German's Merkel urges China to improve IPR protection

2012/02/03

BEIJING (Reuters) - China should improve protection of intellectual property rights, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said in Beijing on Thursday, and called on Beijing to ensure that German businesses had reciprocol access to China's markets.

She said German markets are open to Chinese businesses.

Merkel, who is on a China trip that is widely viewed to seek Beijing's support for the ailing euro, said in a speech at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences that China can make contributions to help solve high debt problems in Europe but did not offer specifics.

She said excessive debt was not only a European problem but was a global issue.

Merkel is in Beijing to brief her Chinese hosts on the status of Europe's efforts to extricate several of its nations from a sovereign debt crisis. She travels to the southern city of Guangzhou on Friday for a business summit.

She added that UN security council needs to make voice heard on human rights in Syria.

(Source: Reuters)