I keep thinking that China is more or less following Japan's economic trajectory from the 60s to the 90s:

1) When I was a boy, everyone made fun of "Made in Japan", (especially transistor radios). Soon though, Japanese tech proved to be formidable.

2) Certain markets became dominated by Japanese tech, yet their Xenophobia (inability to integrate foreign workers) and tendency towards conformity sort of stalled production.

3) Then the curious effect of "Its better to be a borrower than a lender" took place. Japan was so flush with money that they started to make bad purchases. The US was able to "coopt" Japan by integrating their factories, stopping chip dumping, etc. This was due to our great buying power and indebtedness (which gave us the power to dictate terms).

4) The joke became that we invented things and Japan made them, according to our terms. This still seems to be the case.

China's Xenophobia and conformity is not conducive to huge innovation (heavy government control almost invites best minds to head West), but we'll see. They lead ostensibly in Universities and research (and stealing tech), but some image over substance and blind spots in chips and engines? Innovative minds like to run free?

China doing a HUGE pivot now, after wolf warrior diplomats perhaps horrified by Russian failures, Western solidarity, loss of manufacturing. They need to get ahold of their runaway Nationalism if they want to lead.