Are you referring to general trade barriers (in which I can agree help nascent industries and even the country in the long term) or the firewall that blocks many foreign sites?
On the latter point, I'd be surprised if it is ROI positive for the country. One would expect it would cut off significant communication with the outside world, resulting in duplicate work needing to be done (can't find that open source package on github as github is blocked? that sucks). The censorship regime additionally introduces self-policing costs to Chinese firms.
On the latter point, I'd be surprised if it is ROI positive for the country. One would expect it would cut off significant communication with the outside world, resulting in duplicate work needing to be done (can't find that open source package on github as github is blocked? that sucks). The censorship regime additionally introduces self-policing costs to Chinese firms.