Because every bit of technology they have was either given away, sold on the cheap, or otherwise flat-out stolen.
“Because every bit of technology they have was either given away, sold on the cheap, or otherwise flat-out stolen.”
I cannot prove this, but I was told by a professor at a university in the PRC that they obtained the plans for their rockets by going to the Moscow Archives and using a photo copier.
They literally photocopied the designs of a Russian rocket.
That is strange enough to have been true.
Or sold and derived from such.
NYT. Nov. 19, 1993:
In a good-will gesture toward China, the Clinton Administration has agreed to sell it a sophisticated $8 million supercomputer, senior Administration officials said today.
The decision is part of the Administration's strategy to embrace rather than isolate China despite disagreements over human rights, weapons proliferation and trade. The Clinton Administration is determined to grab an ever-larger share of China's market, the fastest growing in the world, and reduce a trade deficit that could exceed the one with Japan by the end of the decade. G.E. Stands to Profit
Even more significant for American business, the Administration has also decided to lift the ban on important components for China's nuclear power plants, like generators, senior Commerce Department officials said.
But the decision to go forward with the supercomputer sale is strategically more important because it signals the Administration's willingness to sell high-technology equipment to Beijing.
The Administration decided to allow the sale despite clear evidence that China has broken its promises to Washington by exporting M-11 missile components and technology to Pakistan. Those exports violated an international missile control accord.
the Bush Administration postponed the sale last December after intelligence reports showed that China had exported the M-11 technology. But in the final days of his Administration, Mr. Bush overruled the Defense Department and ordered the approval of a license pending necessary processing.
Mr. Christopher also told Mr. Qian that the United States would be prepared to interpret an American law governing the export of high technology to China to allow the export of two of the seven sophisticated American-made satellites banned by sanctions imposed on China in August, senior Administration officials said.
https://www.nytimes.com/1993/11/19/world/us-will-allow-computer-sale-to-court-china.html