“German technology made in China” proclaims one of my spam messages this morning.
Sure, the first run will be made to strict German spec. Because the Chinese can’t afford to do that forever (insufficient opportunity for graft), succeeding runs will be more and more shoddy until the product fails because of crappy customer reviews, or until the German partners complain and the Chinese stop cutting corners for the next run. Then wash, rinse repeat.
For far too many Chinese products, quality is an inverse sawtooth wave.