I'll start by saying I agree 100% with everything you said, and it makes me as angry as it makes you. You are dead right in all respects. However... there is

I'll start by saying I agree 100% with everything you said, and it makes me as angry as it makes you. You are dead right in all respects. However... there is another subtle argument to be made here. The Han culture has no concept of integrity as we know it in the west. If it's easier or cheaper to steal something than to make it or earn it, they will, and there's no stigma for it. It's not surprising, then, that China steals from western corporations at every possible opportunity, and demands access to western inventions as a condition of market access. But suppose that instead we told them to go fuck themselves, accepted not having access to their "market" (such as it is), and let them invent the stuff themselves if they want it that badly. What then? There are only two possibilities: they go skill up and compete, or they go to war. They can't win a war with the US yet, but it's hard to imagine that such a war would be beneficial. And if they skill up and compete, they become much, much stronger. By giving away most of the store, China is kept fat, lazy, and stupid. They can copy, but they still can't actually do anything for themselves. Maybe, just maybe, that's better than either of the alternatives. I don't really believe this myself, but I've often contemplated it when this kind of stuff comes up. Is anyone in the US (or EU) government thinking this way? Do NATO military leaders think this way? My guess is no, but it's hard to come up with any other rationale for western behavior here. Personal gain notwithstanding, if you don't believe this at least a little, you'd have to argue for simply putting China on the sanctioned countries list and being done with it, right?