21.   China and the United States narrowly avoided a trade war in June last year after Beijing renewed its commitment to combatting rampant piracy.

22.   Evans raised the issue of continued rampant piracy in China, the statement said.

23.   Top Chinese actor and filmmaker Jiang Wen, who won the best actor award at the last Venice festival, on Friday denounced rampant piracy of films in China.

24.   US officials are reportedly considering sanctions that could cost China two billion dollars in lost exports to protest against rampant piracy of US music and software.

25.   US intellectual property right holders have recently called for US trade sanctions against China unless it immediately cleans up its act and curbs rampant piracy of copyrighted materials.

26.   Napster has been shut down since last year by a court order that found the music-swapping service to contribute to rampant piracy.

27.   Microsoft executives would prefer to avoid sanctions, but they want the United States to do something about rampant piracy.

28.   Officially, China still denies US claims that rampant piracy continues in its southern provinces.

29.   Philippine congressional leaders assured President Fidel Ramos Wednesday that they will shortly enact a law to curb rampant copyright piracy, the Filipino leader said.

30.   The announcements followed two days of talks in Beijing that failed to resolve a longstanding dispute over what US officials describe as rampant Chinese piracy of US intellectual property.