Why would you compare the actions of a developing country 200 years ago working within that timeframe's norms to the actions of a developed country working within today's norms?
200 years ago, the behavoiur of the US was not consistant with the "norms" at the time. The UK had clear laws on this, and the US violated them. US leaders encouraged it.
How is this not the same as what China is doing now?
But it’s not the norm in China. If you are to decide what is normal, do you do this based on geography or population? Either way, China is a pretty big place.
As you'd imagine, the norm in the UK[1] was to be against "IP theft" 200 years ago, but the US had a more cavalier attitude then - I wonder why.
1. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/how-industrial-esp...