> China made that choice in the late 1970s and early 1980s and has progressed ever since
So you're saying that China has grew out of manufacturing because a lot of it is moving out of China. In the same way the US has also moved out of manufacturing ages ago.
> is now powerful enough to be able to stand up to the United States
How do you conclude that the ONLY thing China did is manufacturing?
> You have a warped view of what manufacturing is
No, it goes to show you know very little about the world. It's not all just manufacturing. That's definitely not all that China does. If it was you wouldn't have to ban Huawei and Tiktok.
Do you know how many games come from China now? A lot of US and EU game studios are at least partly owned by Chinese companies e.g. Tencent.