When Donald Trump called into question the “One China” policy – that Beijing has a “right” to control and dominate the free-market democracy of Taiwan – he made waves.
The so-called experts and Chinese officials are angry that the President-elect is no longer kowtowing to the Communist regime.
But Trump is right and they are wrong: China can no longer be allowed to rip off America – especially on trade secrets. It is costing us jobs, wealth, and endangering our national security. And we are not going to take it anymore.
Make no mistake, China is stealing from the U.S. economy on a staggering scale.
According to a senior U.S. intelligence official, the Chinese stole trade secrets worth about $360 billion through hacking alone. That cybertheft figure represents the entire trade deficit we have with China and is worth three times what we sell them.
The figure climbs by billions of dollars more per year if you add in how much intellectual property old-fashioned Chinese spies steal. Half of the 165 private companies surveyed by the FBI were victims of economic espionage or trade secrets theft. Fully 95 percent of the attacks come from China. And the problem is only getting worse, with industrial spying and sabotage up 53 percent in 2015 over 2014.
Then there is China’s huge industry of counterfeit goods like knock-off watches, handbags, DVDs and smartphones. That costs foreign companies, many of them American, another $20 billion every year.
In other words, the Chinese steal much more from America than they trade with us.
It may well be, in Trump’s words, “the greatest theft in the history of the world.”
And Congress and the administration must act because American jobs, competitiveness, wealth and national security are at stake.
First, intellectual property theft deprives American workers of some of the best paying job opportunities. According to one recent study, industries that rely on intellectual property pay low-skilled workers 40 percent more than industries that are not reliant on I.P., and hire them even during economic downturns. The Department of Commerce estimates that 45 million American workers — almost one in three U.S. jobs — rely on intellectual property protections.
Second, Chinese intellectual property theft also robs American companies of the incentive to innovate. U.S. Steel announced in April that it discovered Chinese-backed hackers stole decades’ worth of research on advanced steel-production technologies, and turned those discoveries over to Chinese competitors. American steel companies rely on their advanced technologies to stay in business. Why pour millions into developing them, only to have the Chinese steal them and undercut their prices?
Much more of this theft is unreported and largely unknown to the authorities – let alone to the public – because embarrassed and victimized companies have little recourse and only see downsides to revealing that they were robbed by the Chinese.
And Congress and the administration must act because American jobs, competitiveness, wealth and national security are at stake.
First, intellectual property theft deprives American workers of some of the best paying job opportunities. According to one recent study, industries that rely on intellectual property pay low-skilled workers 40 percent more than industries that are not reliant on I.P., and hire them even during economic downturns. The Department of Commerce estimates that 45 million American workers — almost one in three U.S. jobs — rely on intellectual property protections.
Second, Chinese intellectual property theft also robs American companies of the incentive to innovate. U.S. Steel announced in April that it discovered Chinese-backed hackers stole decades’ worth of research on advanced steel-production technologies, and turned those discoveries over to Chinese competitors. American steel companies rely on their advanced technologies to stay in business. Why pour millions into developing them, only to have the Chinese steal them and undercut their prices?
Much more of this theft is unreported and largely unknown to the authorities – let alone to the public – because embarrassed and victimized companies have little recourse and only see downsides to revealing that they were robbed by the Chinese.
Beijing must learn that the United States will defend American jobs and businesses from outright theft through cyber-attack and industrial espionage. Donald Trump appears committed to communicating that message as president.
The damage such crime does to the U.S. economy is real, and Trump is right to focus on it.
When China is stealing more than it buys from us, it is time to stand up and say: The days of China ripping us off are over and we mean it.