China Agrees to Intellectual Property Protections

Senior Chinese officials pledged to better crack down on software piracy and other violations of intellectual property rights as part of a series of commercial agreements after two days of talks.

The Chinese delegation, led by Wang Qishan, the vice premier for economic matters, also agreed to lift certain barriers to imports of heavy industrial machinery and to hold talks on easing a ban on imports of American beef that was imposed during a 2003 scare over mad cow disease. The talks, which took place during an annual forum known as the United States-China Joint Commission on Commerce and Trade, did not address the thorniest issues in the economic relations between the two countries, like the giant trade imbalance and the value of China’s currency. But the largely technical discussions helped set the stage for a state visit by President Hu Jintao to Washington next month, officials on both sides said.