Most likely, you are correct.
The Chinese do a LOT of engineering and trying new technology, however they have few overwhelming successes.
Most stuff will work ok, with a little luck, but opposition's superior personnel and very good equipment will beat 'em most every time.
The problem is, there are so many of 'em, however, that's only in China.
The Chinese do a lot of reverse engineering. They are not big on taking risks in their careers so they keep their heads down and only do what they have to do. As far as innovation, the risk of something not working far outweighs the potential reward that comes from a successful innovation. Therefore they always play it safe.
When Tesla sends you a factory and trains your workers, it is fairly easy to copy the factory and move the workers, whose replacements also get trained. Next thing you know, China is building and exporting a BYD electric car that looks and drives astonishingly like a Tesla. It matches feature for feature and sells for a much lower price but is built with lower quality materials.