[bkeroack]

Google the phrase "forced technology transfer".

The basic strategy is to woo Western companies with extremely cheap labor and vague promises about access to the Chinese market, in order to get the companies to export most/all of their capital equipment and business expertise overseas. Then this is used as leverage to force them to adopt PRC-friendly policies (see Apple and government censorship in China, for example) and IP transfer to Chinese firms. Keep in mind that in China there is no objective judicial system as in the West to mediate disputes between the government and firms; once your assets are there you are at the mercy of the PRC.

It's really important to understand that this is a long-term geopolitical strategy by the PRC to supplant the US as the dominant global superpower, and a big part of it is siphoning off the industrial and manufacturing capacity of the west (see One Belt One Road Initiative).