皇冠体育app 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 鈥渃ommon but differentiated responsibilities鈥�. 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. 皇冠体育app 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 鈥渃ommon but differentiated responsibilities鈥� should have been applied to the IP negotiations.
皇冠体育app 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鈥檚 standpoint and image. I also liked Tong Zhiguang very much. He had such a strong personality. I鈥檓 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 皇冠体育app鈥檚 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.
皇冠体育app 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 鈥渇eminine鈥�. 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 皇冠体育app鈥檚 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.
皇冠体育app 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鈥檚 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?
皇冠体育app 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 鈥渋ron lady鈥�. She was considered an impassable barrier in international negotiations and had 鈥渄efeated鈥� many opponents. Chinese negotiators also considered her a 鈥渉ard bone鈥�; a big trial. Another highlight was the Chinese side鈥檚 big fight back led by Wu Yi during her second attendance.
皇冠体育app 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!
皇冠体育app IP: Do you feel that the Sino-U.S. IP negotiations have promoted IP development in 皇冠体育app?
Wu: Surely! Intellectual property in 皇冠体育app is in essence an innate need of the country鈥檚 domestic development and opening up. However, if it were not for international negotiations, intellectual property in 皇冠体育app 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 皇冠体育app鈥檚 Copyright Law and Patent Law is, to a certain degree, driven by the Sino-U.S. IP negotiations.
皇冠体育app IP: As a witness of 皇冠体育app鈥檚 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 鈥渃ollective unconsciousness of copyright鈥� and piracy was everywhere. But now it鈥檚 the era of the awakening of people鈥檚 IP protection consciousness, which, in my opinion, is very important. Without the awakening of people鈥檚 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 皇冠体育app 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, 皇冠体育app IP
(Translated by Hu Xiaoying)
