It's not about 'great China' you're writing about but about how much it costs. If RN had the money that China is able to throw in you would have seen much faster pace in case of RN. Especially when it comes to 'special engineering' that you use while making up more complex maritime projects. It's all about money. RN and JMSDF work on cramped budget everyday and they try to keep an edge with that doing the right job. Tempo is all about money. Not sophisticated capabilities. It's all about being steady with your expenses and planning. Fast pace doesn't mean quality right now. PLAN will face the same problems sooner or later. It;s not right now but those times will come.
Well, in terms of industrial or military capability, money is a capability by itself. Speed, cost, quality, quantity are all capability by themselves.
Capability assessment is a repetitive theme that often invites heated debate. To do it right you need domain knowledge. Just because a country is developed doesn't necessarily mean it has better or equal engineering capability than a less developed one, you have to look at it case by case.
South korea is no doubt an industrial powerhouse,but in case of rocket engineering, by their own admission they are 10 years behind north korea. Sure they can develop it, but it takes time.
There are people who can invent, there are people who can reinvent, then there are people who can copy, making it faster, cheaper, better than the original, and mostly self reliant; and there are people who can integrate and assemble, then there are people who can make it, only after acquring components from different parties, throwing in lots of money with long program delay.
For some people there is such a mentality, that if china doesn't have something, it would be some magic thing that china can't make. Wasn't aresting cable such a thing before the debut of Liaoning?
Then there is such a mentality that if china finaly able to make somthing but some other country don'y have it or do it, it must be that they dont want it, not because they can't.
However I would argue that in terms of industrial and engineering capability, in many areas today's china can only be matched by that of united status; and in certain areas even united states is behind. This is not a question of "if I have the money I would be able to match you", it's about what's sustainable (in peaceful time) and what can be done in a short burst(in war time).
Let me remind you that during a US President visit, a giant US flag covers the crane which looks patriotic. But if you remove the flag it would reveal "made in china". I would not be surprised if similar cranes are found at British shipyards. I'm not saying it can't be made in US or UK, but is that the point?
Take high speed rail as another example. Word bank has a report that details how china is able to build it faster and cheaper. It's certainly not about pouring money, or cheap labour, or working 24×7, or disregard of property right. Is it really surprising that Indonesia chose China as its partner, not its traditional favorite, for its high speed rail project?
The recent nuclear deal between UK and China is just another example. China is moving up the value chain fast, many people just don't realize it. Give it another 10 years, people's perception will change.
It's like south korea 15 years ago. Back in 2000, few people take them seriously. But at that time, I knew Samsung would be huge.
I dont think It's this forum's belief that china can't make an aresting cable, or a catapult. It's just that too much debate has been spent on this kind of useless arguments, and too many times they are not to the point.
