One of China’s top commerce officials says the country will “neither explicitly nor implicitly” force foreign companies to transfer technologies when doing business in China, Reuters reports.

The comments by Vice Minister of Commerce Wang Shouwen at a Tuesday press conference in Beijing address a major bone of contention in the ongoing trade war between China and the U.S.

Overseas investors, companies and policymakers have long voiced displeasure at being forced to hand over sensitive or private technologies to Chinese partners in exchange for market access. Because of China’s foreign direct investment restrictions, foreign companies must operate joint ventures with local firms in certain industries.

Those partnerships often necessitate technology transfers, either as an explicit precondition or as a means to facilitate cooperation.

Chinese and American leaders are currently negotiating the text for the first phase of a trade agreement announced by U.S. President Donald Trump on Oct. 11, part of which is likely to strengthen protections for U.S. intellectual property rights in China.

“The U.S. trade negotiating team will certainly appreciate the minister’s statement, but similar statements have been made and ignored in the past,” Brock Silvers, managing director of Adamas Asset Management in Hong Kong, told Caixin. “In the U.S. we often say, ‘The devil is in the details,’ but in China we could refine that axiom to say, ‘The devil is in the local implementation.’”

Wang, who doubles as China’s deputy international trade representative, outlined a number of other potential directives at the conference, including further opening up the financial industry and adjusting existing policies to grant foreign and domestic players equal market access to making new-energy vehicles, Reuters reported.

Contact reporter Matthew Walsh (matthewwalsh@caixin.com)

Related: China, U.S. Working on Text of Phase One Trade Deal: MOFCOM