My sister is a VP at a major US manufacturer. Some of these products feature intuitive adaptive software controls that give their products a marked competitive advantage. Several Chinese companies expressed interest in buying these US made products and asked her to come to China and negotiate a sales contract. So she goes to Shanghai. The meeting was highlighted by a Chinese government apparatchik who insisted that their company hand over the software code in its entirety to them (the government) which of course was highly proprietary and which had cost her company tens of millions of dollars and countless man hours to develop. She declined and left. And all her belongings had been rifled through at the hotel. True story. So they are not selling about half their product line in China.
I encountered similar issues with Russians too, for what it's worth. It's a cultural thing. Some cultures feel that intellectual property is not really tangible and see no problem with stealing it.