I suspect China is much more willing to take human losses to advance it's space program than the West is. And that will speed advancement.
/johnny
Yes, that willingness to advance by human sacrifice could be just the chink in their armor that enables us to steal their fast-track technology, while sparing our chaps.
Just what we need, another Chinese Restaurant to order out from
Maybe I'm mistaken, but I don't think a willingness to accept human losses has ever entered the equation, on the part of any space program. The equipment is just too expensive and the funding is always at risk because of the non-tangible nature of the output. For instance, are the Chinese better off with more silly experiments in space costing tens of billions a year, or are they better off with several dozen ballistic missile subs hovering off both coasts of the continental US that provide them with a first strike capability or an enhanced second strike capability? Ultimately, we chose to more or less mothball manned exploration and keep our military procurement. The Soviets wound down their space program as the 80's arms race kicked into gear. There's every likelihood that the Chinese will do the same. I think the Chinese space agency cannot afford any large scale embarrassments (and a loss of several hundred million dollars of launch equipment is an embarrassment) - I suspect there are plenty of other government departments looking at space program funding, thinking that this money really ought to be theirs and lobbying hard for it.