Sorry, I have to disagree. How do you suppose more innovation would have happened if instead of China, blocking US tech, they let them have the whole market from the get go and instead of WeChat there would be Whatsapp and instead of Baidu, there would be Google? How is that more innovation?

You can just look at Europe.

I'm not advocating any policies or supporting anyone. I am just disputing the claim that free markets maximise innovation in this particular instance.