New Delhi, July 8 -- Apple estimates that it has trained at least 28 million Chinese workers since 2008. That is more people than the entire labour force of California, where Apple Inc is based. This is one of the many stark facts in Apple In China: The Capture of the World's Greatest Company, written by Patrick McGee, who reported from China for the Financial Times.

This massive skilling of Chinese workers was one of the building blocks of a sophisticated supply chain that now spreads across the globe. Another building block was massive capital investments into China-an estimated $275 billion in the five years since 2016, for example.

McGee writes that Apple now has a network of 1,500 suppliers in 50 countries. "But all roads lead thro...