It would have beem more likely china wouldn't bother developing their own top level stuff at top speed if we just sold out top products without the sanctimonious sanctions.
There is nothing sanctimonious about them at all. China is growing their military capabilities very rapidly while at the same time threatening just about every nation on their borders with territorial water claims that violate UNCLOS agreements and other nations territorial waters, not to mention the threat of military invasion of Taiwan.
Any means necessary to slow down their military capability and give us an edge should it ever come to blows is totally justifiable and makes perfect sense. At the very least we shouldn't be helping them grow their military capabilities with our technological advancements.
If they are forced to do it themselves, they will eventually get there, but it
will proceed more slowly, and probably have a worse outcome, which will allow us to stay one step, maybe half a generation ahead which can make all the difference if it ever comes to blows.
Its something we all hope will never happen, but that doesn't mean we in the west can or should pull the wool over our own eyes and ignore the potential. We do so at our own peril.
And that doesn't even mention the rampant theft of western IP, and using government funds to pump up production so they can dump products on international markets at below cost so they drive the very inventors of the tech out of business.
Heck, if it were up to me, based on their behavior we would have had Iran/Cuba/North Korea type sanctions (complete embargo on all non-humanitarian imports and all exports in cooperation with the other industrialized nations of the world, ) in place for a decade now Yes, it would hurt our economy and the world economy in the short term, but that is at best a secondary concern considering what those behaviors would do to us in the long term.
Nixon was heralded for opening China in the 1970's, but based on what we know today, that was a mistake. We should have done everything we could to keep them in the stone age. I'm all for fair competition among peaceful nations, but authoritarian belligerents, market manipulators and thieves can go **** themselves.
