A recent article in The Hill publication declared, “China may have more engineers, but it still lacks a culture of innovation.”
I always find these articles interesting, as they usually share similar themes:
1: China’s education system is too rigid and doesn’t produce “risk-takers,” or “thinkers,” and doesn’t challenge authority. Chinese are just automotons who regurgitate what they are told and are good at test-taking.
2: The American system, by contrast, is “… designed to cultivate thinkers, not just technicians.” And students are “… encouraged to disagree with their professors…”
3: China is only advancing “…by acquiring Western technology through joint ventures, forced transfers and even cyber espionage.”
4: China only copies; it doesn’t innovate.
5: The Chinese are communists and not like us; they can’t match the innovation and breakthroughs of the United States and the West.
In this particular article, the author claims “… despite its massive engineering workforce, it has yet to deliver the kind of world-changing breakthroughs we’ve seen from the U.S., from the microprocessor to the iPhone to mRNA vaccines.” I’ll refer the author and other like-minded individuals or groups to the following publications, just in the last few weeks, regarding Chinese innovation:
AI experts return from China stunned: The U.S. grid is so weak, the race may already be over
China Beats America At Its Own Jet-Age Futurism Game With Wonderful Buick Orbit Concept
Big Pharma is increasingly reliant on Chinese biotech advances
And this one from the Fall of 2024: China Is Rapidly Becoming a Leading Innovator in Advanced Industries. This also doesn’t include the process and material innovation for such areas as semiconductors (such as the germanium needed to produce them that China refines and has perfected - without which we would not have at-scale production), or that only in China could the iPhone be built and evolve.
Why does this continue to be said?
It is sometimes mind-boggling to see the poor research, jingoism, assumptions, and lack of understanding about what China was, is now, and is becoming, from those who claim to be experts and understand it the best. As someone who has lived in-country for most of my life, I find it curious that a basic understanding of China is often lacking, and the scholarship and research written overlook even the most fundamental realities of the country. And even after all my time in China, I know that I have much to learn and, in some cases, barely scratched the surface.
Has China copied in the past? yes. Has there been forced transfer of technology, cyber-espionage, and other actions? Yes to that too. But to assume these are the only methods of knowledge acquisition, and that they cannot be truly innovative, is foolish and extremely short-sighted. This view also lets the United States off the hook for its own issues and inability to compete with China in many leading industries. Why are there fewer engineers from the US than from other countries? Perhaps it's because we teach less math and science in K-12, cancel gifted programs, and focus on non-core issues for children?
This conversation could go on and on…
The end result of such views (China cannot innovate) is that they obscure and obfuscate understanding of the country and how to deal with it. They blind the United States and others on how to approach and interact with China effectively. Similar to the short-sightedness and understating of how the Chinese, and others, would react and benefit from such initiatives as Trade War 1.0, chip export controls, and now Trade War 2.0, the United States is at risk of losing its position in the world because it lacks understanding of the world as it is today.