I've been hearing people say "the Chinese can't innovate" for many many years now, and I've seen "the Japanese can't innovate" in older sources, and once I saw

I've been hearing people say "the Chinese can't innovate" for many many years now, and I've seen "the Japanese can't innovate" in older sources, and once I saw a reprinted claim from a Brit in the 19th century that "the Germans can't innovate".