The comments from the foreign executives came at a government forum organised ahead of Chinese President Hu Jintao's visit to the United States next week, during which copyright infringement is likely to be discussed.

"Despite improvement, inconsistent and ineffective IPR enforcement is still a serious concern for our members," the president of the American Chamber of Commerce in China (AmCham), Ted Dean, told the audience.

"There is more work to be done, and we are eager to engage in dialogue... to address these issues together."

Intellectual property rights are widely flouted in China, which is home to the biggest counterfeit and piracy market in the world.

The United States and the European Union have repeatedly called on China to crack down on intellectual property theft. US Trade Representative Ron Kirk said last month that "concrete and measurable results" were needed.

Beijing said this week that it had detained more than 4,000 people suspected of violating intellectual property rights since November as part of a six-month nationwide crackdown on fake goods launched in late October.

"We admit our law enforcement still needs to be strengthened," said the commerce minister, Chen Deming.

"China's firm determination to protect intellectual property rights is unquestionable and unshakeable," he added, assuring foreign firms that the government crackdown would be extended.

EU Chamber of Commerce vice president Davide Cucino said members had ranked IPR protection as one of the top three obstacles to doing business in China, calling for more dialogue between foreign firms and Chinese government bodies.

"Counterfeit products encroach upon our market shares, depress our profitability and our healthy business growth, and hurt the reputation of our brands," said Werner Geissler, vice chairman of global operations at Procter & Gamble.

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