The Germans were able to catch up because the Brits caused the situation to go back to square one, and levelled the playing field. The Soviets caught up in a few cases because they either spent obscene amounts of money and resources in that field, or stole the technology off someone else.
So you concede that countries that are technologically behind can and do catch up? Because now you're contention is about how countries can catch up to technological leaders, and not if they'll catch up. No one ever said
how China will probably catch up quicker than you asserted. Just that it will.
Either way, both cases you've pointed out, the USSR stealing tech, and the British "causing the situation to go back to square one" are structural factors that prevent any country from accelerating their lead in technology too far ahead. "Stealing tech" is possible because the country behind has the advantage of following an already paved road which means it takes shorter time for them to develop equivalent technology to the front runner. "Going back to square one" is often due either to the fact that it takes longer to develop new ideas and technologies than to match old ones, or due to the fact that because a country is the front runner, new technological developments slow because it is not necessitated, or slow because they get too far ahead and cost becomes an issue. If you would like an example of this, just note the recent cancellation of the F-22 (not to say it won't be back, but it go so far ahead its cost and feasibility just didn't match up). No doubt slowing the procurement of the F-22 will be the other reason China and Russia will close the gap much quicker than one might think.
In any case, it appears we're going far off topic. Unless anyone has anything to say about the WS-10A or related developments I suggest we find somewhere else to discuss this before a mod busts our bums.
