I think that holds more true for other industries, in this case it is more about western companies wanting to sell stuff in China.

No country captures the reversal of the global automotive order better than Germany.

The wealth of Europe’s largest economy was built in large part on exports to China as the country grew rapidly following its economic opening-up in the 1980s.

Germany’s automotive giants — Volkswagen, BMW and Mercedes-Benz — were in the vanguard and spent decades earning a significant share of their revenue and profit in China.