, followed by the IP offices of the United States (about 610,000), Japan (about 320,000), South Korea (about 204,000), and the European Patent Office (about 170,000).

China is becoming an incontrovertible world leader in applications for IP rights, said Analysts. The country is vigorously promoting the growth of global application volume for IP rights.

China has given strong support to domestic high-tech industries and made active efforts to protect IP rights. Last year, the country’s patent applications were mainly from such areas as electronic equipment, computer technologies, and data transmission.

Asia was the most dynamic region for patent applications, said the WIPI report. It suggested that in 2017, the number of patent applications received in Asia accounted for 65.1 percent of the world’s total, while the figure was only 49.7 percent 10 years ago. Such dramatic increase can be attributed to China’s economic growth.

China’s patent application in overseas destinations grew by 15 percent from a year ago in 2017. The growth was significantly higher than those of Japan (2.1 percent) and the U.S. (2 percent). Some other countries even witnessed negative growth in this regard such as Germany and South Korea.

China’s IP office filed the most trademarks applications in the world last year which covered around 5.7 million categories, followed by the U.S. and Japan.

The volume of trademark applications concerning industrial product design received by the IP office of China represented 50.6 percent of the world’s total in 2017, which was much larger than the proportion achieved by the European Union (EU), South Korea, Turkey, and the U.S. did.

Eleven countries and regions had generated total publishing revenue of $248 billion in trade, education and science, as well as technology and medical service last year, while China reported the highest net income of $202.4 billion, according to statistics on creative economy which was for the first time included in the report.

“China remained the main driver of global growth in IP filings. From already high levels, patent filings in China grew by 14.2 percent and trademark filing activity in China by 55.2 percent. These high growth rates propelled China’s shares of global patent filings and trademarks filing activity,” WIPO Director General Francis Gurry wrote in the forward of the report.

“In just a few decades, China has constructed an IP system, encouraged homegrown innovation, joined the ranks of the world’s IP leaders — and is now driving worldwide growth in IP filings,” said Gurry at a press conference at the United Nations (UN) on Dec.3.

世界知识产权组织发表年度报告——
中国知识产权申请量世界领先

人民日报记者 方莹馨

世界知识产权组织12月3日发表年度报告称，2017年中国国内专利、商标、工业品外观设计等各类知识产权的申请量都位列全球第一，有力推动了全球知识产权申请的增长。

这份名为《世界知识产权指标》的报告显示，2017年全球知识产权申请量再创新高。其中，专利申请量达到317万件，实现连续8年增长；全球商标申请活动总量为1239万类，工业品外观设计的申请总量达到124万。

具体来说，在已支付申请费的专利申请数量上，2017年中国国家知识产权局受理的申请数量达到创纪录的138万件，远高于排名其后的美国（61万件）、日本（32万件）、韩国（20.4万件）以及欧洲专利局（17万件）。分析认为，中国正在成为世界知识产权申请领域无可争议的领跑者。

中国大力支持国内高科技产业发展，积极保护知识产权，2017年中国的专利申请主要涉及电子设备、计算机技术和数据传输等。

报告称，亚洲是专利申请最活跃的地区。2017年，亚洲地区受理的申请数量占全球总量的65.1%，而2007年这一数字是49.7%，这样的大幅增长主要是受中国经济增长的驱动。海外专利申请量上，中国2017年比2016年增长了15%，远高于日本（2.1%）、美国（2%），而德国、韩国等国则呈负增长。

2017年中国国家知识产权局受理的商标申请活动数量最多，约为570万类，其次是美国和日本。工业品外观设计方面，中国国家知识产权局受理的申请占全球申请总量的50.6％，远超排名其后的欧盟、韩国、土耳其和美国。

此外，报告首次推出的创意经济统计数据显示，2017年11个国家和地区在贸易、教育与科学、技术与医疗这3个领域的出版业收入达到2480亿美元。中国报告的净收入最高，达到2024亿美元。

“中国是知识产权申请全球增长的主要推动力。在原有高水平的基础上，中国专利申请量增长14.2%，商标申请量增长55.2%。这些高增长率提高了中国在全球专利申请和商标申请中的份额。”世界知识产权组织总干事弗朗西斯·高锐表示，“在短短几十年中，中国从无到有建立了知识产权制度，鼓励本土创新，并加入了全球知识产权引领者的行列，如今正在推动全球知识产权申请的增长。”