But most of these arms too are still only roughly equivalent to 1990s technology — in other words still about 20 years or one or two generations behind the current state-of-the-art (to be fair China is currently working on a variety of highly advanced weapons systems including fifth-generation fighters and stealthy warships but these remain developmental systems that could be years away from deployment). In addition China's technology base remains woefully deficient in several areas critical to armaments production and aerospace. Its jet fighters are powered by Russian engines its destroyers employ Ukrainian turbines and PLA maritime patrol aircraft are outfitted with British search radars.

Moreover many so-called 'Chinese' weapons are simply copies or upgrades of foreign weaponry. The J-11 fighter jet is a reverse-engineered version of the Russian Su-27 the FM-80 surface-to-air missile is based on the French Crotale (a few of which were sold to China back in the 1980s) and most Chinese-built helicopters are copies of French-supplied rotorcraft. Again most of these designs are at least 20 years old.

Space excellence

There is however one area where the indigenous Chinese defense and aerospace really does shine and that is its space sector. Missiles have always been one of the country's 'pockets of excellence' going back to the Maoist period. Even while the Cultural Revolution (1966-76) basically shut down most of China's armaments production the imperative put on 'two bombs and a satellite' that is developing both fission and fusion nuclear weapons and launching an artificial satellite kept strategic rocket programs well-funded and supported in the midst of domestic political chaos.

Even so when China decided to break into the lucrative international space-launch business in 1990 it was a tough battle. Its first space-launch vehicle (SLV) the Long March 1 was essentially a civilianized version of its Dong Feng 4 intercontinental ballistic missile. It was not a particularly reliable system and China suffered a number of launch failures in the early 1990s culminating in two cases (in 1995 and 1996) where the rocket quickly veered off-course and crashed or exploded causing several deaths.

Since then however China has chalked up success after success (some say that this was due to the fact after the twin launch disasters that US aerospace firms illegally transferred technology and assistance to Beijing that helped the Chinese improve their SLVs). In any event since 1997 China has had 183 commercial space launches with only three failures.

Moreover China continues to improve its fleet of Long March SLVs. Its current workhorses are the Long March 3C capable of lifting nearly 4000 kilograms to geosynchronous orbit (and which was also used to launch China's first lunar-orbiting probe the Chang'e 1 in 2007) and the Long March 4 which has been used to launch China's growing array of spy satellites.

In terms of space launches China has nearly matched the United States. Between 2012 and 2015 China conducted 68 successful space launches compared to the America's 72.

Manned space outshines US

But it is in manned space perhaps that China really shows up the United States. While the US must rent space on the Russian Soyuz to get to the International Space Station (after retiring the Space Shuttle without replacement) China has its own spacecraft the Shenzhou based on the Soyuz program. Since 2003 China has launched five manned orbital missions the last of which in 2013 placed three taikonauts in orbit and included a space walk.