that depends on at which point in history you are referring to. If you're talking about in the 1st place, then the Tang Chinese have a legitimate claim to be the first civilization which pushed advancement.
If you are talking in the last 70 years after WW2 sure. But so did Japan, Korea and all other non Western European countries. Even the US is a massive thief of technology and hoarder of wartime spoils. Western Europe as a group was solidly the pre-eminent center of advancement for the last 70 years.