It also pays to check the universities affiliated in the papers. More often than not they are not Chinese but the usual gang of suspects, even if there's an ethnic Chinese coauthor.
So they can innovate but need to learn how to do it best. And actually in some research directions, they(go back to China) are leading now. It's just the beginning of the innovation explosion from China, I guess. An opponent stronger than japan.
I don't view it really in adversarial perspective: any science and tech innovation inevitably comes to benefit whole world. A technological breakthrough originating from China would be just as welcome; so far though they are still at compass and gunpowder.