[jbay808]

I didn't mean to come across as disagreeing with you about China's strengths. I fully agree with what you have written -- but it's also exactly the same thing we could have said about Japan in 1989 or the USA in 1959. Right down to investing heavily in automation and being well equipped to remain competitive despite rising labour costs.

And Japan still makes a lot of top-notch stuff, and even the USA does too, although neither are the obvious go-to places to get something made, which they used to be.

The same thing may well happen with China; their integrated domestic supply chain and expertise are huge advantages, but the same used to be the case in the USA and that didn't stop companies from looking elsewhere.

At the same time, Chinese companies have noticed that they don't have to be anybody's contract manufacturers; they can design products faster and better than engineers in the USA who have never visited a production floor in their lives. And so it goes...