Earlier quoted context omitted.
The espionage really is next level in China. It’s not just reconstructing software (that’s part of it) but stealing binaries (and source where they can) for everything along the way. I worked at a large tech co with an assembly line in China and experienced this first hand. A routine scan of one of our calibration machines turned up a Trojan with a copy of all calibration software squirreled away. Fortunately nothing…
How did this become a thing on a cultural scale? Like that everyone does it and it is almost expected as it were?
A IP is not a 'natural' concept, most cultures do not have it. Better question might be how did IP become a cultural thing in the West?