The root cause of China’s product problem is the continued state ownership of businesses. Since the managers involved have no direct ownership of the business and are likely rewarded only by production quotas, there is every incentive to knowingly pad things with shoddy or dangerous raw materials for personal gain. It was the same situation in the former Soviet Union where production quotas were overfilled for bonuses by making faulty products. e.g., the glass factory that made window glass thinner to produce more square meters of glass from the available raw materials...needless to say most of this glass was broken before leaving the factory.
I would add endemic corruption to their problems, not just state ownership.
The meaning of truth and trust in China is simply different than we can even fathom.
In a small example, for instance, no Chinese client of mine would ever pay a bill using bank debit (EFT). They fear someone stealing money directly from the bank account, in the form of massive undisclosed fees from a bank, company or government agency, which they feel unprotected against.
They seem to feel we (Americans) are naive for “trusting” banks.