BEIJING, March 17 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Vice Premier Wang Yang stressed the fight against counterfeiting and infringement upon intellectual property rights (IPR), especially for on-line trade and products sold to emerging markets.

Wang made the remarks Thursday at a national televised conference on fake products and IPR infringement.

Wang said priority tasks this year include fighting online piracy, fake agricultural equipment, strengthening market supervision in suburban areas, promoting the use of original software in enterprises, among others.

Additionally, products sold to emerging markets in Africa and Latin America will be placed under close scrutiny so as to protect the international image of products "Made in China", Wang said.

He cited figures that, a total of 1.08 million piracy cases have been handled since China's new leadership took office, and 59,000 cases were prosecuted, 78,000 violators sentenced.

Wang said the heavy crackdown has halted piracy crime from spreading, stressing that the crackdown is crucial to realizing an innovation-driven economy, and the supply-side structural reform.