U.S. rebuked for placing Chinese firms on list

The United States is irresponsible in putting Chinese companies on a list of "notorious marketplaces," the Ministry of Commerce said yesterday.

China hopes the Office of the US Trade Representative will improve its transparency and acknowledge China's efforts in protecting intellectual property rights, Shen Danyang, a spokesman for the ministry, told a press briefing.

China has been negotiating with the US on "notorious marketplaces," Shen said.

"China's efforts in protecting intellectual property rights has been widely recognized internationally, and we hope US trade officials will evaluate our efforts with objectiveness and goodwill."

Given that the USTR office was ambiguous in its descriptions of Chinese companies, its report did not represent the US government's analysis, according to Shen.

Alibaba's popular retail site Taobao.com was put back on the "notorious marketplaces" list four years after it was removed from the annual list, with the USTR office claiming that the e-commerce giant was not doing enough to curb sales of "fake and pirated goods."

Three other retail websites and six physical markets in China were included in the "notorious market" list, which was released on December 22 by the USTR.

In a statement accompanying the publication of its Notorious Market List for 2016, the USTR said: "The Taobao.com e-commerce platform is an important concern due to the large volume of allegedly counterfeit and pirated goods available and the challenges rights holders experience in removing and preventing illicit sales and offers of such goods."