Competing with Chinese technology would be super fucking easy if people just stopped giving it to them. They almost completely lack the ability to innovate on their own.
You're dreaming if you think China is getting off that lightly for what they've done. See, the funny thing about oppressive systems like China's is that they blow all their "efficiency" developing the wrong way, then they find out they've not actually got anything real to stand upon when things get tough. We've watched the exact same fate befall countless civilizations before China.