In fact, the stakes are much higher, they involve many millions of dollars in revenue that should be flowing to U.S. citizens and companies but that instead are being stolen by China. Factories there, some of them operated by the Chinese army, are ripping off intellectual property and products copyrighted in this country and then selling them abroad. China vowed to stop only because the United States threatened to impose huge tariffs on Chinese-made products if the practice didn't cease. The Chinese are devotees of free-market economics. But counterfeiting is a perversion of free trade, which depends on respect for agreed-upon rules of competition.
China is involved in flagrant banditry.
Some U.S. officials argue that a public confrontation with China over pirated U.S. goods would make it harder to persuade China to do other important things, such as ease up on its abuse of dissidents and stop its threats against Taiwan. This is a legitimate concern. But an even greater concern is the need to protect international commerce. A trade agreement that is routinely violated soon loses its meaning and value. If China is allowed to defy this pact, it may feel emboldened to ignore other important agreements.