China to strengthen crackdown on fake goods, online piracy: Report

China will make fighting online piracy and the sale of fake goods to emerging markets a key priority this year, the state-run Xinhua news agency reported Chinese vice-premier Wang Yang as saying. Wang, who Xinhua said made the remarks at a televised conference on fake products on Thursday, said the crackdown was crucial to achieving an innovation-driven economy and supply-side structural reform. Products sold to emerging markets in Africa and Latin America will be closely scrutinised to protect the image of “Made in China” goods, he said, while the government will also look to strengthen market supervision in suburban areas and promote the use of original software by companies. Wang said 1.1 million piracy cases had been handled since China’s new leadership took over in 2013, with 59,000 cases prosecuted and 78,000 violators sentenced. On Tuesday, China’s annual consumer rights day TV show took aim at faked online sales, online food delivery apps and dodgy false teeth. In November last year, China’s e-commerce giants like Alibaba  reportedly submitted a report to the Chinese lawmakers saying only 58.7 percent of items in online trades were genuine or of good quality last year with the remaining 40 percent shoddy or counterfeit. Reuters