> Apple is a case in point. It designs and engineers everything and stringently checks that its Chinese ODMs aren't quietly swapping in cheaper inferior parts or alter its software. I therefore assume Apple products are safe even though they're manufactured in China.

Absolutely. I trust Apple a lot more than I trust almost any other company. Maybe Valve is up there as well.

> But the fact is that most Western manufacturers are too lazy to develop things themselves and merely slap their label on a Chinese designed and manufactured product. This means that the Chinese could slip in anything in the hard/software which creates a huge security liability.

Well, the problem here would be a Chinese entity being required to create a US entity, which often just ends up with the US entity inheriting everything, including the slips, from the Chinese entity.