Research On The Impact Of Intellectual Property Protection On China’s Digital Services Exports

The rapid progress of digital technology today has brought about the rapid development of the global digital economy.The application of new technologies has enabled digital trade to break away from the time and space constraints of traditional trade,promoting the rise of digital services trade,and its influence has radiated to all aspects of the international economy.As the "One Belt,One Road" cooperation initiative continues to grow and the world’s digital economy deepens,digital services trade has become a new driving force for trade cooperation along the Belt and Road.Since 2013,the Belt and Road cooperation initiative has been enriched and China has taken a leading position in the development of the digital economy with its digital technology innovation and digital infrastructure capabilities,which has not only laid the foundation for digital services trade cooperation along the Belt and Road,but also led the way for the Belt and Road digital economy to move forward.This not only lays the foundation for digital services trade cooperation along the Belt and Road,but also leads the development of a vibrant digital economy along the Belt and Road."The 14 th Five-Year Plan points out that the digital economy should be developed and the digital transformation of industries should be promoted,while the protection mechanism of intellectual property rights should be strengthened to promote high-quality socioeconomic development.On the one hand,intellectual property rights provide effective protection for scientific and technological achievements,combat illegal practices and create a favourable business environment;on the other hand,they can promote innovation and improve the overall level of technology.Therefore,analysing the impact of IPR protection on China’s digital services exports in the Belt and Road countries has far-reaching implications for exploring countermeasures for the construction of digital services along the Belt and Road from the perspective of IPR protection.This paper consists of six main chapters,which firstly discuss the background of the study on the level of intellectual property protection in Belt and Road countries and China’s digital services trade,and clarify several core concepts in the paper,including Belt and Road countries,digital services trade and intellectual property protection.Secondly,we review and sort out the relevant literature,including the relationship between intellectual property protection and trade,digital services trade,and the development of trade under the "Belt and Road" cooperation initiative,etc.We find that most of the studies in recent years have focused on the relationship between intellectual property and trade,and few studies,especially empirical studies,have been conducted on digital services trade.The study of intellectual property protection and digital services trade is rarely carried out from the perspective of "One Belt,One Road" cooperation.Then we analyse the current situation of IPR and digital service trade exports in countries along the "Belt and Road" and in China.Then,the theoretical mechanism of intellectual property protection on China’s digital service trade exports is explored.On this basis,an empirical study is conducted on the impact of IPR protection on China’s digital service trade exports in the "Belt and Road" countries based on cross-country panel data of 50 Belt and Road countries from 2007 to 2019,which finds that IPR protection in the Belt and Road countries has a significant contribution to the scale of China’s digital service trade exports,while The study also verified the moderating role of the level of science and technology innovation,and conducted a robustness check by replacing the core explanatory variables and an endogeneity test using a systematic GMM model.Through heterogeneity analysis of economic development level,income level,and digital services trade segments and industries,the results show that upgrading IPR in countries with lower economic development level has a significant positive impact on China’s digital services trade exports;upgrading IPR in countries with different income levels has a significant positive impact on digital services trade exports;except for the financial sector,IPR protection has a significant positive impact on other digital services trade Except for the financial sector,IPR protection has a significant positive impact on all other digital services trade segments.Finally,based on the above theoretical and empirical results,conclusions are drawn and policy recommendations are proposed based on the conclusions.