China to acquire Backfires?

Michael Wise wrote:

In article ,
Guy Alcala wrote:

The Chinese have essentially become capitalists today. Just like the
Russians
too. They just don't like to admit it much.

Thieving capitalists who invent nothing and simply copy/counterfeit what
the rest of the world creates.

Didn't people use to say that about Japan?

I don't know. If they did, I wasn't one of them.

Yes, they did, in the '50s and early '60s, at least. their products were
generally laughed at in the U.S. as poorly made rubbish, often cheap plastic
toys and the like. But times change.

Simply making cheap quality goods doesn't equate to
copying/counterfeiting.

Are you saying that after WWII, Japan was the world's biggest infringer
of counterfeiting other peoples' work and/or goods?

Beats me. ISTR a fair number of big-name knock-offs, but that could be my memory
playing me false. But as to copying what others designed, oh yeah, they were
accused of that, going back at least into the 1920s. There was some truth to that,
as well as a large dose of racism involved -- see US and British attitudes towards
Japanese a/c and ship designs prior to WW2. The Japanese undoubtedly borrowed a
lot of ideas from others, but they modified them to suit their own needs and added
some of their own ideas.

Japan does not have a history of openly tolerated theft of intellectual
property (media, software, etc.), and I think most of us would agree
Japan has created (as opposed to copied) a number of innovative or
otherwise excellent products (automotive, cellular, consumer
electronics, etc.)

The same cannot be said for China.

Yet, but then it couldn't be said for Japan either for ca. 30 years after
WW2.
They started out at the low end, as did e.g. South Korea and Taiwan,

Again, you're response continues to ignore the main thrust of my point
and that point is not that China makes cheap quality stuff. My point is
that China steals (something like 90% of all software, music, and
videos) are ripped off copies.

And if power revolved around software, music and videos, I'd be fairly concerned.
Granted, software piracy can be a serious matter, but music and videos are
entertainment. Costly losses to the people involved, but hardly strategic issues.

built
up their industrial infrastructure and design abilities until their products
were able to compete on a world stage.

A country's products will never be able to compete on a world stage if
that country cannot or will not innovate. As an IT professional, I can
say China hasn't produced a single piece of hardware or software that
any network or IT professional would even remotely consider
deploying...although that doesn't stop them from bootlegging everybody
else's work.

Then they will stagnate and only provide cheap labor for manufacturing. But given
China's history of trading and invention, I expect them to follow the Japanese
path. And it's not as if Japan is a world leader in innovative products; they have
certainly established a niche especially in consumer electronics, but most of their
commercial success has been by making high quality but otherwise conventional
products (generally at lower prices, although that's changing) that any
industrialised society could manufacture. Is a Lexus more technically innovative
than a BMW? No, but it tends to be put together better, and generally costs less.
By and large Japan's forte remains incremental improvement and constant refinement
of well-made but conventional products. For every innovative company like Honda or
Sony, you've got quite a few more Toyotas or Nissans. And unless things have
changed, much of Honda's advanced project design work is done in California.

I expect China will follow a similar
arc - as it is, chances are pretty good that any plush toy or piece of
clothing
you might buy was made in the PRC.

Perhaps. But living in the U.S. city with the largest Chinese community
(some 32% of SF's population is Chinese) and in a neighborhood which is
well over 70% Chinese, and having kids in a public school which is about
85% Chinese...I have a pretty darn good idea how to discern Chinese
products and services. Where possible, I avoid purchasing anything made
in China.

I've lived in the East Bay all my life, and went to public school with the sort of
ethnic mix typical in the Bay Area -- my first girlfriend was Chinese/Japanese as
far as her grandparents went. But I fail to see how that has anything to do with
being able to discern Chinese products and services. As far as products go,
reading "Made in China" on the label seems to work adequately for me. I'm unclear
on just what you're trying to do with this skill -- are you carrying out a personal
boycott of Chinese goods and services for political/economic reasons, or is there
some other reason for your avoidance?

Guy