The notion that China, or the US, or really anybody is committing theft by utilizing technological innovations, is what should be being discussed here. Individual innovations themselves were never made in a vacuum. Design, or information at large, is not something that can be privately owned. We have patents to give the right to seek super profits to the lucky individual that invents a new tech/process. An immensely lucky individual, who may or may not have actually done the labor to make the patent but is nonetheless the owner of the slip of paper, was born to live with enough resources, in the right places, and born before it was already invented, of course. The innovations that we enjoy today are a result of countless nameless people tinkering and improving, not just a few brilliantly outstanding inventors, who then somehow are a result of the success of a whole nation.