"... ignore or steal any Chinese patents."
You can absolutely use anything described by a Chinese patent today with no repercussions, as long as you don't try to make, sell, import, use or profit from it in China. That's what a Chinese patent protects against. It's a Chinese-government-granted monopoly to permit the owner to stop others exploiting their invention. It only applies in China.
Of course, if the Chinese company got a US, or European, or [insert your country's name here] patent at the same time as they got the Chinese one? Then they will sue you for infringing that patent, not the Chinese one. That's how the patent system works.
Patents last for 20 years. 20 years ago a lot of Western companies didn't bother to get a Chinese patent when they invented something. Then they started manufacturing and selling in China, and discovered they weren't protected. Perhaps the fix was not to ship their crown jewels (production equipment, know-how, etc.) to a country where they had no patent protection? But that wouldn't have boosted the share price, so...
Biting the hand that feeds IT
