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China is also a victim of counterfeit goods, said Chinese media in an article published on June 28 after the European Police Office (Europol) and European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) accused Chinese mainland and Hong Kong of being the provenance of 86% of global counterfeiting in a recent report.

According to the 74-page report, 86% of the world's counterfeit goods in 2015 came from Chinese mainland and Hong Kong, adding that intellectual property theft was one of the most lucrative criminal enterprises.

However, there is no scientific or authoritative method for keeping statistics on counterfeit goods, and a regional organization's data on another country or even the world is not reliable, Xinhua News Agency said.

The report could be an attempt to defame China, said Zhao Ping, director of the Department of International Trade Research at the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, adding that it would have a negative impact on China's products, as it can be used as excuse for Europe's trade protectionism.

The accuracy of the report remains controversial, but one thing is for certain: trade infringement is a global issue that covers multiple aspects, including production, circulation, sales, and consumption.

China has spared no effort in the fight against trade infringement. For instance, more than 1,000 batches of unqualified goods exported to Africa and the Middle East were investigated by the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection, and Quarantine in 2016.

Statistics from Chinese customs shows that the number of infringement cases is growing 10% each year. A total of 7.58 million goods were seized by Chinese customs in 2016, because of the infringement of intellectual property rights.

In addition to government efforts, e-commerce platforms are also striving to eliminate counterfeit products. An anti-counterfeiting team consisting of 2,000 full-time staff members and 1,000 volunteers has been established by Alibaba. More than 180,000 illegal online shops and 380 million of webpages were shut down from Sept. 2015 to Aug. 2016.

Experts suggest that China enhance promotion on the protection of intellectual property rights and strengthen communication with related foreign organizations, in a bid to minimize misunderstandings and create more opportunities for cooperation.