>>5897854 lb
(Belgrade) that and 2 opium wars. actually want early American history of relationship with china: we built trading shops that made the kessl run wayyy faster than those of the British. when we went official under our own flag, the Chinese loved us because we paid in valuable goods (e.g. gold or cash (itself a Portuguese Chinese pidgen word for money)). we leave our shore with gold and on the way back with a less-weighty cargo of exotics (tea silk etc…) while the HMS was still working the applied logistics of ohhh shit extra care or my ass if gold sinks (nevermind ship and crew). By the time Brits made the round trip complete we would have been back unloaded the raw inputs and have begin production and supply of the output to trading partners giving her majesty a str8 cock blocking from being more innovative on boats and better deal makers with partners abroad. eventually they decide to mitigate the risk of sunken gold by simply growing opium in India and walking it over to China to trade for tea (yes tea). All tea was in China (hence saying). if I recall the 2nd opium war ended because an Indian fighting with the British managed to uproot a tea tree and safely transplant it to Ceylon India.
China was wrecked and carved and cucked in the defeat France and Britain had provided. furthermore not only would they have to continue seeing these foreign poisoners every day but shanghao, (I believe) fujian, and Hong Kong were all siezed and prizes. yes Americans (some were involved prominately in the politics of empire including during the wars).
flash forward over a whole lot to the 1990s and you have the clintons in office. not a decade prior Deng Xiao peng had opened the Chinese economy up to the world. it was a complete revamp from maos approach. they knew there own domestic companies would have to be successful in global markets eventually in order to survive. their strategy was called leapfrogging (tldr they would condict espionage and steal know-how anywhere they could as a means of cutting corners in the innovation process). the clintons had no problem assigning a price tag to their consent of Chinese agents stealing technology vital to our national defense.
sauce for opium war era is memory (sorry not digging up but I did write 2 volumes totalling 90 pages on Chinese dynastic history and how it played a role in shaping the spread of Confucian and Buddhist thought in the region) for the section ony claims for the 1990s though I give you this:
https://www.bits.de/NRANEU/docs/CoxAnalysis.htm