What can you really conclude about China? Most of the people who live there are agrarian, using third world farming methods, and surviving with govt subsidies. You can think of them as a huge Taiwan surrounded by 20 Laos's. Not necessarily the inevitable powerhouse you're imagining.
And yet they produce more super conductors then we do, more televisions, etc. Yet they are our creditor and we are the debt ridden begger on the knees praying they don't dump and devalue our currency.