I do to the extent that the Chinese will often substitute inferior materials and processes if they think they can get away with it. Documented cases of bait-and-switch between prototypes and early runs on the component, sub assembly and sometimes entire products abound. That's not the way the West normally does business so a whole pile of QC needs to be added to make sure that contractual obligations are fulfilled rather than that non-functional similar shaped and colored stuff gets substituted for the real thing.

This is a massive problem, especially in industries where there isn't a whole lot of margin for error (say, aviation).

Well let's be real, that same thing happens in the US and would happen more in the US if we owned the means of manufacture. Infact, I bet a lot of money it'd be more prevalent until new laws were drafted protecting things. Plot twist our current laws are eroding at a rapid rate...

> that same thing happens in the US and would happen more in the US if we owned the means of manufacture

I doubt that very much.

Have you ever worked in an American industry that makes physical products? Let me give you a hint, it's got the same pressures as software engineering but it's often harder, the environments can be twenty degrees above room temp, and the people get paid a hardly liveable wage.

You can doubt it all you want, but people are out there cutting corners like no tomorrow in pretty much every industry you can Imagine. Usually it's not the employees idea, but rather middle/upper management.

Some of the products people buy have basically never been tested. Yep. Even high end expensive equipment.

I'd say more but I'd rather not...

I have zero intention of villianizing china. The point was to say, they were smart and employed long term strategies for survival and success. Now they have us pretty much rapped around their finger like how cloud vendors have us locked in. It's not bad, or evil, it's business we accept every day and are too divided to correct.

Yea take a look at Thousand Currents Programme, now called the National Front Work Programme and you will see the villainy that China undertakes at the govts behest.