China will strengthen efforts to protect intellectual property rights and team up with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations member states to crack down on infringement and counterfeiting, in order to create a better market environment, the country's top market regulator said on Tuesday.

Gan Lin, vice-minister of the State Administration for Market Regulation, said the government has adhered to IPR protection and development with Chinese characteristics, and effectively curbed infringement and counterfeiting over the years.

"In terms of global cooperation, the Chinese government will step up joining hands with members of ASEAN in IPR protection, especially in experience exchange, information sharing, and joint law enforcement, in order to deepen global governance of IPR protection," she said.

According to Gan, the country's market environment has been further optimized.

Last year, market regulators at various levels handled about 44,000 trademark and IPR violation cases, involving 1.62 billion yuan ($233.98 million).

Gan made the remarks at the China-ASEAN Cooperation Development Forum on Fighting against IPR Infringement and Counterfeiting, held in Wuzhou, Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, on Tuesday.

China has become an important participant of global IPR protection, Wang Binying, deputy director-general of the World Intellectual Property Organization, said at the forum.

Amid a complex economic environment and unstable global economic recovery, IPR protection is regarded as essential for promoting future sustainable development, she said.

Wang called China "a long-term cooperative partner and a firm supporter of WIPO".

She added that the organization would continue to closely cooperate with China at all levels and encourage extensive and effective use of global IPR services by Chinese users.

China has always attached great importance to IPR protection and strives to build itself into a strong country in terms of intellectual property. The Chinese top leadership reiterated in April the nation's commitment to protecting IPR to optimize the business environment.

Latest data from the market regulator showed that 27,000 criminal cases pertaining to IPR infringement and sale of fake and inferior commodities were cracked last year.

The fast-developing digital economy in China means more efforts are needed for IPR protection in new forms of business, such as big data and artificial intelligence, to facilitate innovation and high-quality economic development, said Zhao Shanxiong, secretary-general of the China Association for Quality Promotion.

By CHENG YU in Wuzhou, Guangxi