I believe this is a tragic mistake that will be looked on with regret in 20-30 years (or maybe less), but it is what it is.
Because the thing about capitalism, is that its acolytes will happily sell the rope that they will be hanged with. To meet Wall Street's next quarterly expectations for rope sales, of course.
Companies want to do business with China, because there is money to be made, and their owners don't give a care about free speech or religion of people on the other side of the world.
And this is a good thing. It means that there's a lot of wealthy, influential people, who would really hate for there to be a war between two superpowers, despite the best efforts of nationalists.
PS. Countries spy on eachother all the time. If you think the US does not steal military secrets from its friends, and enemies, I've got a bridge to sell you.
There are other mechanisms for combating Chinese wrongdoings
So what's your alternative?
We should probably raise the bar as to what constitutes an enemy if we want to remain on our moral high horse, because otherwise we're hypocrites. Just my two cents.
When others talk about protecting themselves _from you_, yes, that's uncomfortable. But saying "we get so appalled and shocked" kind of points at a straw-man "we" here. That's not "us" in every case. It might just be those reactionaries over here or there. It also points at the shock of diving into a culture as the US did in the middle east: Wow, it's diverse, not just one opinion--shocking. That's how education happens.
Raising the bar as to what constitutes an enemy carries a very clear risk, too: Underestimating your enemy. People know a lot about that nowadays.
However I think we can develop our cultural vocabulary here. There's an opportunity for that and it's very clear when discussions about "enemy" and how it's awkward even arise.
do they? or are you talking about Americans getting appalled and shocked by people calling for their deaths? There is a significant difference.
In the same reasoning, you could argue that EU should consider US as an enemy, since there is plenty of evidence on US spying on EU.
So please explain why it's not OK for China to spy on US, but it's ok for US to spy on EU.
You mean China is doing something similar to that?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ECHELON#Concerns
"In 1999, Enercon, a German company and leading manufacturer of wind energy equipment, developed a breakthrough generator for wind turbines. After applying for a US patent, it had learned that Kenetech, an American rival, had submitted an almost identical patent application shortly before. By the statement of a former NSA employee, it was later discovered that the NSA had secretly intercepted and monitored Enercon's data communications and conference calls and passed information regarding the new generator to Kenetech"
Please tell me the difference again...
Ultimately, US foreign policy follows its citizen’s best interests. And, ignoring our occasional knee jerk reactions, most of our citizens are happy when we avoid war, expand individual rights and freedoms, increase trade, and maintain global stability.
China may not work out as expected, though. Who knows. I doubt anyone in the 70s believed that technology would advance far enough to allow an oppressive government to effectively control billions of people. Or, maybe the Chinese people are happy enough with their recently gained wealth that they accept being oppressed.