The intent of the original "boast" is to somehow claim the know-how comes solely out of China. It's boasting about China's abilities to generate cutting edge technology without reliance on the west. This has nothing to do with where you physically reside.
The gp said:
> Industrial espionage by China has a long history, and China has more valuable things to steal from America than the other way.
And you were countering that by saying nonono, these guys learnt everything they know solely from some Chinese origin. They've never been overseas.