You’ve got to give it to Chinese President Xi Jinping. He might be a despot who seeks to replace the post-World War II international order with a new version of feudalism, but the guy has gall in abundance.
Take Xi’s comments on Friday regarding intellectual property. He said that he had discussed intellectual property issues, or what he called “innovation cooperation,” with the United States. But then he observed, “The result of innovation should benefit the whole world, instead of burying it in caves hidden in the mountain. China and the U.S. have some disputes over innovation cooperation, but the key is to form a consensus through dialogue to continue cooperation instead of being suspicious.”
What Xi is really saying here is that Americans, at the forefront of global technological advances, have a responsibility to share what they’ve developed with China. Sure, Xi is saying, you have to take the investment risks and pay the research and development costs, wages, and regulatory compliance costs. But then China deserves to reap the rewards!
And when Xi talks about the U.S. “burying it in caves hidden in the mountain,” what he’s actually saying is, “You Americans are being so annoying and unfair by hiding your intellectual property from my thieves!”
Xi knows full well that the reason American companies and the U.S. government hide intellectual property is that China’s People’s Liberation Army and Ministry of State Security will voraciously steal everything they can lay hold of. The costs of such theft are measured in the hundreds of billions of dollars each year, and they result in ever-improving Chinese military platforms that are then used to threaten the world.
President Trump is right to pursue a trade deal with Beijing. But when it comes to intellectual property, Trump must be resolute. America will, he should tell Xi, continue protecting our intellectual property from Chinese theft and impose escalating costs on anyone who attempts to take what is ours.
It’s either that, or the U.S. will have to give up on securing a prosperous and free future.
