China has always been regarded as a copycat of Western innovation. But given the successes of WeChat, Tmall, Ant Financial, and the like, its companies are starting to be recognized as true innovators.
In fact, China has developed so fast that Southeast Asia easily lags behind by roughly three to five years. But the region has been playing a catch-up game on many fronts by modeling companies after Chinese companies. Fortunately, many of them have worked well.