Rescue Archaeology?

This article appears to suggest what has been characterized by American archaeologists  and their allies in the State Department's Cultural Heritage Center as looting in China may actually be rescue archaeology of a sort.  Presumably, this is as the article suggests illegal under China's draconian laws that declare even artifacts found on private property to be property of the State.  However, if the "looters" do not save the objects from being ground into dust by construction equipment, who will?