[Slansitartop]

> Forcing your enemy to invest heavily in such key sectors is pretty stupid. Eventually, one way or another, Chinese will master the state-of-the-art. A few good examples here - LCD industry, weapons.

Not if your enemy has a habit of reverse engineering and copying everything they buy.

I recall that China was has a competition for foreign companies to sell them attack helicopters. They had trials and evaluations, and settled on a South African one. You'd assume they made a big order, right? Wrong. They placed an order for a single copy, which the South African company wisely declined.

I can't seem to find a source for the above story, but I think I read it in Wired maybe 5-10 years ago.