| China announces new anti-piracy crackdown |
BEIJING, Dec. 13 (AP) -- China on Wednesday announced a new crackdown on pirated products, a key source of tension with Washington, ahead of a visit by U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson.
The campaign will target producers and distributors, the official Xinhua News Agency said. It follows a 100-day-long crackdown launched in July that targeted vendors.
"The campaign will hunt out producers of pirated movies, books and software and break their distribution chains," Xinhua said, citing a statement by the government's anti-piracy agency. "The smuggling of pirating equipment will be severely punished."
China is believed to be the world's leading source of pirated goods ranging from Hollywood movies to designer clothes, sports equipment and even medicines.
Paulson's delegation is due to hold two days of talks with Chinese officials on trade issues, including piracy. A U.S. government report on Monday called on Beijing to do more to protect copyrights, patents and other intellectual property.
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