China is going to impose stricter penalties on companies that violate intellectual property rights. The Communist Party and higher authorities in Beijing issued new guidelines on this on Sunday.

This is an essential topic in trade negotiations with the United States. They have long wanted China to stop seeing violations of, for example, patents. Chinese companies would try to steal American inventions and then copy them.

The new Beijing directives are intended for local authorities in the country. They will have to implement that.

The Chinese government has also specified that it is investigating whether it is possible to lower the thresholds for criminal action against infringers of intellectual property rights.

Furthermore, the Chinese are striving to make it easier for victims of these types of offences to claim compensation.

President Donald Trump announced on Friday that a deal with China is very close. China had said earlier that day that it would like to close a bargain, but only based on equality and mutual respect.