This kind of thing really worrys me in terms of china & the future.
I'm 20, beginning to get into electronics design more seriously as a job... am I barking up the wrong tree? Am I about to have no viable future career / healthy pay-check because the next Generation of ultra-performing chinese students will take every oppertunity I can get my hands on?
What can I do about it or am I going to have no job options in 20 years when I'm 40?
20 year career is a long time. It is a tall order to have a "safe career" for 20 years. Even if China doesn't exist, disruptive technology can destroy your career just as well.
Is China an impending thread? The answer is: "it doesn't matter!"
If it is not China, it could be India or anywhere else. So assume the industry will have someone upending it - more than once in that 20 years. While enjoying the fruit of success today, don't overlook getting ready to deal with disruption that will occur tomorrow. Assume it will happen, from someone, somewhere.
Read the job ads monthly or quarterly. It will show you the next best thing. Side benefit, it may also tell you about the danger you may be in. (I saw an ad from a company my friend worked for. They were looking for someone with experience along the line of what my friend did, with specific language skills and one who doesn't mind travel "staying in XXXX for extended period..." I told him good likelihood his job is being outsourced... he didn't believe me, but less than a year later...)
Easy to say, hard to do:
Knowing that any specific valuable career will have a life time shorter than desire. Stay with the times - make sure that you are up-to-date with your knowledge constantly, and watch the market constantly. Re-engineer yourself as needed.
Even harder to do: Don't hang-on too long. Sometimes, by getting better, one can stay on longer (be the last to be laid-off/let go). Instead, find your next job before your current job's expiration becomes imminent. When you still have a paying job, you have value to an employer. When you don't, you don't. Things get at lot harder when the rug is already out from under you.
The book "Competing for the Future" talks about how a corporation should deal with it. The same strategies apply to individuals. (Re) developing core competency and discern changes before it hits you. Good book to read.