China will “fight to the end” a US complaint to the World Trade Organisation over intellectual property rights, Wu Yi, a vice-premier, said on Tuesday, in Beijing’s strong­est denunciation yet of Washington’s recent push to open markets.

“By taking China’s IPR and market entry regime to the WTO’s dispute settlement system, the [US] has ignored the great progress China has made,” Ms Wu told an anti-piracy forum. “Such moves...will have a very negative impact by creating the first instance in the WTO where one member filed two cases [simultaneously] against another member.” Ms Wu is to head a delegation to Washington in May for the second meeting of the strategic economic dialogue forum set up with the US last year to try to manage bilateral tensions.