Indeed. This seems similar to the hand-wringing I see about China's government subsidized manufacturing being "unfair". Actually government subsidized manufacturing is a great idea and its the entire reason we have a space program!
If you think China is only subsidizing the manufacturing of stupid things like sneakers, you're sorely misinformed. They pretty much have a lock on solar panel manufacturing, due to subsidies, and I think they drove most of their Western competitors out of business. That's kind of strategic industry, with the green energy transition. IIRC, they're also getting there with batteries and EVs, but at least the West is starting to use protectionism again to protect that area.
IIRC, one of the nice things about China is they don't really care if these companies are profitable. They'll setup a situation of vicious cut-throat competition and overcapacity, instead of a few complacent but profitable oligopolies like the West seems to prefer. That means they win at the national level.
> ...is similar to the Apollo program?
The Apollo program was like 50 years ago. The US needs to stop leaning on its past glories to try to make its complacency comfortable, and instead actually deal with its problems.
You may appreciate this economics lecture on industrial policy: https://youtu.be/V6egGoCrbIo
Your country can do well too if you invest for the long term instead of chasing quarterly numbers and strip mining the economy.