China is just China even for what car making is. They copy and they have troubles doing that too. They are struggling to implement new emission regulations. They tried to copy something from both US and EU regulations and ended up with an endless "draft" state of the future "CN6" emissions standards. But they are supposed to start having effect in 2019-2020 and all manufacturers are puzzled about what to do (because cars destined to market in 2019-2020 are in development since last year already). So can China drive any type of development, especially EV, this way? Hell, no!
As far as the article's references to Porsche and Maserati sales go... What does it have to do with anything? 1+ billion people, of course they have some rich people spending money on sports cars. They do not necessarly drive new technologies, like EV, to advance, but maybe some rare animal leather to end up on more dashboards.
For fuck's sake, the new XXX (can't say brand name) light commercial vehicle for 2020 in China has 2010 tech in it (except the SCR system, which will probably be required if the Chinese decide once and for all to freeze the regulations)! Shit old 10 years tech because, to quote a XXX manager "this is what they want", and by they, he means the actual Chinese masses, not the rich guys buying sports cars.