Is the USA in 'irreversible decline'?

China is great manufacturing platform. It is not yet a great manufacturing power. Only when it owns the intellectual property will it become a manufacturing power.

Question:

Can an authoritarian regime nurture the sort of creativity that is needed to transform China from a manufacturing platform into a manufacturing power?

If the experience of Taiwan and South Korea is any guide the answer is "Yes, up to a point." After that things get tricky.

With those myths out of the way, what do the brightest and best of China's people think about the USA?

In 2011 723,277 foreign students enrolled in US universities. Of these 157,588 were from China, an increase of 23% on the previous year. Other popular countries of origin were India (103,895) and South Korea (73,351). Most Chinese students were studying STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) disciplines.

(See: Chinese students enroll in record numbers at U.S. colleges, Washington Post, 14 November 2011)

Not all, but the majority, of Chinese students stay on in the US after graduation and build their lives there. For a country supposedly in terminal decline the USA seems to be awfully attractive to the brightest and best from its major strategic rival.

(See: China fears brain drain as its overseas students stay put The Guardian, 2 June 2007)

So, to repeat my question:

Can an authoritarian regime nurture the sort of creativity that is needed to transform China from a manufacturing platform into a manufacturing power?

I think the answer is probably not on a sustainable basis while the US and others provide such attractive alternatives.