Being able to build things isn't the issue. That's fine. As is learning to design those things after building enough of them. That's fine too.

But if they have a contract in place that stipulates that the parts are to be built exclusively for the client and the designs are to remain confidential, there's a problem if they start building the parts for other clients (including themselves) or sharing the designs with anyone else.

To draw an analogy, it's fine if a contractor knows how to build homes. It's fine if they eventually learn how to design their own homes after building enough of them. But if your general contractor steals your custom home's blueprints and sells them to a developer who builds a neighborhood of copycat houses right next to yours, that's not fine.

I don't know what's being alleged here, but it seems evident to me that they aren't simply talking about China learning how to manufacture and design stuff on their own.