[HillRat]

So if China can protect a local company that will clone uber, but with the difference of investing in local human capital and infrastructure, why not take that opportunity?

China is the textbook beneficiary of global free trade -- as Donald Trump's candidacy shows, there's significant appetite amongst the American electorate for renewed protectionism. Certainly many voters think (wrongly, I would argue) that Chinese manufacturing "harvests money" from American consumers.

Having said that, I don't think there's any evidence that the Chinese government put an anticompetitive thumb on the scales against Uber. That doesn't mean there's a level playing field for Western companies in China, but Uber's failure can be chalked up to a number of strategic missteps.