China is NOT a technological power. When did the Chinese last win a Nobel in physics?

http://almaz.com/nobel/physics/1998c.html

1998, if you consider someone who while born in China graduated from the University of Chicago and who works at Princeton to be Chinese.
The Chinese are stuck in the 80′s or earlier tech wise. Nothing state-of-the-art or even only a generation behind.
They make lots of cheap electronics. That’s about it. Weapons wise, they build poor copies of obsolete Soviet gear. What’s more as long as the Chi-Coms have to steal tech, they will NEVER catch up. When you steal tech, you don’t build the foundation in basic or applied research needed to move beyond what you have stolen. So you are locked in to staying one step behind.
As far as tonnage goes, how much they build isn’t the question. The question is can they build it faster then we can sink it? The answer is ‘not by a long shot’. 3 SSN’s can turn China into a land only power.
No, in order to be a threat to the west, the Chinese will have to be able to match the west in economic and military power, at least. In order to do that, they will have to convert to a capitalist democracy, after which they will be more interested in making money then fighting.
The fear of China syndrome is driven by the MIC here in the states. They need a big scary dangerous opponent to keep the tax dollars flowing into their coffers. The Politicans need the kickbacks and bribes to keep flowing into their offshore accounts. So the powers that be have a financial stake in China being an enemy,
China doesn’t. They are NOT going to play that game. They have a better understanding of what happened during the so called cold war then the west does. The Cold War was a war of attrition with obsolescence replacing destruction as the source of attrition.
So the Chinese leadership will build just enough weapons to make sure nobody disrespects them while trying to figure out how to counter the real threat from America.
That is American Culture.
Remember China has been conquered many times. Every time, they ended up assimilating their conquerors thru the stronger Chinese culture. This will be the first time the Chinese have faced another civilization that was stronger in all aspects of civilization. Chinese are the ultimate racists, so it shakes them up to look at a land of all races that is bigger, richer, stronger and better looking ( culture ) then the Middle kingdom about which the world is supposed to revolve. Keep in mind also that the USA has mostly been on China’s side during it’s brief time on earth. Except for the ‘yellow peril’ period and the 3 decades after WW2, America has protected China as much as we could. Went to war over China in 1941.
We scare them more then they scare us. The MIC would like to change that. They are not having much luck.