China should further enhance its protection on intellectual property rights (IPR) to attract more foreign investment, said Chinese experts Friday, at the ongoing International Forum on Globalization of Research and Development.

Wu Yikang, senior advisor of the Chinese Association for International Science and Technology Cooperation, said IPR issues have become the most prominent issue in Sino-foreign cooperation including research institutes of multinational companies in China. "Some multinationals hesitate to cooperate with China due to concerns over IPR issues" he said.

Wu noted that disputes over IPR between local companies and their foreign partners surged in recent years, since China is still lacks relevant laws and regulations.

Wu also pointed out that local companies may also face IPR violations by foreign counterparts.

IPR issues should be clarified during negotiations, so as to prevent multinationals from monopolizing its technology in the name of IPR protection, he said.

Sun Peng, a senior official in charge of foreign investment with the Chinese Ministry of Commerce, said that government departments were jointly working on policies and regulation that were favorable to foreign investment.

He said China will take more measures to encourage foreign investment in high technology R&D.

Statistics showed that in 2005, foreign invested hi-tech companies spent 15.26 billion yuan (around 1.9 billion U.S. dollars) on R&D, 19.19 billion yuan (around 2.4 billion U.S. dollars) in new product development.