I think it is easy to imagine several countries, India among them, that are both worse than China from a skills/supplychain perspective but better from a normat

I think it is easy to imagine several countries, India among them, that are both worse than China from a skills/supplychain perspective but better from a normative/geopolitical perspective. When choosing between India/Taiwan/Malaysia/Costa Rica/etc, you then need to consider the track record of these various second choices. India's record of disregard for IP [1], political unrest [2], and playing the US and China off one another [3] don't really do it many favors. That said, I definitely agree that we should begin making major investments of equal magnitude to what was done in 90s/00s PRC in countries aligned with Western technology norms (whatever those are). [1] https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trade-ip-idUSKCN0XO1IT https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trade-ip-idUSKCN0XO1I... [2] https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-11-30/modi-s-popularity-at-risk-as-farmers-protest-hits-capital-city https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-11-30/modi-s-po... [3] https://nationalinterest.org/feature/can-india-balance-between-china-america-16137 https://nationalinterest.org/feature/can-india-balance-betwe...