The following is a letter from Mr. Miao Deyu, Spokesman of the Chinese Embassy in London to the Observer "Letters" Editor, which was carried in the print and online editions of the Observer on 22 September under the title "China's great strides forward".

      The Observer carried a commentary denigrating China on 1 September (Will Hutton, Comment). I am deeply disappointed by this.

      China still lags behind developed countries in innovation. But it is catching up. China invests over 1.5% of its GDP in science and technology. It is the number three world issuer of invention patents and the world's second largest publisher of scientific papers. And it has made breakthroughs in such fields as life science, manned space aircraft and lunar exploration. Mr. Hutton's claim that the party is a barrier to innovation is untenable.

      China has made enormous efforts to protect intellectual property. By the end of 2012, foreign companies have made a total of 1.25 million patent applications in China. Some choose to manufacture their patented products in China and export them to other countries for greater profits and technological value.

                                                                                                                                       Miao Deyu

                                                                                                            Spokesman of the Chinese Embassy in the UK