Who are we kidding? Do we really expect the Chinese (government and companies) to stop online IP theft because a non-visionary emissary with little concept of national interests, priorities,or strategies met with his counterpart and reached a deal? There is no noticeable change in behavior because we do not have the stomach to step up the game and the Chinese know that better than we know ourselves.   (See: FedScoop: Officials tight-lipped about China cyber talks)

We are as tough as a marshmallow pie, afraid of the repercussions, real or imagined, that sanctions or direct retaliation would entail.  We want to talk, but are unable to do. We draw a line in the sand, with no intention of action when that line is crossed, and wonder why we lose the world’s respect. We want to enter into discussions that signal our displeasure, but fail to understand that we no longer can identify boundaries that are truly unacceptable, since we keep adjusting are definition of what’s acceptable and critical. We clearly do signal our intention to continue to do nothing and the Chinese (as well as every entity that is a threat to our national long-term existence) fully understands our proclivity to inaction.

The Chinese can and will continue to meet and sign new agreements.  They’ll throw a few hackers under the bus for show because their long-term strategy is really a long-term strategy to be the dominant power on the globe. Their corporate pilfering of our technology and intellectual property is just one activity toward that ambition.  We think of long-term as next year or during the next presidential term. For them, 100 years is just the beginning of long-term and they can wait out our do-nothing response to today’s political and corporate anger, which will ebb with the next quarterly reports and election narrative.

Beijing’s promise to stop online corporate espionage is as good as our intent to follow through.