At the 1000 foot level, this is just another part of the Chinese master plan that's been playing out for decades now. The master plan seems to be: train far more engineering and stem graduates than anyone else, let them loose in a dog eat dog capitalist garden and fertilise the garden with sprinkling government money. Hoped for outcome: their innovation will let China eat the world.

For comparison around 50% of China's graduates are in STEM, vs 20% in the USA. With China has a larger population the final outcome is: USA feeds their innovation pipeline with 800k new STEM graduates per year compared to China feeding its pipeline with 4M to 5M per year. In addition the Chinese government outspends the USA government on subsiding innovation in STEM by about 2 to 1 and the USA's subsidy rate has been shrinking since the Regan era. However, there is a caveat: USA private investment brings the total spend in both countries back to parity.

It seems the Chinese plan is working. The STEM garden is overstaffed. It produces far more than China can absorb internally, so they are forced to export their ideas and wares to the world. After decades of persistence China has become the worlds manufacturing powerhouse and now drives the development of 5G/6G, batteries, cars, and solar. China builds about 1000 large ships a year. The USA builds 5 to 8.

But as the article says, this comes at a cost. The intense competition makes life in China's dog eat dog STEM garden brutal. I guess that's the price a nation has gotta pay for world domination.