Wasn’t really the point I tried to make, just by sheer percentages alone, China must have some real innovators.

The main issue is the political culture and systems of government and business.

Chinese people are just as capable as anyone else but only certain cultures seem to produce free thinking, trend busting and renegade inventors.

Look at the peak of the USSR, produced some of the smartest people in history. Unfortunately the rate of technological advancement stalled and suffered, because of the corrupt cronyism that’s rampant in communist states.

China isn’t a meritocracy, only favourable people to the regime are allowed to succeed and this is what stifles real innovation.

Productivity ground to a halt in the USSR due to massive corruption and I don’t see much evidence that this won’t happen in China. The regime at the top has tightened, Xi has surrounded himself by weak, yes men and expelled any dissenting voices.

The West tried to move closer to Russia and China, opening their economies up, hoping it would bring the nations closer. It has failed. Putin built an army with the profits and is trying to rebuilt the Soviet Union, Xi has centralised power and doubled down on Authoritarianism.

It will be interesting to see how the two economies manage without Western input, they might do fine but history is not on the side of corrupt, authoritarian regimes.