Skilled workers, not low cost, are the lure that brings Apple to China, according to Tim Cook, CEO of the tech giant.

In a soft-ball interview with US news magazine 60 Minutes, Cook said “China put an enormous focus on manufacturing. In what we would call … vocational kind of skills.”

Tim Cook also gave a vivid example saying: “you can take every tool and die maker in the United States and probably put them in a room that we're currently sitting in. In China, you would have to have multiple football fields.”

Actually China has attached continuous importance to the upgrading of industries. China's State Council unveiled a ten-year national plan in May, the Made in China 2025, designed to transform China from a manufacturing giant into a world manufacturing power.

Nine tasks have been identified as priorities: improving manufacturing innovation, integrating technology and industry, strengthening the industrial base, fostering Chinese brands, enforcing green manufacturing, promoting breakthroughs in 10 key sectors, advancing restructuring of the manufacturing sector, promoting service-oriented manufacturing and manufacturing-related service industries, and internationalizing manufacturing.

The Christian Science Monitor said in an article on Dec. 20 that product quality of made in China is quietly edging up. From clothes to appliances to cell phones, products made in mainland China are now proving to be as durable as those made in Japan and nearly as precise as those emerging from high-tech hubs like Taiwan.

Analysts believe that behind this shift is the intense pressure among Chinese manufacturers to compete in export markets and also to attract buyers inside China.