The obvious out here would have been to blame China.

We don't know if these claims are true, but it wouldn't be remarkable considering the scale of Chinese industrial espionage. Chinese spies are routinely caught smuggling various biologics stolen from western labs.

Spez: That he didn't go with such an easy redirection is concerning. Either he doesn't want to blame China, in which case the question becomes what leverage do they have on him, or he knows there is a connection between his company and the kungflu.