President Trump’s administration has a “selfish” attitude toward intellectual property rights, a Chinese diplomat said Friday amid the White House's crackdown on IP theft.

“No one has the monopoly over the application of IPR to promote social and economic development,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying told reporters. “Innovation and IPR shall be harnessed for the progress and benefit of all mankind, instead of being reduced to a tool used by the U.S. to suppress others' development and serve its selfish interests.”

Trump’s trade officials are in the process of imposing tariffs on as much as $250 billion worth of Chinese products, part of an economic clash that Trump hopes will discourage intellectual property theft and other Chinese trade practices. The president’s aggressive use of tariffs has drawn widespread criticism on Capitol Hill, particularly lawmakers frustrated by tariffs on American allies. But some Republicans have welcomed the China tariffs as a necessary step in Washington's rivalry with the communist regime.

“For many years, China has pursued abusive trading practices with regard to intellectual property and innovation,” U.S Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said Tuesday. “These practices are an existential threat to America’s most critical comparative advantage and the future of our economy: our intellectual property and technology.”

Hua denied those charges. “China has already become a major power in terms of independently creating intellectual property rights,” she said. “In terms of output, China boosts the largest amount of patent applications, scientific publications, and scientific workers and researchers. China is emerging as a leader in global innovation and brand-building.”

U.S. officials agree that China is becoming a leading innovator, but they maintain it has also reached its perch by taking advantage of American technology. “A couple of days ago, a former employee of Apple was arrested at an airport in California headed to China with a bunch of secrets and Intellectual Property on Apple’s Autonomous Vehicle Technology," Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., said during a Thursday hearing of the Foreign Relations Committee.

“We’ve all heard the horror stories of the forced transfers,” he continued. “If you want to do business in China, here is your new partner; and, by the way, you need to teach him everything you do so that in a few years when they can do it as well as you can, we kick you out and be your competitor backed by the Chinese government and put you out of business.’”

Hua emphasized that China paid more than $28 billion in royalties for U.S. intellectual property in 2017.

“All these figures and facts forcefully fight back the groundless IPR theft accusations on China,” she said. “They make it clear that China is serious in respecting and protecting IPR, and our actions are effective.”