CAIXIN MEDIA (China)
HAMBURG– Accusations that China has been stealing other countries’ intellectual property are nothing new — and increasingly annoying to Chinese officials. Here’s how one described the situation at a conference last week in Germany: “China just wants a child. China would have liked to adopt one, but you won’t give it up. So China will just make one itself. Now how can you claim the child that we have given birth to as your own!?”
Caixin media reported the outburst by Lu Yaohua, the Executive Vice Chairman of the China Federation of Industrial Economics at last Thursday’s 5th Hamburg Summit: China meets Europe.
Lu gave an impromptu speech responding to insinuations about copyright piracy, including what he referred to as the “misunderstanding and concern” evoked in a recent dialogue between the former U.S. State Secretary Henry Kissinger and former German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt in reference to the rise of China.
[rebelmouse-image 27086071 alt=”” original_size=”500×649″ expand=1]
Lu stated that China is a responsible big power and refuted the idea that China has stolen other countries’ intellectual rights. And the metaphors were flowing: “This is like there are two couples; the couple A has three children whereas the couple B has none. But when B proposed to adopt one child from A, this was refused. So B made one by itself”, he said before adding that “You’ve got to allow others to learn. If you can build a house, why can’t we!?”
The “Hamburg Summit: China meets Europe” is a platform set up once every two years to exchange high-level dialogue on Sino-European economic relations.
According to Caixin media, Lu’s homespun choice of words provoked some hearty laughter from Henry Kissinger, who was sitting right next to him.
The pronouncements of Lu Yaohua caused great repercussions among those present. When asked by a Caixin reporter, Lu Yaohua said his opinion was “given on the spur of the moment”, and was not official.
