[lhuang]

I don't agree with your assertion that China is this manipulative siren and the googles and microsofts of this world are naive innocent suitors.

For all the talk of corruption, censorship, and privacy, the Chinese government is surprisingly transparent at the macro level.

Gates and co knew going into China that the government will not budge regarding issues that even remotely threaten their political legitimacy. This point extends itself naturaully to the economic arena as well, as it forms the foundation of CCP's legitimacy for the past few decades.

So all the IP frou-frouing in your post seems off-the-mark to me, not to mention that blatant copying can be found in really any developing economy. Before the rise of China, recall that the centers of piracy were in HK, Taiwan, and Korea. Innovation is derivative and when you can't you copy until you can.

This is a natural phenomenon of economic growth.

Anyways thanks for trying to be at least more nuanced in your analysis, instead of casting blame only on one side.