&gt; Need? I guess not. But I think the point is that those things manifest themselves in a healthy market&#x2F;economy&#x2F;society, a healthy innovative market. If you&#x27;re not advancing technologically, then you have no hope for your future. And that&#x27;s what companies like Samsung, Toshiba, and Sony all do (in the electronics industry). They innovate. That innovation breeds more innovation and lays the groundwork&#x2F;framework for future innovation.<p>China has been quite innovative in the manufacturing arena. You know all those neat laser drills and 6 axis CNCs that mass-produce all the tech products we have? They were probably designed in the US; but the Chinese are the ones who know how to organize them to churn out 100 million iPhones.<p>&gt; They should be trouncing everyone. But they aren&#x27;t.<p>Look at your history; China was reeling from the collapse of its imperial government (largely as a result of the meddling of European powers) in the early 20th century. They were then invaded by Japan (which has always been a military-focused country, and thus had a very strong military when Western powers came calling and was able to resist colonialization). After its infrastructure was pillaged by a 15-year Japanese occupation, there was a power vacuum and a decade-long civil war.<p>China was kept in the stone age until basically 1954 by the meddling of outsiders. For all the awful, misguided things Mao did, he and the subsequent leaders of China set the country on a path for rapid modernization - modernization at all costs.<p>&gt; Their &quot;corruption clean-up&quot; has been just lip service.<p>I don&#x27;t know about that. The Chinese government is acutely aware that they need foreign investment in China, and that becomes very difficult to do when there are &quot;hidden taxes&quot; in the form of corruption.<p>&gt; Unfortunately, China&#x27;s a long way from awakening.<p>If that&#x27;s true, then that&#x27;s pretty scary given where they are now vs. 20 years ago.