BEIJING - A senior official said Tuesday that China has made remarkable progress in intellectual property rights (IPR) protection during the past 30 years and that he hopes foreign media will report on China's IPR protection efforts fairly and objectively.

Li Chenggang, director of the Department of Treaty and Law of the Ministry of Commerce, said at a press conference that the country has always taken a firm stance in protecting IPR and made continuous efforts in combating IPR infringement.

"If foreign friends don't evaluate China's efforts in a fairly and objectively manner, they will not have confidence in us," he said.

Li said China should strengthen exchanges and cooperation with other countries in the area of IPR protection in order to boost understanding.

Vice Commerce Minister Jiang Zengwei said China has set up IPR cooperation mechanisms with several countries, including the United States, Japan, Russia and Switzerland, over the past 30 years.

Crackdowns on IPR infringement and counterfeiters will be incorporated into official performance appraisal, and the public is encouraged to report the manufacturing and sale of counterfeit goods to local authorities, Jiang said.

However, he said it will be a long-term and complicated task to root out infringement and counterfeiting, and the country will address the problem with a mixture of short- and long-term measures.

China will launch a new round of crackdowns on fake farming equipment, medicines, food, cigarettes and pirated software, strengthen inspections of software pre-installation on computers sold in the country, shut down illegal websites and perfect IPR laws, Jiang said.