China, where pirated goods from golf clubs to DVDs are sold openly on almost every city block, complained yesterday that it was being unfairly singled out for copyright fraud by the United States.A senior official expressed ?deep regret? over a US decision to put China on a priority watch list in intellectual property right protection(IPR), saying it was unwarranted.

Vice Commerce Minister Zhang Zhigang said that losses incurred by piracy in Europe and the United States outshone China, with ?the per-capita loss? reported there far surpassing that of the Asia-Pacific region.?Therefore, the priorities in the global crackdown on piracy should first be the EU, then the United States and then the Asia- Pacific region,? he told a news conference.?China does not deserve to be among the top priorities yet.?

China had handled 24,189 trademark infringement cases and seized more than 167 million pieces of ?illegal audio-video products and pirated products? since the country launched a crackdown on IPR violations last September, he said in remarks reported by the official Xinhua news agency.In addition, China had destroyed 24 illegal CD production lines and closed down 2,960 illegal printing workshops.

US Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez kicked off his first official trip to China this month by saying that the country?s rampant counterfeiting of American products was the top issue bedevilling trade ties.The US Chamber of Commerce has estimated that global trade in fake and pirated goods costs the American economy $250 billion each year. Pirated DVDs of the latest Hollywood blockbuster are on sale on most street corners in Beijing for about $1 each, but arrests are few and far between.So few, it seems, that Xinhua last week reported that authorities in Macau had seized 150 pirated CDs ? even though almost any street vendor has as many.