Sorry as another commenter pointed out, 30 years ago was a bit too late, add another 10 years. 40 years ago Japanese TVs and cars were complete knockoffs. They did the same stuff China is doing today. "Partnerships" and then suddenly suspiciously similar designs.
> China and Japan are nothing alike and any comparisons would be entirely irrelevant
My point isn't that China will follow the same steps as Japan. My point is that you couldn't predict Japan's trajectory - first people said they made crap knockoffs and exploited American free trade deals to dump prices, then when they started innovating, everyone said they were going to take over the world, and then suddenly Japan stagnated.
My only prediction is that China's future is just as uncertain, and any predictions are completely pulled out of anyone's ass.
> China and Japan are nothing alike and any comparisons would be entirely irrelevant
My point isn't that China will follow the same steps as Japan. My point is that you couldn't predict Japan's trajectory - first people said they made crap knockoffs and exploited American free trade deals to dump prices, then when they started innovating, everyone said they were going to take over the world, and then suddenly Japan stagnated.
My only prediction is that China's future is just as uncertain, and any predictions are completely pulled out of anyone's ass.