Lets assume for a moment that there is an attempt in China at IP...

Lets assume for a moment that there is an attempt in China at IP theft and reverse engineering of Redflow technology.
what was the alternative in trying to have a relationship with a company in China?

Perhaps it was refuse any relationship with any company in China.......
and a Chinese (insert name of any nationality) company purchase a building in a 3rd country, through 3rd and 4th removed companies purchase an installation of a dozen ZBM batteries, a few months after the installation is complete, remove the batteries and smuggle them out of the 3rd country, back to China (or insert name of any nationality) for reverse engineering.

With the scale of resources that could theoretically be thrown at such a reverse engineering effort, I see the result as being the same with little or no delay in the time lines. The difference is having a relationship that is likely more profitable for Redflow than not having one.