Re: Hop
China also has COMMUNISM and "social credit scores" and other such things, which GREATLY discourages innovation,. especially within a team environment. Sure, a lone developer or engineer, with no team dynamics to get in the way, might come up with something unique and innovative. THAT is not where the problems lie.
Under the CCP umbrella, once junior engineers are involved, there are a handful of choices they must make to get their jobs done. First, if you tell the boss he is wrong by presenting a different competing design, will it get you FIRED? Will it get you DISAPPEARED? Will you lose your status and possibility of upward mobility? After all, "the nail that sticks up gets the hammer". And if someone points out a problem to you, would it make the boss(es) LOOK BAD if you brought this to their attention, or even ADMITTED (to a client or customer or news reporter) that a problem EVEN EXISTS?
And so on. I have indirectly observed this kind of thing happening, within the last few years even.
Under COMMUNISM, you do as you are told. "The currently favored" may be ALLOWED to innovate. But not YOU. And so, actual innovation is STIFLED. And your reward is basically the same outcome whether you SUCCESSFULLY innovate or do what you are told. And doing what you are told is MUCH safer. So THAT is what happens. NO incentive to take risks, every incentive NOT to.
So as long as China is COMMUNIST, they're not going to be able to innovate very well. COPY and "steal the tech", what we already KNOW they do well, will just continue.