Deputy Director General of the World Intellectual Property Organization, Geoffrey Yu, said in Beijing on Tuesday other countries need to give China credit for its hard and effective work on copyright protection.

"I think that China needs understanding and certainly they should know the Chinese authorities have been working very hard to protect other people's copyright. I also realize it's a very big country with a huge population, so the situation is complex and needs special attention," he told reporters at the 2006 International Copyright Forum, adding that this problem spread to all countries, not merely developing ones.

Piracy has been a serious issue in China meeting with sharp criticism by other countries.

A national survey released by the China Publication Science Institute on Aug. 31 showed that 45.5 percent of all publications sold in China in 2005 were pirated. The survey showed that this staggeringly high number still represented the first decline in publication piracy rates in six years.

The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry and the Motion Picture Association of America sent letters to the National Copyright Administration (NCA) early this year praising a special operation to crush Internet infringement and piracy as "hard but effective."

They also expressed their hopes for enhanced cooperation with the NCA, which closed 76 websites and confiscated 39 servers used for piracy operation carried out between September and December last year.

Yu said the most effective measure to curb piracy in China in the long term lies in public education. A short term solution is proper law enforcement, Yu suggested.

"All governments can continue to be active or even more active in promoting copyright awareness among consumers. The mass media can broadcast more messages about copyright to young people," he added.

(Xinhua News Agency September 6, 2006)