China leads in drone production and in other fields of endeavor because it's pulled itself up by the bootstraps and resolved to become a highly evolved technological powerhouse. Meanwhile, thinking we were the only game in town, we rested on our laurels. Part of China's success, of course, is that it sent its best and brightest to be educated in the US, and those folks have gone back home and applied themselves. They work harder, longer, and leaner than we do.
We should have learned that lesson when W. Edwards Deming, a US statistician and efficiency expert, helped create the "Japanese Miracle" following WWII. Deming had first approached US automakers with his ideas and was rebuffed. Thus, while US auto manufacturers fought every new safety and environmental regulation (seatbelts, catalytic converters, ABS, better fuel economy, and so on), Japanese auto manufacturers embraced them. By so doing, and with far superior quality assurance programs (more emphasis on engineering and less on shiny chrome "styling"), Japan nearly put two US auto companies out of business.
I paid good money for my last American auto in 1971. It was a disaster -- a real lemon. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice didn't happen. VWs and Toyotas ever since, with no regrets. Everything works, and the doors fit.
Another problem we face is that US manufacturers willingly shipped their production and trade secrets offshore in order to exploit cheap labor for greater profits. China didn't steal our jobs or trade secrets; we gave them away. And now, Nvidia has been given the green light to send advanced AI-capable chips to China. Like a whore, Uncle Sam gets a share of the profits, but guess who will benefit more over the longer term?
I believe it was Thomas Friedman who once pointed out that when a genuine one-in-a-million talent emerges in China, it's important for us to realize that there are 1300 others just like him or her.