That was barely true a couple of years ago, with China perfectly capable of delivering 14 nm chips which were cutting edge until recently. Now 7 nm chips are cutting edge, and guess what, China is making those too.

https://www.theregister.com/2022/07/22/china_smic_7nm_chips/

I had known that they were making trailing edge 14 nm chips, but they are know making cutting edge 7 nm.

Don't succumb to western chauvinism and assume China's tech sector is inferior. It's an easy way to make bad strategic mistakes.