alt Hacker NewsI recall Tim Cook's quote and it has merit.
But the ecosystem (like all ecosystems) evolves as all the entities within it evolve. Originally it was cheap labor. I think the key difference is that each entity in the US is independent and self-focused on quarterly earnings (as the C-Suite is rewarded by that and they call the shots), whereas China thinks holistically as far as how the nation moves ahead as a whole.
tl;dr our priorities have been reversed -- profit vs people vs vice versa.