We've gone through the 'cheap Asian knockoff' cycles many times before.

I can remember when it was Japanese stuff that was supposedly 'cheap and shoddy' but we all went out later and bought Mazda and Toyota cars and Canon cameras.

Then it was the Taiwanese stuff and today the whole world can't do without Taiwanese computer chips.

Then it was the Chinese stuff, and the same cycle. But the scene is changing. In the same way as I originally thought the Japanese stuff wasn't up to par and then bought a Mazda Rotary that I absolutely loved, I see that the Chinese Haval is not at all a bad SUV for the price.

These days it seems to be that it's Vietnam's turn to be going through the cycle. Starting off cheap, and then later moving up the value-added ladder.

History repeats. Products are made to a price. Just because we usually see the cheap Asian shit that our companies try to foist upon us doesn't mean those Asian countries can't produce high-quality stuff for themselves to use against us.

There was a cartoon from the 1940s that showed Bugs Bunny finger-flicking a Japanese battleship that then fell to pieces. That wasn't at all the actuality of what happened when the US Navy finally met the Japanese Navy in early 1942.